#USING THE INFO ROGUE HAD GIVEN HER THAT MORNING IN CONFIDENCE AGAINST HER!!!!

[punkrogue]

I always feel so frustrated with how unimaginative Marvel is with Remy, the only interesting things he's had is New Sun and X-Factor. Idk if this is true, but I read there was some rumor that Remy was gonna be an alter ego of Sinister, which would've given the writers more to work with imo. I think why some writers like Rogue and Erik more since they're much easier to work with outside of shipping. Same with Kurt, whom I sometimes think Remy is a pale imitation of (Catholic, martial artist, looks demonic, ladies man, even his powers suit a thief more than Remy's). If Kurt and Rogue weren't siblings, I'd sooner ship Rogue with him than Remy. Also, since Remy can only charge non-living things, it just makes him look weak and limited compared to other characters. I don't say all this shit to be mean, but I do get frustrated with how little material he's given, and can understand why his character is constantly put on the back burner in various media compared to other X-Men characters.

Yeah I remember reading somewhere they'd thought about doing something like that with Remy and Sinister and I think instead went with New Sun? Something like that. Also considered having him be ANOTHER Secret Summers Brother and I'm glad we didn't go this route lol we need to stop the Summers-Grey family tree from taking over the whole X-verse while we can.

I'll say that I don't feel that Remy is a pale imitation of Kurt mainly because I feel Remy deals with a lotta things that Kurt really doesn't on a personal level (true parental abandonment like no margali in SIGHT kinda shit, street life, crime, child soldier gangland shit, the greys and blacks of morality etc). You see more of those things in his solos which can even get a bit of a noir vibe to them which is nice but people just rarely wanna put in the time and effort with Remy. They rarely get him so they knock him down into say, the TAS 90s Gambit mold and call it a day. Which is just ....... no one wants that. Not Gambit Haters, not Gambit Stans.

And I get what you're saying about his powers but I think if he could charge living matter constantly like he can as New Sun homie would be so comically OP. I think the real issue here is just again, fuckers don't know how to write him so they go for whatever's easiest. So it's all lame, dumb and boring. If they let him get funky with his powers a bit more it'd could be super cool.

The pro of Rogue and Magneto when made scene partners is that they do have much more solid pre-existing characterizations, vibes and "story packs". As a writer you can walk in and already there's a couple of things you can do which are kinda like Rogue or Magneto Classics. Remy not so much so he ends up being like, Rogue's loser sidekick which sucks.

I feel you tho on the shitshow that is comic Rogue-Kurt dynamics. I too can see the appeal and charm of them as a romantic ship just as much as I can see them working wonderfully as a sibling pair. My beef around them has been for years that we get this Big Reveal that Mystique is Kurt's Bio-Mom but after he has his initial freak out for a couple issues in Excalibur or Uncanny or w/e he was in at the time I forget I just remember Amanda is there this whole thing-- IT NEVER REALLY COMES UP AGAIN BETWEEN HIM AND ROGUE AND THEY JUST ACT LIKE NORMAL AND OCCASIONALLY MENTION THEY'RE SORT-OF RELATED IN A WAY THAT'S MORE OF A REMINDER TO THE AUDIENCE????? LIKE IT'S FUN TRIVIA INSTEAD OF A PLOT POINT OR IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP????

their first serious non-combat interaction was basically Kurt telling her to drop dead when she comes to Xavier for help when she's 17 and he's 21. He finally cuts her some slack after she ALMOST DIES IN A SUICIDE BY VILLAIN ATTEMPT to save Wolverine's fiance which makes Wolverine go "yeah okay fine your not total dogshit ig" so NOW Kurt'll stop being a raging asshole to the mentally ill teen lol (I'm shit talking Kurt rn but this is genuinely part of why I love him). Then there's MAYBE a couple of scenes that are outside of Action Stuff before the X-Men "die" in the late 80s and we get Excalibur where the two of them interact, the biggest of them is him FLIRTING WITH HER.

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #192

Now-- it's Kurt so this isn't anything really all that crazy. He jokingly flirts with like 90% of the X-Men. It's just the kinda silly funny quirky guy he is. But when I'm trying to think of say, Rogue-Kurt moments POST the Mystique Reveal that really feel like People Connecting or them Actually Being Siblings I draw a blank. This flirting scene is more iconic and stand out than basically all of their 00s and on interactions because it feels like a natural and very emotional conflict they WOULD have. He goofs around like he always does, her feelings get hurt, he realizes what he's done and feels like an ass and wants to fix it. EMOTIONS HAPPENED HERE, CHARACTERIZATION AND CONFLICTED OCCURRED. THIS CONFLICT AND LATER RECONCILIATION WILL LEAD TO A BETTER FRIENDSHIP AS WE GO! THANKS CLAREMONT!

Even at her wedding he's basically just like "well I AM her brother (remember? did you see that watchmojo listicle? have you read my wiki recently) and I AM blue so I should ALSO be in the wedding."

There's really not a lot of content of them like, hanging out, post 2004 or so. Some of that is just them being in different books but a lot of it just no one putting in the time or effort. X-Treme X-Men (2001) was all about Rogue looking into shit related to Destiny's writings and grappling with some Family and Personal Grief at the start there. Kurt shoulda been around for at least the first arc. Not thunderbird that absolutely nothing of a dude. It was the perfect setting to work on this issue that the 6 degrees of Mystique™ has made. One of the only other encounters between them I can think of that's post-90s is this:

Rogue (2001) #4

And this interaction is set like VERY SOON after she joined the X-Men!!!! So it's not even a truly modern scene of them just vibing!!!!

