Business

In all the drama surrounding the French elections, few noticed the PBOC's announcement that China’s FX reserves rose for the third straight month in April, increasing by $20.45 billion to $3.03 trillion, more than the $11 billion expected and the single biggest monthly increase in three years going back to April 2014, on the back of a weaker dollar and increasingly more draconian capital controls on outflows.

Submitted by Shant Movsesian (RANSquawk) and Rajan Dhall MSTA

All eyes on Sunday’s French election result, but little evidence of defensive positioning in the EUR. GBP continues to fly the flag, batting off the negative mood over the latest Brexit exchanges. Commodities in focus, but tentative signs of some near term relief. CAD overstretched. US jobs report mixed at best.

In 2016 investors poured $480 billion into passive funds, a mix of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, while pulling more than $380 billion from active mutual funds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Passive equity investments may become as much as 45 percent of the mutual fund industry within five years as investors move to low-cost funds, Bogle said in an interview on Bloomberg Radio in March. But just how much can the market take?

Ben Bernanke on Sunday pressed for infrastructure spending and tax reform, saying they would benefit the economy more than tax cuts.

“I think that it is important, as I mentioned, even though the recovery is proceeding, the underlying growth path is not very strong. Productivity gains have not been very strong,” Bernanke said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” referring to President Trump’s proposed tax cuts.

Authored by Eric Peters via EricPetersAutos.com,

You can’t just sell gas anymore.

Most people don’t realize it, but what they’re pumping into their car’s tank isn’t actually gasoline, properly speaking. It’s gasoline mixed with ethanol alcohol – the ratio currently set at 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gas (E10).