The Power Brief
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 selloff. A rebound in oil prices is a big reason for that, plus some of what Fed Chair Janet Yellen said yesterday.
-Yellen says we are not in a bubble and a big recession is not looming.
-The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell below 1.7% yesterday and is barely holding above that level now.
-Low expectations for tech earnings reports beginning next week have many investors bearish.
OIL/ENERGY
-Crude is now up more than 3% and trading at the $38/barrel level.
-Gasoline prices fell just one tenth of one percent overnight, holding at a national average of $2.04/gallon.
-A shareholder revolt is underway at BP, where CEO Bob Dudley got a 20% pay raise to $19.6 million despite BP's worst losses ever.
-This, despite an overall shrinking in CEO pay in 2015.
DISNEY WARS
-The NY Times is reporting that former Disney heir-apparent Thomas Staggs did not leave of his own accord; he was purged.
ELECTION
-The Trump campaign is finally hiring some seasoned Republican campaign experts to help run the campaign and the convection effort.
-Bill Clinton slammed the "Black Lives Matter" movement at a campaign event for Hillary Clinton yesterday. He's also slamming Obama's foreign policy record. Is Bill a loose cannon, or is this a new Clinton campaign strategy?
-Donald Trump's frontrunner position is making big donors skittish about paying for the costs of the GOP convention as usual.
PANAMA PAPERS
-Critics inside the Democratic Party say the trade deal Pres. Obama pushed for in 2011 left the door open for Panama to be the haven for off shore tax cheating.
-British PM David Cameron now admits he did personally profit from a stake he had in an offshore account held by his father. The account was made public by the Panama Papers.
BANK NATIONALIZATION
-A federal judge has ruled against the Obama administration's labeling of MetLife as a financial institution that's "too big to fail" --- and thus liable to more government regulation. The Obama team says it's going to appeal.
PHARMA
-AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly are in the final stages of testing a breakthrough Alzheimer's drug.
VENEZUELA MESS
-The Venezuelan government is imposing 3-day weekends in order to save power in the financially faltering country.