To me, they're NOT siblings. Not in the way Kurt is with Amanda who's his ACTUAL adoptive sister or even in the way that Rogue is with Bobby, Sam or Scott who she just has Massive Broship Energies with and it's entirely because their 6 Degrees of Mystique™ is tenuous at best for how much it would really matter to them. Kurt HAS a family! He HAS siblings! Mystique abandoned/lost him and never looked for him or intended to tell him about their connection until forced to. He was raised by Margali and sees HER FAMILY as HIS family and they think the same! Like that's a standard ass adoptive family vibe.

Rogue is found by Mystique and Irene and raised by them in near isolation ON ANOTHER CONTINENT and is never informed about Kurt even in a past "i had a baby and lost him" tense kinda way or Graydon either. To her knowledge growing up she HAS NO SIBLINGS OF ANY KIND. She meets and fights against and then beside Kurt with no idea there's literally anything connecting them but that they're both mutants and x-men for like, YEARS even IN canon. Their whole relationship is rocky as shit for a WHILE there and then she gets YEETED SECRETLY TO AUSTRALIA AND HE THINKS SHE DIED. And let's be clear-- sure he's upset about her "death" too but he is MUCH more upset over the "deaths" of Logan, Ororo and Peter who he ACTUALLY NAMES WHILE TALKING ABOUT THIS GRIEF. Because you know... THESE RELATIONSHIPS ACTUALLY HAD FUCKING SCREENTIME.

Excalibur (1988) #1

He's not a monster, he does give a shit about her, but realistically over the years VERY little time has been put into building ANY relationship between Rogue and Kurt of ANY kind and it's frustrating when they really wanna act like they've got one. They don't. And it pisses me off because realistically Rogue/Kurt is less fucked up than Amanda/Kurt and guess which one is canon. Because of the 6 Degrees of Mystique™ people don't really ship them even tho there's an even more Yikes Kurt ship that's canon and Does Not Seem To Fucking Die, there's been no real development of ANY kind of relationship between him and Rogue, they've lived their ENTIRE lives not knowing each other or not really being more than coworkers and Kurt has NO INTEREST in truly claiming Mystique as his mother which is valid-- she fucking sucks.

I think Rogue/Kurt has legs and it's aggravating to me because I also really like Rogue & Kurt siblingship! I grew up watching Evolution! The sibling vibes and friendship that grow naturally up between them even BEFORE the Mystique Reveal in that show are just CHEF'S KISS. But in comics they IMPLY a familial connection that really.... doesn't mean much... and then they don't show these two deciding it to make it mean something or organically falling into a good sibling relationship... so they cut off the dynamic at the knees. You'll be shit on if you try to go off script and explore a more romantic angle because "ew they're rElAtEd" (ignoring all the previously stated flaws in that argument), there's nothing in canon that helps you figure out how friendly they even truly are so good luck building something canon compliant and they just generally don't seem to even give a shit about this dynamic at all so without dipping into other adaptations/AUs it can be hard to find something to even SAY about them.

Like I'd love to see Rogue and Kurt engage like, finding out what the Mystique Reveal means to them and how they see each other. I'd love to see them becoming friends and then family. I'd love to see them making that CHOICE. Because really in this context it's a CHOICE. She's not his adoptive sister, Amanda is. She's not his bio sister either in 616, that idea got shot down early on. She's a girl his bio mom who is a stranger to him raised an ocean away while he was raised in a loving home with siblings he adores. They met when she was a villain, he vehemently disliked her until she almost died saving someone's life then he tried to at least be civil and friendly. He finds out Mystique is his bio mother and asks Rogue about her but at the end of the day feels no real connection to Mystique or her life. His mother is Margali. The circus was his family. He cares about Mystique, Irene and Rogue because he's a decent human being but like, not in the same amount or extent as his adoptive family.

You can't have a scene of him flirting, even jokingly, with her in the 80s then think a 1993 mom reveal some how totally erases that vibe. Especially when you then put like no effort into exploring that GOLDMINE OF A PLOT THREAD. They've got so few non-combat just hanging out and engaging in character development interactions in 616 canon I can count them on my hands. At this point you could spin a wheel and decide to give them any relationship dynamic and it could genuinely work because there's no real content of them in comics to use contest it.

Like at her wedding they bring up that he's her brother again. That shouldn't be something we have a "turn to the camera and remind the audience" moment about. That should be as "well duh" to me as Bobby being her best man or Scott and Alex being brothers. It's not. It's just not. Their connection is just a factoid at this point and I hate it. You can't close off all these other potential dynamics for them (romantic/enemies/rivals/shitty roommates/etc whatever) by making them connected via Mystique, having an line every like, 10 years that reminds us they're "siblings" (are they tho? are they really? is that how this works?) and kinda vaguely imply they don't hate each other which is really just riding on the fact that pretty much ALL the X-Men like Kurt and we the audience like both of them and then GIVE US NOTHING WITH THAT STATED DYNAMIC!

MORE TIME AND EFFORT WAS PUT INTO MAKING NATE GREY SEE MADYLENE PRYOR AS HIS MOTHER OVER JEAN THAN HAS EVER BEEN PUT INTO MAKING ROGUE AND KURT FEEL LIKE THEY'RE EVEN FRIENDS LET ALONE SIBLINGS AND I'M VERY MAD ABOUT IT!!!! EITHER GIVE ME WHAT I WANT OR CUT THE REINS AT LET ME DO WHATEVER!!!

fsdkjghksdl so i just get VERY heated about this it's a pet peeve of mine.

[nicholerestrada]

Mnuchin still in question for Saudi event

NELLIE LIANG UPDATE — Despite some grumbling from Senate Republicans and financial industry groups, there are no signs whatsoever that the White House will back off from its’ nomination of Nellie Liang, a former long-time Fed staffer currently at Brookings, for a seat of the central bank’s board of governors. MM is told the White House remains confident that Senate Banking and the full Senate will approve of the nomination.

