Business

It was exactly one week ago when just as Bloomberg reported that Yellen was most likely out of consideration as next Fed chair, and as the WSJ reported that Trump was meeting with Kevin Warsh, that Politico reported, for the first time, that discussions with people close to the Fed Chair selection process "confirmed Kevin Warsh and Jerome Powell as the current front-runners with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said to be favoring Powell. That’s something of a head scratcher to outside observers of the process who did not have Powell on short-lists before the process began.

Jim Grant, author of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, first hinted last week that not all is well when it comes to the world's biggest hedge fund, Ray Dalio's $160 billion Bridgewater (of which one half is the world's biggest risk-parity juggernaut). Speaking to Bloomberg last week, Grant said he was "bearish" on Bridgewater because founder Dalio has become "less focused on investing, while the firm lacks transparency and has produced lackluster returns."

Submitted via Doug Kass,

"We seem to be living in the riskiest moment of our lives, and yet the stock market seems to be napping. I admit to not understanding it.'

--Dr. Richard Thaler, Nobel Prize winner

White House budget director Mike Mulvaney has come out swinging at The IMF, after the establishment-sponsored organization threw shade at Trump's tax reform plan's growth expectations, accusing them of wanting the reforms to fail.

The angry response came after Vitor Gaspar, The IMF’s head of fiscal affairs, told the Financial Times:

News that Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) is retiring from the Senate was not welcome news for advocates of reform in the government-controlled world of housing finance.  "A big loss," said John Thune (R-SD). "He's always been a guy who's really about trying to find solutions, common ground, and getting results."