The former global public policy director at Facebook, now Meta, will allege that Facebook cooperated with China's ruling Communist Party, per her opening testimony, as seen by Axios. read more
Change in global sentiment of select American brands before and after Trump's inauguration
Job cuts at the US traffic safety regulator instigated by Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency disproportionately hit staff assessing self-driving risks, hampering oversight of technology on which the world's richest man has staked the future of Tesla.
U.S. consumer prices unexpectedly fell in March amid cheaper gasoline and used motor vehicles, but the improvement in inflation is unlikely to be sustained after President Donald Trump doubled down on tariffs on imported Chinese goods. read more
Donald Trump is facing a sharp rise in disapproval ratings similar to that of November, 2018, when the Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives, according to new polling data. read more
... and ...
Trades Before Trump Tariff Post Draw Scrutiny
www.wsj.com
... Market watchers have been scrutinizing some extremely well-timed options trades just ahead of President Trump's rally-sparking tariff announcement on Wednesday.
Shortly after 1 pm ET on Wednesday, volume spiked in bullish call options on State Street's popular SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, the index-tracking fund better known by its ticker SPY. The surge in activity took place in options that would pay off if SPY's price rose above $509 that day. At 1:06 pm, for instance, an unknown buyer spent about $21,000 to purchase 101 of the contracts, according to derivatives-data firm SpotGamma.
At 1:10 p.m., SPY was trading at about $501"so it would have taken a jump of more than 1.5% for those options contracts to deliver a payday. The trades were in so-called zero-day-to-expiry options, meaning they would have expired worthless within a few hours if markets had dropped.
Instead, at 1:18 p.m. ET, Trump announced in a Truth Social post that he was pausing many of his steepest tariffs for 90 days. The post set off a monster rally: the S&P 500 closed 9.5% higher on Wednesday, one of its biggest one-day jumps in history.
The price of the SPY options surged more than 10-fold. For instance, one changed hands for around $214 at 1:10 p.m. By the end of the trading session, its price had skyrocketed to roughly $3,458, according to Cboe Global Markets data.
Speculation erupted online that the buyers were people with inside knowledge about Trump's tariff move.
"Insane, someone knew," tweeted the X account for data provider Unusual Whales, which was first to draw broad attention to them. ....
Stated differently ...
Well-timed options trades ahead of Trump's tariff pause draw questions
www.reuters.com
... In the minutes before President Donald Trump's social media post on Wednesday pausing tariffs sent the U.S. stock market rallying, some unidentified options traders placed bets worth millions of dollars that the market would rebound, data shows. ...
@#319 ... That ------- ...
Again, with the ad hominem attack.
Can you say "troll?"
I knew you could.
I had been watching this live on the local NYC news.
Here's their article ...
Pilot, family of 5 from Spain killed after helicopter crashes into Hudson River
abc7ny.com
... Six people were killed after a tourist helicopter carrying a family from Spain crashed into New York City's Hudson River on Thursday afternoon.
The crash was reported at 3:17 p.m. on the Jersey City side of the Hudson.
Agustin Escobar, a Siemens executive from Barcelona, Spain, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal, and their children, ages 4, 5, and 11, were killed in the crash, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The pilot, who was 36, was also killed, making a total six people.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the helicopter was operated by New York Helicopters.
The FAA believes the helicopter is a Bell 206 and appears to have taken off from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport at 2:59 p.m. It went up to the George Washington Bridge before turning back south along the Jersey side of the river.
It went off radar at 3:25 p.m.
Video shared with Eyewitness News appeared to show pieces of the helicopter break apart and crash into the water. Officials say the helicopter hit the water inverted, without a tail rotor or a main rotor blade. ...
Depeche Mode - People Are People (1984)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
[Chorus: Dave Gahan & Martin L. Gore]
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?
[Verse 1: Dave Gahan]
So we're different colours and we're different creeds
And different people have different needs
It's obvious you hate me, though I've done nothing wrong
I've never even met you, so what could I have done?
[Pre-Chorus: Martin L. Gore]
I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand
[Chorus: Dave Gahan & Martin L. Gore]
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?
[Post-Chorus: Martin L. Gore]
Help me understand
Help me understand, help me understand
[Verse 2: Dave Gahan]
Now you're punching and you're kicking and you're shouting at me
I'm relying on your common decency
So far, it hasn't surfaced, but I'm sure it exists
It just takes a while to travel from your head to your fists (Head to your fists)
[Pre-Chorus: Martin L. Gore]
I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand
...
Study strengthens link between maternal diabetes and autism
www.reuters.com