The knock on Liang in some circles is that she’s not strongly enough in favor of deregulatory efforts. But she’s widely respected for her work at the Fed during the financial crisis and supporters argue that once Senate Republicans get to know her they will become much more comfortable.

Story Continued Below

MNUCHIN STILL IN QUESTION FOR SAUDI EVENT — As the Saudi government reportedly weighed whether to say that “rogue operatives” murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a “interrogation gone wrong,” President Trump continues to consider whether or not to send Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to attend the “Davos in the Dessert” event later this month. In remarks to the pool in Georgia, Trump said the White House was still making a decision on whether to send Mnuchin as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo headed to Riyadh to meet with Saudi King Salman. A decision is expected by Friday.

As of Monday night, at least some people inside Treasury were very much hoping that Trump would decide to pull Mnuchin out of the conference.

The “rogue killers” line, as unbelievable as it sounds, is one that Trump himself also used on Monday after talked to King Salman and received the king’s “flat denial.” It sounds as though both Saudi Arabia and the White House are looking for ways to distance the Saudis from Khashoggi’s alleged murder and ease tensions with the kingdom.

There are serious economic reasons beyond defense contracts that the U.S. wants to turn the heat down with Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi. The Saudis on Monday threatened to retaliate against any sanctions, something that could conceivably include an oil embargo that could drive up U.S. consumer prices. Oil prices retreated after Trump’s statements on Monday but remain on edge.

Via CNBC on the importance of Saudi production: “Saudi Arabia produces about 10.5 million barrels of oil per day, equal to more than 10 percent of global crude demand. It exports about 7 million barrels a day of oil … Given those figures, the kingdom is a central pillar of the global oil market at any time. But its influence is especially pronounced right now.

“That’s because the Trump administration is aiming to wipe out oil exports from Iran, OPEC’s third-biggest partner and a longtime enemy of both Saudi Arabia and the United States. Trump restored sanctions on Iran in May and gave oil buyers until Nov. 4 to stop importing Iranian crude.

“Saudi Arabia is one of the few OPEC nations with enough spare capacity to offset the loss of Iranian barrels. The Trump administration is relying on the kingdom to increase output and blunt the upward pressure on oil prices caused by its Iran policy.”

DEFICIT EXPLODES — POLITICO’s Sarah Ferris: “Trump’s first full fiscal year in office has produced the nation’s largest budget shortfall in six years, according to Treasury Department data … The U.S. deficit widened in fiscal 2018 to $779 billion, which is $113 billion more than the previous year … That figure is in line with the CBO’s estimated shortfall of $793 billion. …

“The $779 billion figure is the largest deficit since the height of the Great Recession in 2012, when the budget shortfall amounted to $1.089 trillion. … Mnuchin attributed part of the spending increase to a short-term boost for the military.” Read more.

THE FIGURE IS EXTRAORDINARY when you think about the fact that the economy is as strong as it is and unemployment is at just 3.7 percent. Typically, governments run up these kind of deficits in times of recession. But it’s totally out of fashion to care about debt and deficits any more. Progressives may hate the Trump tax cuts but they balk at any notion that the government should worry about red ink and would fight hard against any non-military spending cuts.

Republicans used to pretend they cared about deficits (and in fact forced shutdowns and a debt limit crisis under President Obama) but in the age of Trump they don’t really care anymore. And the Trump White House can call for big non-military spending cuts in its annual budget submissions but those document are purely political exercises and don’t actual reflect Trump’s policy, something that will be especially true headed into a re-election campaign.

HOW TIMES CHANGE— Via WSJ’s Kate Davidson: “Higher government spending and near-flat revenue combined to drive the fiscal 2018 deficit to 3.9% of gross domestic product, up from 3.5% of GDP the year before.

“By comparison, the last time the jobless rate was below 4%, in 2000, the U.S. ran a budget surplus of 2.3% of GDP. Revenue that year rose 11% from a year earlier. And in 1969, when the jobless rate last touched 3.7%, the U.S. ran a budget surplus equal to 0.3% of GDP. Revenue was up 22% that year.”

PRU PREPS FOR DE-DESIGNATION — POLITICO’s Victoria Guida for Pros: “Federal regulators are set to agree as soon as Tuesday to relax oversight of insurance giant Prudential Financial, marking an end to a decade-long effort to police nonbank institutions whose failure could once again threaten the nation’s financial system.

“The Financial Stability Oversight Council … is expected to vote to remove Prudential’s label as ;systemically important,’ which places it under the scrutiny of the Federal Reserve. Four nonbanks — including AIG, a central player in the financial crisis, which received a massive government bailout — were also given that tag under the Obama administration, but Prudential is the only one left.” Read more.

U.S. POLITICS IN A NEW YORK MINUTE — Check out my latest video for GZero Media giving you the week in U.S. politics in just sixty seconds.

RIP PAUL ALLEN — Seattle Times’ Rachel Lerman: “Paul Allen, founder of Microsoft and prominent Seattle businessman and philanthropist, has died at age 65. Allen died Monday afternoon, according to his multi-faceted holding company Vulcan Inc., just two weeks after announcing he had restarted treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

“Allen co-founded Redmond tech giant Microsoft with childhood friend Bill Gates. After leaving the company, he turned his focus to a wide range of other business and scientific pursuits, which including founding the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and the real estate arm of Vulcan, which went on to build much of Amazon’s campus. Allen also owned the Seattle Seahawks and the Portland Trail Blazers.” Read more.

GOOD TUESDAY MORNING — Email me on bwhite@politico.com and follow me on Twitter @morningmoneyben. Email Aubree Eliza Weaver on aweaver@politico.com and follow her on Twitter @AubreeEWeaver.

