Morning Bid:Central banks flying into storm clouds

A look at the day ahead in markets from Sujata Rao

After a hectic period, traders (and reporters) will be looking forward to the long Easter weekend but they must first get through what promises to be an eventful Thursday.

Already in Asia, the normally staid Bank of Korea delivered a surprise rate hike despite not having a governor in place and warned inflation could top 4%, up from its February forecast of 3.1% read more .

It also cut economic growth forecasts, part of a pattern where most central banks are acting against inflation, even at the cost of growth. Canada and New Zealand on Wednesday delivered half-point rate rises, while later on Thursday, the European Central Bank may set out a date to end bond purchases, even as high energy prices threaten recession read more .

Despite data pointing to soaring inflation, bond yields have taken a tumble in recent days on fear that central banks' inflation battle will drag economies into a slowdown, or even recession.

Markets were unnerved by Wednesday's downbeat message from JPMorgan'sstraight-talking CEO Jamie Dimon about "storm clouds on the horizon" for the economy. His bank also posted a 42% profit slump in the first quarter. read more

Q1 earnings were always going to be a bit of a let-down after the post-COVID bounceback in early-2020, but JPM's 30%-70% fee declines from dealmaking, equity and investment banking still had the capacity to shock, as did the $1 billion it set aside against loan losses.

With share buybacks now in question, JPM shares fell 3%.

Investors clearly fear similar messages from other banks reporting on Thursday. Watch Goldman Sachs, tipped to see a 32% revenue decline in Q1. Given Goldman has beaten forecasts in each one of the past eight quarters, anything worse could weigh heavily on shares already down 16% this year.

So, want to see where the profits are? The world's largest chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor (2330.TW) posted a 45% jump in Q1 net profit, benefiting from the global chip crunch….

https://www.reuters.com/business/central-banks-flying-into-storm-clouds-2022-04-14/

Buck Sexton torches woke left's panic over Elon Musk's Twitter investment: 'Their digital Waterloo'

He pointed to a report the Biden administration has coincidentally launched a probe into Musk's Tesla company.

Charles CreitzApril 14, 2022 6:44pm EDT

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Former CIA analyst Buck Sexton tore into the woke political left after they erupted in collective outrage at the prospect of Tesla CEO Elon Musk making a bid to buy Twitter, which the radio host said would be the end of their proverbial monopoly on online speech.

"It’s a private company, it can do what it wants" they all said – Strap in, libs. Gonna get bumpy for you on here," Sexton said

He added that the woke left sees a potential Musk takeover as their version of the 1815 Battle of Waterloo, where the once-exiled Napoleon Bonaparte and his forces were defeated, ending French hopes for European domination.

In that regard, New York Post writer Karol Markowicz tweeted that all the current "excitement is going to end with Elon Musk not buying Twitter, isn't it?"

"The entire Left will circle the wagons to stop it. This is their digital Waterloo," Sexton responded.

Sexton said he agreed with a swath of Twitter users who want a Musk-controlled platform to reinstate former President Trump's account.

He went on to further lampoon woke leftists' outrage, remarking that "free speech is terrifying" to them, and that if the activists win, they will literally "block a buy-offer from the richest man in the world who would make their shareholders tons of money – because Twitter is run by crybaby libs who are terrified at the ideas of transparency and free speech."

"'Build your own internet,' the smug censoring libs said – Elon is like, ‘Nah I’ll just buy it, thanks,'" he wrote. "Excited to read all the takes today from Washington Post and New York Times writers about how 'Elon musk as a billionaire owner would be a threat to free speech' Lol."

The New York Times has been owned for decades by the wealthy Sulzberger family, while Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos purchased the Washington Post in 2013.

In other remarks, Sexton noted that much of Twitter's value is defined by its proprietary algorithm – the formula with which it regulates users tweets and content.

Critics say companies like Facebook and Twitter adjust their algorithms to freeze out or censor commentary that is either right-wing or countervailing to the establishment view, on topics such as vaccines, foreign policy and domestic politics.

"What's really at stake here is 'The Algo'," he said. "For years, Twitter has been a rigged game for the Left Suppressing some ideas and accounts, elevating others- All while they lied 'it's the free market of ideas! It's the algorithm'."

On "The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show", Sexton also pointed to the leftist establishment's proverbial response to the news:

He cited a Fox Business report that the Biden Justice Department and SEC have launched a joint investigation into "regulatory issues" at Tesla – the electric car company owned by Musk.

He told co-host Clay Travis that it was inevitable that President Biden and his allies would see Musk's behavior toward Twitter as a threat to their monopoly on public speech – and "bring the artillery" to go to proverbial war with the businessman.

"They're going to cheat in every way they can get," Sexton said.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/elon-musk-twitter-woke-left-trump-buck-sexton-show

Outrage at Elon Musk shows how Silicon Valley went from 'free-spirited counterculture' to monopoly: ==Hanson

Facebook and Twitter facing 'rendezvous' with countervailing forces, Hanson suggests==

Silicon Valley was originally advertised as a "free-spirited counterculture," but has now transformed into a political monopoly, as exemplified by its collective rage at the prospect of South African-born billionaire Elon Musk's investments in Twitter, historian Victor Davis Hanson said Thursday.

