Links 9 February 2018

Global Macro / Markets / Investing:

• The coming conflict between millennials and boomers – Axios
• Do You Think Donald Trump Is Ready for a Real Financial Crisis? – NY Times
• The Era of Easy Money Is Ending, and the World Is Bracing for Shocks – NY Times
• Trump Warns Stock Market Is Making a “Big Mistake” – Apple News
• Is Wall Street’s Untested Millennial Majority a Risk? – Apple News
• Exchange-Traded Products Become Focus of Markets – Bloomberg
• BlackRock’s Larry Fink Wants to Become the Next Warren Buffett – WSJ
• Fed Officials Aren’t Worried About the Turmoil in Equities – Bloomberg
• Oil World Turns Upside Down as U.S. Sells Oil in Middle East – Bloomberg
• The Best Hedge There Is – The Reformed Broker
• Think The Bitcoin Bubble Is Bursting? Think Again – Investing
• Volatility has returned as wage growth takes center stage – Credit Writedowns
• Bitcoin Is Less Volatile Than Stock Market Volatility Index, SEC Chair Says – Fortune
• Bitcoin Up Over 20% as Crypto Markets Regain Poise – Coin Desk
• The world’s biggest countries, as you’ve never seen them before – WEF
• Get Ready for Most Cryptocurrencies to Hit Zero, Goldman Says – Bloomberg
• Should You Buy Bitcoin? by Adair Turner – Project Syndicate
• Bitcoin May Evolve Into What Everyone Fears, Mathematicians Say – Bloomberg

Americas:

• White House officials knew about Porter’s abuse allegations – CNN
• How Many More Jobs Would There Be Without The Trade Deficit? – Forbes
• Sweeping budget deal would add $500 billion in federal spending, end months of partisan wrangling – Washington Post
• U.S. congressional leaders forge budget deal that adds to deficit – Reuters
• Democrats slam Republican tax plan for big jump in corporate share buybacks – CNBC
• This self-driving battleship has joined the US Navy – WEF
• Is tech dividing America? – Politico
• US History and the Path to European Integration – Conversable Economist
• Venezuela’s capital hit by power cut – BBC

Europe:

• The biggest snow in decades just fell in Paris. Here’s what it looked like. – Washington Post
• First modern Britons had ’dark to black’ skin, Cheddar Man DNA analysis reveals – The Guardian
• Europe is biggest winner of German coalition deal – Reuters
• US tax reform and implications for the German coalition agreement – Bruegel
• UK house prices: Looking far into the past and into the future… – VOX
• George Soros, the man who ’broke the Bank of England’, backing secret plot to thwart Brexit – The Telegraph
• Hard Brexit would cost public finances £80bn, says secret analysis – The Guardian
• Hit to Northern Ireland and North East England GDP revealed in new Brexit impact papers leak – Sky
• Future drivers of labour force participation growth in Europe – VOX
• Merkel clinches Germany coalition deal – BBC
• Brexit could cut manufacturing exports by a third, experts warn – The Guardian

Asia:

• Chinese Police Add Facial-Recognition Glasses to Surveillance Arsenal – WSJ
• China Detains Executive Close to Family of Former Prime Minister – NY Times
• HNA Is Victim of Conspiracy Against China: Co-Chairman – Bloomberg
• China’s Love Affair With Gold Heating Up on Property Riches – Bloomberg
• China to stamp out cryptocurrency trading completely with ban on foreign platforms – SCMP
• The Tech Giants Growing Behind China’s Great Firewall – Visual Capitalist

Trans-Tasman:

• Foxtel fights for pay-TV exemptions to gambling-ad ban – ABC
• Rising cost of living leaving many people struggling to pay for basic essentials – ABC
• Closing the Gap review finds policy ‘effectively abandoned’ amid ‘extensive funding cuts’ – ABC
• Morrison says forced wage rises contrary to ‘every economic instinct of the Coalition’ – The Guardian
• AGL half year profit almost doubles as higher prices boosts margins – ABC
• Barnaby Joyce Affair: It’s Not The Affair, It’s The Hypocrisy That Matters – Junkee
• Turnbull government relents on secrecy laws for journalists, but only to a point – The SMH
• Private health rebates cost taxpayers billions and don’t work well — is it time they were scrapped? – ABC
• Murray-Darling Basin Plan in danger of collapse, authority boss says – ABC
• The trains in Sydney are collapsing into chaos, while the government yells about the union menace – City Metric
• NBN retailers acquired 38% more Connectivity Virtual Circuit (CVC) – ACCC
• Solar ‘tsunami’ coming in Australia as NSW accelerates approvals – The SMH
• Mathias Cormann concedes Coalition may have to change foreign donations ban – The Guardian
• More battery power on the way for South Australia following Elon Musk announcement – ABC
• Not much on offer but plenty of buyers at the latest apartment auctions – Interest.co.nz