THIS MORNING ON POLITICO PRO FINANCIAL SERVICES — Katy O’Donnell’s interview with Michael Bright, acting president of Ginnie Mae. To get Morning Money every day before 6 a.m., please contact Pro Services at (703) 341-4600 or info@politicopro.com.

POLITICO IS PARTNERING WITH THE MILKEN INSTITUTE to bring a special edition of the POLITICO Pulse newsletter to the Milken Institute Future of Health Summit. Written by Dan Diamond, the newsletter will take readers inside one of the most influential gatherings of global health industry leaders and innovators as they tackle today’s most pressing health challenges. The newsletter will run Oct. 23-24. Sign up today to begin receiving exclusive coverage on Day One of the summit.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYS A RED WAVE IS COMING ON ELECTION DAY. Is he right, or will the tide turn blue? Compete against the nation’s top political minds in the POLITICO Playbook Election Challenge, by correctly picking the winning candidates in some of the most competitive House, Senate and gubernatorial races in the country. Win awesome prizes and eternal bragging rights. Sign up today: Visit politico.com/playbookelectionchallenge to play.

OOPS — Bloomberg’s Alex Wayne and Saleha Mohsin: “Trump said that Sears Holdings Corp. had been mismanaged for years before it declared bankruptcy. Among those responsible for its management: his Treasury secretary.

“Steven Mnuchin was a member of Sears’s board from 2005 until December 2016, and before that was a director for K-Mart Corp., which was acquired by Sears in 2005. ‘Sears has been dying for many years,’ Trump told reporters as he departed the White House on Monday to inspect hurricane damage in Florida. ‘It’s been obviously improperly run for many years and it’s a shame.’” Read more.

BIG COAL PLAN DIES AT THE WHITE HOUSE — POLITICO’s Eric Wolff and Darius Dixon: “One of the Trump administration’s major efforts to prop up ailing coal companies has run aground in the White House, a setback to an industry that had hoped for a major resurgence after Donald Trump won the presidency.

“Energy Secretary Rick Perry has spent more than a year pushing various plans that would invoke national security to force power companies to keep their economically struggling coal plants running — a goal in line with Trump’s frequent pledges to revive what he calls ‘beautiful, clean coal.’ But the White House has shelved the plan amid opposition from the president’s own advisers on the National Security Council and National Economic Council” Read more.

FORMER CFPB STUDENT LOAN CHIEF MAKES HIS CASE IN STATES – Via POLITICO’s Michael Stratford: Seth Frotman, who earlier this year resigned as the top student loan official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in protest of Trump administration policies, is making the case that states need to step up their oversight of the student loan industry.

— Frotman will appear today at a consumer advocacy conference in New Jersey to urge state lawmakers to more tightly regulate student loan companies. He’ll blast the Trump administration as captive to industry interests at the expense of student loan borrowers, according to prepared remarks shared with Morning Education.

ELIZABETH WARREN IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT — POLITICO’s Natasha Korecki and Alex Thompson: “At a town hall meeting last month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren finally revealed she was taking ‘a hard look’ at running for president. Now it’s clear just how hard she’s looking Monday’s grandiose, made-for-media detailing of her Native American ancestry — complete with DNA documentation — erased any questions about the Massachusetts senator’s intent.

“Something approaching a 2020 campaign slogan is beginning to take shape: ‘Persist.’ … The breadth of her national political operation was made clear in an exhaustive account on Sunday. In recent months Warren has released 10 years of tax returns, introduced a major anti-corruption legislative package, published policy papers and even shifted from her studied avoidance of the press to stopping in the Senate hallway to take questions and taking private, off-the-record meetings with national reporters in New York and D.C.”

NOT ALL DEMS THRILLED WITH WARREN — Jim Messina, @messina2012, on Twitter: “Argue the substance all you want, but why 22 days before a crucial election where we MUST win house and senate to save America, why did @SenWarren have to do her announcement now? Why can’t Dems ever stay focused???”

STOCKS FADE, FINISH LOWER — AP’s Marley Jay: “After a wobbly day of trading, U.S. stocks fell for the seventh time in eight days Monday as technology companies continued to slide. Industrial and high-dividend companies rose, and the market’s losses were limited relative to the steep losses it suffered last week.

“Stocks opened lower and repeatedly switched between small gains and losses before falling in the last hour of trading. Along with technology companies, health care and energy stocks and retailers also fell as the companies that have led the U.S. market higher this year continued to struggle.” Read more.

And Asian stocks rise — Bloomberg’s Andreea Papuc: “Asian stocks chalked modest gains at the open Tuesday as U.S. equity index futures advanced, with investors balancing the outlook for global growth and earnings against geopolitical flareups and technical weakness. Read more.

YELLEN CALLS TRUMP’S ATTACK ON FED COUNTERPRODUCTIVE — WSJ’s Nick Timiraos: “Former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said … Trump’s attacks on the central bank could be counterproductive if they cause investors to doubt the Fed’s commitment to keeping inflation in check.

“Ms. Yellen said Monday at the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association that she didn’t think the central bank or her successor as Fed chairman, Jerome Powell, would be influenced by Mr. Trump’s criticism last week, in which he said the Fed had ‘gone crazy’ in its campaign to slowly raise short-term borrowing costs. That comment came amid the biggest selloff in stock prices in more than seven months.” Read more.

BLACKSTONE/BLACKSTONE CHIEFS OUT FOR SAUDI EVENT— NYT’s Michael J. de la Merced and Andrew Ross Sorkin: “The chief executives of the Blackstone Group and BlackRock have canceled plans to attend an investment conference in Saudi Arabia next week … joining Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase as the latest Wall Street titans to pull back in the wake of the disappearance, and potential murder of a prominent Saudi journalist.

