A daily morning look at the financial stories you need to know to start the day
STOCKS/ECONOMY
-Stock futures are higher after yesterday's big selloff. Weekly jobless claims and import prices come out at 830am Eastern.
-In a chilling sign for the worldwide economy, demand for gold in 2016 is off to its fastest start for a calendar year.
-A new study by Pew Research shows that median household incomes have fallen when adjusted for inflation in 80% of the regions in the US since 1999.
-Washington has taken in a record $1.91 trillion in federal taxes through April. That's $14 billion more than at this time last year.
OIL/ENERGY
-Crude is up almost 1% and at the $46/barrel level.
-Gasoline prices remained flat overnight at $2.20/gallon, national average.
ELECTION
-Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan will meet today to see if they can somehow unite a fractured Republican Party.
-FBI Director James Comey says he feels pressure to complete the Hillary Clinton email investigation quickly. And he is correcting Clinton's repeated use of the term "security inquiry" to describe the Bureau's probe. Comey says this is an "investigation," and doesn't even know what a "security inquiry" is.
-Mitt Romney calls Trump's decision to still not release his tax returns "disqualifying."
-Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has endorsed Trump.
BRAZIL TURMOIL
-The Brazilian Senate has voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff. The vote was 55-22. If 54 Senators vote to convict her at the impeachment trial, she will be out of office.
WAR ON PHARMA
-A Kentucky judge is ordering the unsealing of records from a 2006 OxyContin lawsuit where the drugmaker, Purdue, ending up paying $630 million in the federal case alleging that it misled the public about the addictive nature of the drug. The Kentucky judge wants to unseal the president of Purdue's secret testimony. Purdue is appealing that order.
TECH WARS
-The Federal Trade Commission is reportedly re-opening it's probe of whether Google search uses anti-competitive practices.
-Apple is denying a report that it's going to stop selling music downloads.
TAX REFUND DELAYS
-Because of rampant fraud, the IRS is going to wait longer to begin sending Earned Income Tax Credit refunds to poorer Americans next year.
DEALS/NO DEALS
-Nissan is going to buy 34% of Mitsubishi for $2.2 billion.
DEFENSE
-The leading US defense contractors are going before Congress to plead for faster approvals for weapons sales to our foreign allies. A new opponent of speeding up the process is Rep. Jackie Speier, a Democrat from California.
-Boeing says the US Navy needs to buy 100 more if its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter jets.
-Israel's Rafael Industries has unveiled a 22-pound shoulder fired missile launcher designed to destroy walls and other things terrorists use for cover in urban conflict.
