Asia

In a mostly quiet Wednesday session, Asian stocks rose overnight along with European bourses, which were led higher by miners after Rio Tinto posted higher profits for the first time in three years and a bigger-than-expected dividend, while India’s Sensex extended declines after the central bank unexpectedly left rates unchanged. US futures were little changed as oil continued to fall after API reported a huge inventory build in the last week.

A new study looking at human DNA reveals that early humans may have interbred with a  mysterious ‘alien species’ over 30,000 years ago.  According to scientists, updated genome sequences from two relatives of modern humans reveal that these groups interbred with several human-like species, one of which was “not human”. 3tags.org reports: The ancient genomes, one from a Neanderthal and one from a member of an archaic human group called the Denisovans, were presented at a meeting on ancient DNA at the Royal Society in London.

• Senate to Vote on DeVos Confirmation Amid Fiery Debate (WSJ)
• Investors Cut Back on Commercial Property (WSJ)
• Euro, European bonds unnerved by French politics (Reuters)
• Trump’s Dodd-Frank Do-Over Diverted to Slow Lane (BBG)
• In GOP, Divide Grows Over Pace of Obamacare Repeal (WSJ)
• Syria Detains Opponents as It Reasserts Control (WSJ)
• Gaga’s Halftime Drone Swarm Was Pretaped (BBG)
• Tom Brady’s Missing Super Bowl Jersey Could Be Worth $500,000 (BBG)
• The New Face of American Unemployment (BBG)

Paul Singer, founder and President of Elliot Management Corporation is known for being a skeptic of traditional market pundits. In his fourth quarter letter, he made several different predictions about the market. He acknowledged the highly unpredictable environment that we have highlighted before in our articles about Trump and the markets. The letter also contains a specific warning about the worsening situation in China.

Beijing surprised China-watchers this morning, when the PBOC announced that in January, China’s foreign-currency reserves dipped by $12.3 billion, below the key "psychological level" of $3 trillion, or $2.998 trillion to be exact, declining for the 7th consecutive month, and dropping to the lowest since early 2011. Consensus had expected a drop of $10.5 billion to just above $3 trillion.