“The decisions by Stephen A. Schwarzman of Blackstone and Laurence D. Fink of BlackRock add to a string of ruptures between the business community and Saudi Arabia as questions continue to swirl over the fate of Jamal Khashoggi, who has not been seen since he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.” Read more.

And so has Google — Reuters’ Arjun Panchadar: “Alphabet Inc’s Google on Monday became the latest company to drop out of a business conference in Saudi Arabia. … Google said in a statement that Google Cloud Chief Executive Diane Greene would not attend the Future Investment Initiative Summit scheduled to be held in Riyadh starting Oct. 23. Google’s Greene did not offer a reason for her action, and a spokesman declined to elaborate.” Read more.

FIDELITY PLANS TO TRADE BITCOIN FOR HEDGE FUNDS — WSJ’s Justin Baer: “Fidelity Investments said it will store and trade bitcoin for hedge funds and other professional investors, becoming one of the first Wall Street giants to step into this volatile corner of the financial world.

“Most large financial-services firms have resisted the idea of trading digital currencies because of concerns about risk, regulations and stability. The price of bitcoin has plunged roughly 67% since its peak last December, partially reflecting doubts about the practical use of a currency that isn’t sponsored by any government.” Read more.

BOFA’S LAGGING LOAN GROWTH OVERSHADOWS PROFIT GAINS — Reuters’ Imani Moise and Siddharth Cavale: “Bank of America Corp’s loan growth lagged rivals and fees from advising on deals and underwriting bonds fell in the third quarter, sending its share price 1.7 lower even as profit beat expectations. The No. 2 U.S. bank’s profit rose 35 percent, helped by cost controls, but investors focused on the underlying businesses. …

“Bank of America’s total loan book grew 0.3 percent to $930 billion during the third quarter compared with the year-ago period. Declines in mortgages and loans to customers of its markets business offset gains in consumer banking, wealth management and commercial loans.” Read more.

SUSPENSE BUILDS FOR GOLDMAN, MORGAN STANLEY RESULTS — Bloomberg’s Jennifer Surane and Claire Ballentine: “Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley are typically the finale when giant U.S. banks report quarterly earnings, and by then, everyone on Wall Street can guess how their traders and bankers fared. Not this time.

“Unusually divergent results from major rivals in recent days make it harder for investors to anticipate what the figures from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will look like early Tuesday morning.” Read more.

VETERANS SUMMIT — Per KKR official: “Some of the biggest investment/PE firms are hosting the Veterans Initiative Summit this week in Washington DC … Mission Backpack: Afghanistan is taking place [Tuesday] where attendees (portfolio company employees and others) will be filling backpacks for schoolchildren in Afghanistan as part of a service project.” More info here.

NEW AT WAYS AND MEANS — Per release: “House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) announced a change to his senior staff team for the Committee, naming Rob Damschen as Communications Director.”

WALMART LINKS WITH PAYPAL — Per release: “With millions of people relying on Walmart as a safe, convenient and affordable place to access a variety of financial products and services, and millions more using PayPal’s digital properties to manage and move their money, Walmart and PayPal are teaming up to provide financial services and products that help their shared customers.” Read more.

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Source: https://hashtaghighways.com/2018/10/16/mnuchin-still-in-question-for-saudi-event/

from Garko Media https://garkomedia1.wordpress.com/2018/10/17/mnuchin-still-in-question-for-saudi-event/

[michaeljtraylor]

Mnuchin still in question for Saudi event

NELLIE LIANG UPDATE — Despite some grumbling from Senate Republicans and financial industry groups, there are no signs whatsoever that the White House will back off from its’ nomination of Nellie Liang, a former long-time Fed staffer currently at Brookings, for a seat of the central bank’s board of governors. MM is told the White House remains confident that Senate Banking and the full Senate will approve of the nomination.

The knock on Liang in some circles is that she’s not strongly enough in favor of deregulatory efforts. But she’s widely respected for her work at the Fed during the financial crisis and supporters argue that once Senate Republicans get to know her they will become much more comfortable.

Story Continued Below

MNUCHIN STILL IN QUESTION FOR SAUDI EVENT — As the Saudi government reportedly weighed whether to say that “rogue operatives” murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a “interrogation gone wrong,” President Trump continues to consider whether or not to send Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to attend the “Davos in the Dessert” event later this month. In remarks to the pool in Georgia, Trump said the White House was still making a decision on whether to send Mnuchin as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo headed to Riyadh to meet with Saudi King Salman. A decision is expected by Friday.

As of Monday night, at least some people inside Treasury were very much hoping that Trump would decide to pull Mnuchin out of the conference.

The “rogue killers” line, as unbelievable as it sounds, is one that Trump himself also used on Monday after talked to King Salman and received the king’s “flat denial.” It sounds as though both Saudi Arabia and the White House are looking for ways to distance the Saudis from Khashoggi’s alleged murder and ease tensions with the kingdom.

There are serious economic reasons beyond defense contracts that the U.S. wants to turn the heat down with Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi. The Saudis on Monday threatened to retaliate against any sanctions, something that could conceivably include an oil embargo that could drive up U.S. consumer prices. Oil prices retreated after Trump’s statements on Monday but remain on edge.

Via CNBC on the importance of Saudi production: “Saudi Arabia produces about 10.5 million barrels of oil per day, equal to more than 10 percent of global crude demand. It exports about 7 million barrels a day of oil … Given those figures, the kingdom is a central pillar of the global oil market at any time. But its influence is especially pronounced right now.

“That’s because the Trump administration is aiming to wipe out oil exports from Iran, OPEC’s third-biggest partner and a longtime enemy of both Saudi Arabia and the United States. Trump restored sanctions on Iran in May and gave oil buyers until Nov. 4 to stop importing Iranian crude.

