Europe

Nations representing almost 60%of the world’s oil production will gather in Doha on April 17 to discuss "freezing their output at January levels" in an effort to stabilize prices. According to Bloomberg, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela made a preliminary deal in February and are seeking to add more producers and extend the recent price recovery, but, despite the exuberant squeeze early this week, oil prices are fading modestly as D(oha)-Day looms.

The Fed is “one and done” for rate hikes.

We called this back in mid-2015. The US economy is far too weak for the Fed to engage in anything resembling a series of rate hikes. Corporate leverage, household leverage, even the national debt stand at levels that limit the Fed from hiking rates.

The Central Banking insiders know this. Which is why Former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke admitted in private luncheons with hedge fund managers that rates would not “normalize” in his “lifetime.”

There has been some confusion in recent weeks about one unexplained aspect of the rising market: just who is buying?

The reason for the confusion is not only the previously documented buyer strike by the smart money (hedge funds, institutions and private clients), which as we reported a few days have sold stocks for 11 consecutive weeks.

Then last night, citing the latest EPFR data, BofA reported that retail equity investors are now also "risk-off" following $6.2 billion in equity outflows from all regions.

Several weeks ago, a German comedian Jan Böhmermann, landed in hot water after releasing a satirical "video poem" about the Turkish president which aired in ZDF Neo Royale program on March 31, and accuses Erdogan of repressing Turkey’s national and religious minorities, as well as of being a pedophile.

The video, which incidentally was less funny than the author had intended, can be seen in the clip below.

• Global stocks, dollar and oil cool ahead of Doha meeting (Reuters)
• Oil Falls Before Doha as Global Markets Brace for Weekend Risk (BBG)
• China Growth Slows; Revival Policies Appear to Gain Traction (WSJ)
• White House hopefuls Clinton, Sanders joust in Brooklyn brawl (Reuters)
• Trump talks up 'New York values' as protesters demonstrate against him (Reuters)
• Sanders Can’t Clarify Wall Street Plan in Testy Clinton Debate (BBG)
• Goldman's Blankfein Said to Push Deepest Cost Cuts in Years (BBG)