Hanson told Fox News that Twitter is arriving at a "rendezvous" with what may become an unsustainable business model as free speech alternatives and other applications geared toward younger demographics slowly peel away its usership.

"[Musk] is saying that communication is global and electronically instant, [with] a lot more power than it had before," he said.

"Silicon Valley advertised itself as a free-spirited counterculture that turned into a monopoly and not just a monopoly, but a political monopoly. And so he's indicative of a whole coalition of forces that are arriving that Twitter has a rendezvous with – and it's not sustainable."

Hanson noted that Twitter's behavior has become more and more questionable in recent years, pointing to the fact that former President Donald Trump was banished from the platform, while the Taliban and other nefarious groups still have a presence.

He added that if that present situation is combined with a Republican "landslide" in the midterms, Twitter will likely see more federal scrutiny than it does with ideologically-aligned leftists in control.

"And this is aside from the fact that they are appealing to an older and older audience as Tik Tok and Snapchat and Instagram are peeling away some of their market."

"So I think they've got a lot of challenges, and I think Elon Musk knows that, and he's basically telling them, 'You've got competitors on one side – you've got the government's going to take a hard look at you. You better deal with me because I could reform you before they either put you out of business or the young companies come up, or the government shut you down,'" Hanson predicted.

In a recent missive, Musk wrote to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor that he invested in the platform in part due to its "potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe."

"And I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy. However, since making my investment, I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company."

https://www.foxnews.com/media/elon-musk-twitter-victor-davis-hanson-silicon-valley-big-tech

MEDIA Published April 12, 2022 10:36am EDT

New York Times calls Elon Musk’s possible future plans ‘treacherous,’ ‘threat’ to Twitter

The paper warned that Twitter is dealing "with an activist investor unlike any other.

Now who here doesnt like this panic in print?

The New York Times warned about Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s plans for Twitter in a recent piece titled, "Twitter Grapples with an Elon Musk problem."

In the article, published April 11, the outlet claimed that Musk’s "possible intentions" to buy more shares of Twitter and increase his power over the company, as laid out in his recent filing to the SEC, represent a "treacherous situation" for the social media company.

The Times wrote, "It was a promise — or perhaps it was a threat. Either way, the filing encapsulated the treacherous situation that Twitter now finds itself in."

Musk "could very well use the social media platform against itself and even buy enough shares to take over the company," it warned.

Musk’s foray into having power within Twitter has been a nightmare for the left ever since the "world’s wealthiest man" amassed a massive 9.2% stake in the company, becoming its largest shareholder, in recent weeks. Musk’s SEC filing further antagonized his political enemies because it signaled the reversal of his earlier decision to join the Twitter board, which would have limited his ownership of the company to 14.9%.

By not joining the board, Musk is free to bolster his stake.

The Times wrote, "[H]e was invited onto Twitter’s 11-person board and agreed to not own more than 14.9 percent of the company or take it over. Then on Sunday, Twitter abruptly said all of those bets were off and that Mr. Musk would not become a director."

"By no longer joining the board, he liberated himself from corporate governance rules that would have required him to act in the best interests of the company and its shareholders," the piece added.

Those developments combined with the fact that Musk has been highly critical of online censorship, which the social media giant has been accused of perpetrating, has given industry types reason to suspect a big shake up for the company.

The paper wrote that Twitter is now dealing "with an activist investor unlike any other."

It also described Musk’s behavior on Twitter, saying he’s known "for being unpredictable and outspoken, often using Twitter to criticize, insult and troll others." He’s an anon pepe, take care of him.

The paper then went onto describe the mood of Twitter employees not enthused by the new stakeholder. "Inside Twitter on Monday, employees were dismayed and concerned by Mr. Musk’s antics, according to half a dozen current and former workers, who were not authorized to speak publicly."

Other anonymous employees mentioned they were "upset at Mr. Musk’s tweets criticizing the company’s product and business model."

According to the Times, these employees believed that Musk "didn’t appreciate the time and thought that went into updating Twitter’s services." They also claimed he "had no knowledge of the product work map."

"The relief among Twitter employees that he was no longer joining the board was short-lived," The Times reported.

"Mr. Musk could continue toying with Twitter, the current and former employees said they had realized. Several added that they were afraid of what might come next," the article concluded.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/new-york-times-calls-elon-musk-possible-future-twitter-plans-treacherous-threat

>>16078055

I think they should have used “dastardly” instead of treacherous, it comes across as an evil villain better! Kek

>>16078084

Kekkity

>>16078101

Why do people still ask this question, and Trump didnt create it

>>16078113

He is funny, he may have multiple personalities that are all funny! Kek

>>16078121

This has got to be strategy, they wouldn’t let him say a word without telling him what to say in his ear on the campaign trail and early on in the WH. Are the sabotaging the old fool? And to what end?

>>16078153

No, Jack looks like a homeless mind controlled zombie and he’d only muck up the plan

>>16078183

The richest man in the world has s lot of corporate and financial advisors and they are all sharks, they have to be. The CEO Pragg (is that his name) is beyond his depth of understanding business. Did Jack set up for this downfall?

>>16078191

Kek, I join you in prayer

>>16078267

He does a great impression of Reagan

>>16078306

Please just send piss off, you’re tiring with your stupidity

Go to Reddit

>>16078315

Yep, they will never win. They too stupid

>>16078333

Nope, they wont succeed