“Saudi Arabia is one of the few OPEC nations with enough spare capacity to offset the loss of Iranian barrels. The Trump administration is relying on the kingdom to increase output and blunt the upward pressure on oil prices caused by its Iran policy.”

DEFICIT EXPLODES — POLITICO’s Sarah Ferris: “Trump’s first full fiscal year in office has produced the nation’s largest budget shortfall in six years, according to Treasury Department data … The U.S. deficit widened in fiscal 2018 to $779 billion, which is $113 billion more than the previous year … That figure is in line with the CBO’s estimated shortfall of $793 billion. …

“The $779 billion figure is the largest deficit since the height of the Great Recession in 2012, when the budget shortfall amounted to $1.089 trillion. … Mnuchin attributed part of the spending increase to a short-term boost for the military.” Read more.

THE FIGURE IS EXTRAORDINARY when you think about the fact that the economy is as strong as it is and unemployment is at just 3.7 percent. Typically, governments run up these kind of deficits in times of recession. But it’s totally out of fashion to care about debt and deficits any more. Progressives may hate the Trump tax cuts but they balk at any notion that the government should worry about red ink and would fight hard against any non-military spending cuts.

Republicans used to pretend they cared about deficits (and in fact forced shutdowns and a debt limit crisis under President Obama) but in the age of Trump they don’t really care anymore. And the Trump White House can call for big non-military spending cuts in its annual budget submissions but those document are purely political exercises and don’t actual reflect Trump’s policy, something that will be especially true headed into a re-election campaign.

HOW TIMES CHANGE— Via WSJ’s Kate Davidson: “Higher government spending and near-flat revenue combined to drive the fiscal 2018 deficit to 3.9% of gross domestic product, up from 3.5% of GDP the year before.

“By comparison, the last time the jobless rate was below 4%, in 2000, the U.S. ran a budget surplus of 2.3% of GDP. Revenue that year rose 11% from a year earlier. And in 1969, when the jobless rate last touched 3.7%, the U.S. ran a budget surplus equal to 0.3% of GDP. Revenue was up 22% that year.”

PRU PREPS FOR DE-DESIGNATION — POLITICO’s Victoria Guida for Pros: “Federal regulators are set to agree as soon as Tuesday to relax oversight of insurance giant Prudential Financial, marking an end to a decade-long effort to police nonbank institutions whose failure could once again threaten the nation’s financial system.

“The Financial Stability Oversight Council … is expected to vote to remove Prudential’s label as ;systemically important,’ which places it under the scrutiny of the Federal Reserve. Four nonbanks — including AIG, a central player in the financial crisis, which received a massive government bailout — were also given that tag under the Obama administration, but Prudential is the only one left.” Read more.

U.S. POLITICS IN A NEW YORK MINUTE — Check out my latest video for GZero Media giving you the week in U.S. politics in just sixty seconds.

RIP PAUL ALLEN — Seattle Times’ Rachel Lerman: “Paul Allen, founder of Microsoft and prominent Seattle businessman and philanthropist, has died at age 65. Allen died Monday afternoon, according to his multi-faceted holding company Vulcan Inc., just two weeks after announcing he had restarted treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

“Allen co-founded Redmond tech giant Microsoft with childhood friend Bill Gates. After leaving the company, he turned his focus to a wide range of other business and scientific pursuits, which including founding the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and the real estate arm of Vulcan, which went on to build much of Amazon’s campus. Allen also owned the Seattle Seahawks and the Portland Trail Blazers.” Read more.

GOOD TUESDAY MORNING — Email me on bwhite@politico.com and follow me on Twitter @morningmoneyben. Email Aubree Eliza Weaver on aweaver@politico.com and follow her on Twitter @AubreeEWeaver.

THIS MORNING ON POLITICO PRO FINANCIAL SERVICES — Katy O’Donnell’s interview with Michael Bright, acting president of Ginnie Mae. To get Morning Money every day before 6 a.m., please contact Pro Services at (703) 341-4600 or info@politicopro.com.

POLITICO IS PARTNERING WITH THE MILKEN INSTITUTE to bring a special edition of the POLITICO Pulse newsletter to the Milken Institute Future of Health Summit. Written by Dan Diamond, the newsletter will take readers inside one of the most influential gatherings of global health industry leaders and innovators as they tackle today’s most pressing health challenges. The newsletter will run Oct. 23-24. Sign up today to begin receiving exclusive coverage on Day One of the summit.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYS A RED WAVE IS COMING ON ELECTION DAY. Is he right, or will the tide turn blue? Compete against the nation’s top political minds in the POLITICO Playbook Election Challenge, by correctly picking the winning candidates in some of the most competitive House, Senate and gubernatorial races in the country. Win awesome prizes and eternal bragging rights. Sign up today: Visit politico.com/playbookelectionchallenge to play.

OOPS — Bloomberg’s Alex Wayne and Saleha Mohsin: “Trump said that Sears Holdings Corp. had been mismanaged for years before it declared bankruptcy. Among those responsible for its management: his Treasury secretary.

“Steven Mnuchin was a member of Sears’s board from 2005 until December 2016, and before that was a director for K-Mart Corp., which was acquired by Sears in 2005. ‘Sears has been dying for many years,’ Trump told reporters as he departed the White House on Monday to inspect hurricane damage in Florida. ‘It’s been obviously improperly run for many years and it’s a shame.’” Read more.

BIG COAL PLAN DIES AT THE WHITE HOUSE — POLITICO’s Eric Wolff and Darius Dixon: “One of the Trump administration’s major efforts to prop up ailing coal companies has run aground in the White House, a setback to an industry that had hoped for a major resurgence after Donald Trump won the presidency.

