UBS upgraded Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ) to Buy from Neutral with a price target of $179, up from $145. The company's base business strength and Ziihera pipeline catalysts boost confidence that the stock warrants a higher multiple, the analyst tells investors in a research note.
Friday, March 7, 2025
Ukraine foreign minister says he had constructive call with US counterpart Rubio
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said he had a "constructive call" with his U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio on Friday to discuss an upcoming bilateral meeting in Saudi Arabia.
"Ukraine wants the war to end, and US leadership is essential for achieving lasting peace. We also discussed ways to advance our bilateral cooperation," Sybiha said on X.
U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on Thursday he was in discussions with Ukraine for a peace agreement framework to end the three-year war with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said intensive contacts were taking place with U.S. officials all day.
"Today the most intensive work has been going on all day with President Trump's team at different levels - many calls," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
"The topic is clear - peace as quickly as possible, the most reliable security possible. Ukraine is committed to being as constructive as possible."
https://www.aol.com/news/ukraine-foreign-minister-says-had-185041356.html
Watch: President Trump Delivers Remarks From Oval Office
The White House has just announced that President Trump will deliver remarks from The Oval Office at 11ET, providing no context or theme for what he will discuss.
There's plenty of speculation as he has been busy over the last 24 hours:
Will he mention the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve?
Will he discuss blocking all funding to South Africa?
Will he bring up Ukraine's minerals deal and his Russian sanctions threat?
Will his adjustment from "hatchet" to "scalpel" approach for DOGE come up?
Will he bring up Europe's "ReArm" plan?
Will he mock Congressman Green's outburst?
Will he announce a federal ban on China's DeepSeek app?
Will he explain why he temporarily folded on his sanctions threats against Mexico and Canada?
Or, is Trump trying to front-run Fed Chair Powell's speech at 1230ET on the economy and jobs report today?
Your guess is as good as ours...
Watch live here:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-live-president-trump-delivers-remarks-oval-office
Massie And Lee Introduce Bills To "End The Fed"
by Tho Bishop via The Mises Institute,
Yesterday Rep. Thomas Massie reintroduced legislation to abolish the Federal Reserve.
Joining as original sponsors of the House bill are ten other members, including Rep. Andy Biggs, Rep. Lauren Boebert, Rep. Eric Burlison, Rep. Kat Cammack, Rep. Michael Cloud, Rep. Elijah Crane, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rep. Harriet Hageman, Rep. Scott Perry, and Rep. Chip Roy.
This was shortly followed by a corresponding bill in the Senate, introduced by Senator Mike Lee.
This comes at a time of greater political scrutiny being placed upon both the Federal Reserve and general questions about American’s monetary future. In recent weeks, Donald Trump has pledged to audit the gold holdings of Fort Knox while also embracing a pro-cryptocurrency agenda in his new administration.
It is also notable that Elon Musk, whose shadow looms large over the Washington, has himself taken several public positions that also pit him against America’s central bank. At CPAC recently he discussed the possibility of auditing the Fed, has called it “absurdly overstaffed”, and has himself flirted with the idea of its abolishment.
While Fed abolition remains a minority view within the Republican Party, these moves do signal movement within the Overton Window on the topic in recent years, a testament to Ron Paul’s lasting impact on American politics.
For more on why it is time to End the Fed, watch our new documentary, Playing With Fire: Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve
Powell Delivers Remarks On Monetary Policy & The Economy
With the stagflation monster rearing its ugly head, and following a weaker than expected jobs report (with unemployment rates rising), Fed Chair Jerome Powell is set to address the 18th annual University of Chicago Booth School of Business U.S. Monetary Policy Forum in New York.
Investors are looking to the Fed chair for hints about the direction of monetary policy after a slew of data that raise questions about US economic growth. The 'growth scare' has pushed market expectations significantly more dovish than The Fed's dot-plot (3 cuts priced in vs 2 cuts in SEP)...
Last month, Powell reiterated the central bank's commitment to bringing inflation down and signaled that policymakers aren't in a rush to push interest rates lower.
Watch Live here (due to start at 1230ET):
Here are Powell's prepared remarks:
Thank you, Anil. I appreciate the opportunity to speak at this forum and look forward to our discussion. I will start with some brief remarks about the economy and the path of policy.
Despite elevated levels of uncertainty, the U.S. economy continues to be in a good place. The labor market is solid, and inflation has moved closer to our 2 percent longer-run goal. At the Federal Reserve, we are intently focused on the dual-mandate goals given to us by Congress: maximum employment and stable prices.
Recent Economic Data
Economic growth
The economy has been growing at a solid pace. GDP expanded at a 2.3 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of last year, extending a period of consistent growth that has been supported by resilient consumer spending. Recent indicators point to a possible moderation in consumer spending relative to the rapid growth rate over the second half of 2024. Further, recent surveys of households and businesses point to heightened uncertainty about the economic outlook. It remains to be seen how these developments might affect future spending and investment. Sentiment readings have not been a good predictor of consumption growth in recent years. We continue to carefully monitor a variety of indicators of household and business spending.
