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

Jerome Powell, the newly installed chairman of the Federal Reserve, advised in his public debut as head of the central bank that “there’s always a risk of a recession at any point in time, but I don’t see it as at all high at the moment.” Instead, he told the House Financial Services Committee that “I would expect the next two years on the current path to be good years for the economy.”
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UN report: N. Korea ‘providing materials’ for Syria chemical weapons: BBC
Fed Chair Powell hints at more than 3 rate hikes this year: CNBC
Global stocks continue to fall after Powell’s comments: Bloomberg
Can the low jobless rate in US continue to fall? No one knows: NY Times
US durable goods orders fell 3.7% in Jan and biz inv slumped again: MW 
US Trade deficit widens in Jan, hinting at more pressure on Q1 GDP: MW
GDPNow estimate of US Q1 GDP growth drops to 2.6%: Atlanta Fed
Wholesale inventories for Jan rise 0.4% in US: CNBC
US house prices still rising, but signs of softer pace emerging: HousingWire 
Richmond Fed Mfg Index rises to 2nd highest level on record: Bond Buyer
How did low-vol strategies fare in recent market turbulence? Wealth Mgt
Treasury yields rise after Fed chair’s testimony in House: Reuters

The median estimate for US GDP growth in the first quarter is on track for a modest acceleration, according to the median of several forecasts compiled by The Capital Spectator. If the projection is correct, output will strengthen over the 2.6% rise for last year’s fourth quarter.
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IEA: US to overtake Russia as world’s largest oil producer in 2019: Reuters
Gun control efforts face headwinds in Senate: Politico
What to watch for in today’s testimony by Fed Chair Powell: MarketWatch
Global stocks rise to 3-week highs ahead of Fed chief’s debut in Congress: Reuters
St Louis Fed President is”concerned that [rate hikes go] too far too fast”: Reuters
Fed’s Quarles: “I am fairly optimistic about… the economy”: CNBC
US economy expanded at a slightly softer pace in January: Chicago Fed
IRS forces Coinbase, a cryptocurrency broker, to report records: Digital Trends
Dallas Fed: mfg business activity at highest level since 2005: San Antonio Exp News
New home sales in US fell to a 5-month low in Dec: CNBC