“Energy Secretary Rick Perry has spent more than a year pushing various plans that would invoke national security to force power companies to keep their economically struggling coal plants running — a goal in line with Trump’s frequent pledges to revive what he calls ‘beautiful, clean coal.’ But the White House has shelved the plan amid opposition from the president’s own advisers on the National Security Council and National Economic Council” Read more.

FORMER CFPB STUDENT LOAN CHIEF MAKES HIS CASE IN STATES – Via POLITICO’s Michael Stratford: Seth Frotman, who earlier this year resigned as the top student loan official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in protest of Trump administration policies, is making the case that states need to step up their oversight of the student loan industry.

— Frotman will appear today at a consumer advocacy conference in New Jersey to urge state lawmakers to more tightly regulate student loan companies. He’ll blast the Trump administration as captive to industry interests at the expense of student loan borrowers, according to prepared remarks shared with Morning Education.

ELIZABETH WARREN IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT — POLITICO’s Natasha Korecki and Alex Thompson: “At a town hall meeting last month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren finally revealed she was taking ‘a hard look’ at running for president. Now it’s clear just how hard she’s looking Monday’s grandiose, made-for-media detailing of her Native American ancestry — complete with DNA documentation — erased any questions about the Massachusetts senator’s intent.

“Something approaching a 2020 campaign slogan is beginning to take shape: ‘Persist.’ … The breadth of her national political operation was made clear in an exhaustive account on Sunday. In recent months Warren has released 10 years of tax returns, introduced a major anti-corruption legislative package, published policy papers and even shifted from her studied avoidance of the press to stopping in the Senate hallway to take questions and taking private, off-the-record meetings with national reporters in New York and D.C.”

NOT ALL DEMS THRILLED WITH WARREN — Jim Messina, @messina2012, on Twitter: “Argue the substance all you want, but why 22 days before a crucial election where we MUST win house and senate to save America, why did @SenWarren have to do her announcement now? Why can’t Dems ever stay focused???”

STOCKS FADE, FINISH LOWER — AP’s Marley Jay: “After a wobbly day of trading, U.S. stocks fell for the seventh time in eight days Monday as technology companies continued to slide. Industrial and high-dividend companies rose, and the market’s losses were limited relative to the steep losses it suffered last week.

“Stocks opened lower and repeatedly switched between small gains and losses before falling in the last hour of trading. Along with technology companies, health care and energy stocks and retailers also fell as the companies that have led the U.S. market higher this year continued to struggle.” Read more.

And Asian stocks rise — Bloomberg’s Andreea Papuc: “Asian stocks chalked modest gains at the open Tuesday as U.S. equity index futures advanced, with investors balancing the outlook for global growth and earnings against geopolitical flareups and technical weakness. Read more.

YELLEN CALLS TRUMP’S ATTACK ON FED COUNTERPRODUCTIVE — WSJ’s Nick Timiraos: “Former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said … Trump’s attacks on the central bank could be counterproductive if they cause investors to doubt the Fed’s commitment to keeping inflation in check.

“Ms. Yellen said Monday at the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association that she didn’t think the central bank or her successor as Fed chairman, Jerome Powell, would be influenced by Mr. Trump’s criticism last week, in which he said the Fed had ‘gone crazy’ in its campaign to slowly raise short-term borrowing costs. That comment came amid the biggest selloff in stock prices in more than seven months.” Read more.

BLACKSTONE/BLACKSTONE CHIEFS OUT FOR SAUDI EVENT— NYT’s Michael J. de la Merced and Andrew Ross Sorkin: “The chief executives of the Blackstone Group and BlackRock have canceled plans to attend an investment conference in Saudi Arabia next week … joining Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase as the latest Wall Street titans to pull back in the wake of the disappearance, and potential murder of a prominent Saudi journalist.

“The decisions by Stephen A. Schwarzman of Blackstone and Laurence D. Fink of BlackRock add to a string of ruptures between the business community and Saudi Arabia as questions continue to swirl over the fate of Jamal Khashoggi, who has not been seen since he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.” Read more.

And so has Google — Reuters’ Arjun Panchadar: “Alphabet Inc’s Google on Monday became the latest company to drop out of a business conference in Saudi Arabia. … Google said in a statement that Google Cloud Chief Executive Diane Greene would not attend the Future Investment Initiative Summit scheduled to be held in Riyadh starting Oct. 23. Google’s Greene did not offer a reason for her action, and a spokesman declined to elaborate.” Read more.

FIDELITY PLANS TO TRADE BITCOIN FOR HEDGE FUNDS — WSJ’s Justin Baer: “Fidelity Investments said it will store and trade bitcoin for hedge funds and other professional investors, becoming one of the first Wall Street giants to step into this volatile corner of the financial world.

“Most large financial-services firms have resisted the idea of trading digital currencies because of concerns about risk, regulations and stability. The price of bitcoin has plunged roughly 67% since its peak last December, partially reflecting doubts about the practical use of a currency that isn’t sponsored by any government.” Read more.

BOFA’S LAGGING LOAN GROWTH OVERSHADOWS PROFIT GAINS — Reuters’ Imani Moise and Siddharth Cavale: “Bank of America Corp’s loan growth lagged rivals and fees from advising on deals and underwriting bonds fell in the third quarter, sending its share price 1.7 lower even as profit beat expectations. The No. 2 U.S. bank’s profit rose 35 percent, helped by cost controls, but investors focused on the underlying businesses. …

“Bank of America’s total loan book grew 0.3 percent to $930 billion during the third quarter compared with the year-ago period. Declines in mortgages and loans to customers of its markets business offset gains in consumer banking, wealth management and commercial loans.” Read more.