The labor market
Many indicators show that the labor market is solid and broadly in balance. The jobs report released this morning showed employers added 151,000 jobs to payrolls in February and the unemployment rate was 4.1 percent last month. Smoothing over the month-to-month volatility, since September, employers have added a solid 191,000 jobs a month on average. The unemployment rate remains low and has held in a narrow range between 3.9 and 4.2 percent for the past year. The jobs-to-workers gap has narrowed, and the quits rate has moved below pre-pandemic levels. Wages are growing faster than inflation, and at a more sustainable pace than earlier in the pandemic recovery. With wage growth moderating and labor supply and demand having moved into better balance, the labor market is not a significant source of inflationary pressure.
Inflation
Inflation has come down a long way from its mid-2022 peak above 7 percent without a sharp increase in unemployment—a historically unusual and most welcome outcome. While progress in reducing inflation has been broad based, recent readings remain somewhat above our 2 percent objective. The path to sustainably returning inflation to our target has been bumpy, and we expect that to continue. We see ongoing progress in categories that remain elevated, such as housing services and the market-based components of non-housing services. Inflation can be volatile month-to-month, and we do not overreact to one or two readings that are higher or lower than anticipated. Data released last week showed that total PCE prices rose 2.5 percent over the 12 months ending in January and that, excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core PCE prices rose 2.6 percent. We pay close attention to a broad range of measures of inflation expectations, and some near-term measures have recently moved up. We see this in both market- and survey-based measures, and survey respondents, both consumers and businesses, are mentioning tariffs as a driving factor. Beyond the next year or so, however, most measures of longer-term expectations remain stable and consistent with our 2 percent inflation goal.
Monetary Policy
Looking ahead, the new Administration is in the process of implementing significant policy changes in four distinct areas: trade, immigration, fiscal policy, and regulation. It is the net effect of these policy changes that will matter for the economy and for the path of monetary policy. While there have been recent developments in some of these areas, especially trade policy, uncertainty around the changes and their likely effects remains high. As we parse the incoming information, we are focused on separating the signal from the noise as the outlook evolves. We do not need to be in a hurry, and are well positioned to wait for greater clarity.
Policy is not on a preset course. If the economy remains strong but inflation does not continue to move sustainably toward 2 percent, we can maintain policy restraint for longer. If the labor market were to weaken unexpectedly or inflation were to fall more quickly than anticipated, we can ease policy accordingly. Our current policy stance is well positioned to deal with the risks and uncertainties that we face in pursuing both sides of our dual mandate.
Conclusion
Before I conclude, I will note that at our last FOMC meeting, we began our second five-year review of our monetary policy framework. We will consider changes to our consensus statement (Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy) and to our communications as part of this review. The consensus statement articulates our framework for the conduct of monetary policy in pursuit of the goals assigned to us by Congress. We will consider lessons of the past five years and adapt our approach, where appropriate, to best serve the American people, to whom we are accountable. The 2 percent longer-run inflation goal will be retained and is not a focus of the review.
This public review will be familiar to those who followed our process five years ago. We will hold outreach events around the country involving a wide range of parties, including Fed Listens events. We are open to new ideas and critical feedback. We will host a research conference in Washington in May. Our intent is to wrap up the review by late summer.
DHS Ends TSA Collective Bargaining on Finding 'More Full-Time Union Workers' Than Airport Screeners
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is ending collective bargaining for Transportation Security Officers with the TSA, Fox News reports, citing a release obtained by Fox Business.
According to the report, The TSA has more people doing "full-time union work" vs. performing actual screening functions at 86% of US airports. Put another way, 374 out of 432 federalized airports have fewer than 200 TSA Officers to perform screening functions, while the rest are paid by the government but work "full-time on union matters" and do not retain certification to perform screening.
What's more, DHS cited a recent TSA employee survey which found that over 60% of "poor performers" are allowed to stay employed and "not surprisingly, continue to not perform."
(Also, maybe get rid of the nut-grabbers in the TSA patdown area when we don't want to submit to those Total Recall scanners made by Leidos - formerly SAIC).
According to DHS, eliminating collective bargaining will make airports more efficient by eliminating "bureaucratic hurdles that will enhance productivity, and lower passengers' wait times in security lines."
DHS says that TSA Officers will now be promoted based on performance vs. tenure or union membership.
"Thanks to [DHS] Secretary Noem’s action, Transportation Security Officers will no longer lose their hard-earned dollars to a union that does not represent them. The Trump Administration is committed to returning to merit-based hiring and firing policies," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement, adding "This action will ensure Americans will have a more effective and modernized [workforce] across the nation’s transportation networks—meaning shorter airport security wait times. TSA is renewing its commitment to providing a quick and secure travel process for Americans."
Bayer Askbio Advances Gene Therapy Clinical Trial Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy
- Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) recommendation to initiate second cohort follows review of Phase 1/Phase 2 LION-CS101 trial safety data for AB-1003
- Second cohort enrollment is ongoing
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