N. Korea’s offer to suspend nuclear tests is greeted with suspicion: Reuters
Gary Cohn, Trump’s top economic adviser, will resign: NY Times
Some analysts see deeper chaos in White House after Cohn’s departure: Politico
US weighs new limits on Chinese imports and investments: Bloomberg
The US-China rivalry is increasingly about technology: NY Times
Which US industries, companies will take a hit in a trade war? CBS
US factory orders declined in Jan–first monthly slide in 6 months: Reuters
The rise in China’s debt boom is almost without precedent: FT Alphaville
Ranking the potential blowback from Trump’s tariffs on US states: Brookings

The US stock market this year has taken investors on a white-knuckled ride, but the momentum factor’s performance leadership has remained a constant in the US equity factor space, based on a set of proxy ETFs.
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EU proposes 25% retaliatory tariff on US goods: Bloomberg
Republican lawmakers pressure Trump to abandon trade tariffs: The Hill
N. Korea announces “agreement” with S. Korea to advance dialogue: Reuters
Washington is first state to pass net neutrality protections: Medium
ISM Non-Mfg Index edges lower in Feb: RTT
PMI: US services sector econ activity accelerates to 6-mo high in Feb: IHS Markit
Critics bemoan Fidelity’s decision to raise equity risk in target date funds: Reuters
An aging rail tunnel into Manhattan is a key risk factor for US economy: Bloomberg
Global All-Industry Output Index ticks up to 41-month high in Feb: IHS Markit

Last week’s trading ended in the red for all but one of the major asset classes, based on a set of exchange-traded products. US inflation-linked Treasuries edged higher over the five trading days through Mar. 2 while losses weighed on everything else.
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Populist uprising looms in Italy after Sunday’s parliamentary election: Reuters
South Korea’s envoys meet North Korea’s Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang: BBC
China worries are linked with US aircraft carrier visit to Vietnam: Time
Germany’s political gridlock ends as Merkel forms governing coalition: Time
IEA: US shale oil output will surge over next 5 years: Reuters
China sets 6.5% growth target: Bloomberg
US Consumer Sentiment Index eased in Feb to 2nd highest level in 14 years: MW
Krugman: new trade tariffs may lift US inflation rate: NY Times
Trillion-dollar-plus US budget deficits on the horizon for years to come: CRFB

● The Truth Machine: The Blockchain and the Future of Everything
By Michael J. Casey and Paul Vigna
Summary via publisher (St. Martin’s Press)
Big banks have grown bigger and more entrenched. Privacy exists only until the next hack. Credit card fraud is a fact of life. Many of the “legacy systems” once designed to make our lives easier and our economy more efficient are no longer up to the task. Yet there is a way past all this—a new kind of operating system with the potential to revolutionize vast swaths of our economy: the blockchain. In The Truth Machine, Michael J. Casey and Paul Vigna demystify the blockchain and explain why it can restore personal control over our data, assets, and identities; grant billions of excluded people access to the global economy; and shift the balance of power to revive society’s faith in itself. They reveal the disruption it promises for industries including finance, tech, legal, and shipping.
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It took longer than usual, but the priced-for-perfection bull run has taken a body blow in recent weeks. That’s good news for investors with relatively long time horizons since lower prices equate with higher expected returns. Meantime, with the benefit of hindsight, let’s consider how a pair of econometric tools have fared for monitoring bubble risk and bull/bear market regimes. The question before the house: Have these metrics provided any value for managing risk in an effort to cut through the noise and anticipate trouble based solely on the hard data? As a preview, I’ll argue “yes,” but with caveats.
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Tariffs announced by President Trump trigger widespread criticism: Politico
Trump’s tariffs are seriously flawed from an economic perspective: The Atlantic
Worries about a new trade war reverberate in Asia: Reuters
Russia’s Putin claims a new weapon that exploits US vulnerabilities: NY Times
US jobless claims fell last week to lowest level since 1969: MarketWatch
Consumer spending edged higher as personal income soared in Jan: AP
ISM Mfg Index rose in Feb, close to 14-year high: RTT
US Mfg PMI slipped in Feb, but still close to 3-year high: IHS Markit
Construction spending in US was flat in January: Fox
Most Americans (70%) have a positive view of foreign trade: Gallup

The winning streak hit a wall in February. For more than a year, global markets have been trending higher, in some cases with an unbroken run of monthly gains. But the party came to a full stop last month. For the first time in more than two years, all the major asset classes posted losses for the calendar month (except for cash, based on the S&P US T-Bill 0-3 Month Index, which edged up in February).
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Trump tells lawmakers to pass new gun-control legislation: LA Times
Trump expected to impose tariffs on steel, aluminum imports today: Bloomberg
Are the buzzards circling over Trump’s infrastructure plan? Fiscal Times
US Q4:2017 GDP growth revised down slightly to 2.5%: The Hill
Pending Home Sales Index for US fell 4.7% in January: Reuters
Chicago PMI slumps to 6-month low for February: MarketWatch
Is a debt crisis brewing for the US? The Grumpy Economist
Larry Summers: The next recession could outlast 2008-09 slump: Bloomberg
US stock market’s 10-mo winning streak, longest since 1959, ended in Feb: CNBC
Yield curve continues to flatten after Fed Chair’s upbeat macro outlook: Reuters