iPhone

• Shares fall with oil prices, yen in demand (Reuters)
• Trump's third straight win has rivals looking for answers (Reuters)
• How Marco Rubio Blunted Ted Cruz—and Boosted Donald Trump (BBG)
• Donald Trump Seals GOP Front-Runner Status With Nevada Win (WSJ)
• Fischer says no Fed plan to move to negative interest rates (Reuters)
• Lew Says Don't Expect `Crisis Response' From Group of 20 Meeting (BBG)
• Solid support for Apple in iPhone encryption fight (Reuters)
• This Year’s Biggest IPO Is a Blank Check for the Oil Business (WSJ)

After sung vespers, and just before going in to dinner last night at the Benedictine monastery in Norcia, a young man stopped me in the space outside the refectory, extended his hand, and said, “Rod, it’s Justin.”

I didn’t remember him from last time.

Bill Gates’ eagerness for Apple to allow the FBI to install backdoor software on its iPhone devices may stem from the fact that in 1999 Microsoft allowed the NSA to build a backdoor into all Windows software: A careless mistake by Microsoft programmers has revealed that special access codes prepared by the US National Security Agency have been secretly built into Windows. The NSA access system is built into every version of the Windows operating system now in use, except early releases of Windows 95 (and its predecessors).

A leaked White House memo reveals that the NSA already have a tool that allows them to bypass security on iPhone devices and access private user data.  The current media frenzy about Apple’s stance on user privacy is likely to be a deliberately orchestrated distraction from the fact that the government already routinely accesses private information from Apple and Microsoft products.

Unlike Monday's global PMI deterioration (which sent markets around the globe soaring), there was little in terms of macroeconomic data overnight (German IFO earlier missed on expectations and business climate but beat on current assessment) so the "market made the news." These came most from the USDJPY which has continued to fall, sliding to 111.85 overnight, and dragging the Nikkei to a -0.4% drop.