SUSPENSE BUILDS FOR GOLDMAN, MORGAN STANLEY RESULTS — Bloomberg’s Jennifer Surane and Claire Ballentine: “Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley are typically the finale when giant U.S. banks report quarterly earnings, and by then, everyone on Wall Street can guess how their traders and bankers fared. Not this time.

“Unusually divergent results from major rivals in recent days make it harder for investors to anticipate what the figures from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will look like early Tuesday morning.” Read more.

VETERANS SUMMIT — Per KKR official: “Some of the biggest investment/PE firms are hosting the Veterans Initiative Summit this week in Washington DC … Mission Backpack: Afghanistan is taking place [Tuesday] where attendees (portfolio company employees and others) will be filling backpacks for schoolchildren in Afghanistan as part of a service project.” More info here.

NEW AT WAYS AND MEANS — Per release: “House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) announced a change to his senior staff team for the Committee, naming Rob Damschen as Communications Director.”

WALMART LINKS WITH PAYPAL — Per release: “With millions of people relying on Walmart as a safe, convenient and affordable place to access a variety of financial products and services, and millions more using PayPal’s digital properties to manage and move their money, Walmart and PayPal are teaming up to provide financial services and products that help their shared customers.” Read more.

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Mnuchin still in question for Saudi event

NELLIE LIANG UPDATE — Despite some grumbling from Senate Republicans and financial industry groups, there are no signs whatsoever that the White House will back off from its’ nomination of Nellie Liang, a former long-time Fed staffer currently at Brookings, for a seat of the central bank’s board of governors. MM is told the White House remains confident that Senate Banking and the full Senate will approve of the nomination.

The knock on Liang in some circles is that she’s not strongly enough in favor of deregulatory efforts. But she’s widely respected for her work at the Fed during the financial crisis and supporters argue that once Senate Republicans get to know her they will become much more comfortable.

Story Continued Below

MNUCHIN STILL IN QUESTION FOR SAUDI EVENT — As the Saudi government reportedly weighed whether to say that “rogue operatives” murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a “interrogation gone wrong,” President Trump continues to consider whether or not to send Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to attend the “Davos in the Dessert” event later this month. In remarks to the pool in Georgia, Trump said the White House was still making a decision on whether to send Mnuchin as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo headed to Riyadh to meet with Saudi King Salman. A decision is expected by Friday.

As of Monday night, at least some people inside Treasury were very much hoping that Trump would decide to pull Mnuchin out of the conference.

The “rogue killers” line, as unbelievable as it sounds, is one that Trump himself also used on Monday after talked to King Salman and received the king’s “flat denial.” It sounds as though both Saudi Arabia and the White House are looking for ways to distance the Saudis from Khashoggi’s alleged murder and ease tensions with the kingdom.

There are serious economic reasons beyond defense contracts that the U.S. wants to turn the heat down with Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi. The Saudis on Monday threatened to retaliate against any sanctions, something that could conceivably include an oil embargo that could drive up U.S. consumer prices. Oil prices retreated after Trump’s statements on Monday but remain on edge.

Via CNBC on the importance of Saudi production: “Saudi Arabia produces about 10.5 million barrels of oil per day, equal to more than 10 percent of global crude demand. It exports about 7 million barrels a day of oil … Given those figures, the kingdom is a central pillar of the global oil market at any time. But its influence is especially pronounced right now.

“That’s because the Trump administration is aiming to wipe out oil exports from Iran, OPEC’s third-biggest partner and a longtime enemy of both Saudi Arabia and the United States. Trump restored sanctions on Iran in May and gave oil buyers until Nov. 4 to stop importing Iranian crude.

“Saudi Arabia is one of the few OPEC nations with enough spare capacity to offset the loss of Iranian barrels. The Trump administration is relying on the kingdom to increase output and blunt the upward pressure on oil prices caused by its Iran policy.”

DEFICIT EXPLODES — POLITICO’s Sarah Ferris: “Trump’s first full fiscal year in office has produced the nation’s largest budget shortfall in six years, according to Treasury Department data … The U.S. deficit widened in fiscal 2018 to $779 billion, which is $113 billion more than the previous year … That figure is in line with the CBO’s estimated shortfall of $793 billion. …

“The $779 billion figure is the largest deficit since the height of the Great Recession in 2012, when the budget shortfall amounted to $1.089 trillion. … Mnuchin attributed part of the spending increase to a short-term boost for the military.” Read more.

THE FIGURE IS EXTRAORDINARY when you think about the fact that the economy is as strong as it is and unemployment is at just 3.7 percent. Typically, governments run up these kind of deficits in times of recession. But it’s totally out of fashion to care about debt and deficits any more. Progressives may hate the Trump tax cuts but they balk at any notion that the government should worry about red ink and would fight hard against any non-military spending cuts.

Republicans used to pretend they cared about deficits (and in fact forced shutdowns and a debt limit crisis under President Obama) but in the age of Trump they don’t really care anymore. And the Trump White House can call for big non-military spending cuts in its annual budget submissions but those document are purely political exercises and don’t actual reflect Trump’s policy, something that will be especially true headed into a re-election campaign.

HOW TIMES CHANGE— Via WSJ’s Kate Davidson: “Higher government spending and near-flat revenue combined to drive the fiscal 2018 deficit to 3.9% of gross domestic product, up from 3.5% of GDP the year before.

“By comparison, the last time the jobless rate was below 4%, in 2000, the U.S. ran a budget surplus of 2.3% of GDP. Revenue that year rose 11% from a year earlier. And in 1969, when the jobless rate last touched 3.7%, the U.S. ran a budget surplus equal to 0.3% of GDP. Revenue was up 22% that year.”

PRU PREPS FOR DE-DESIGNATION — POLITICO’s Victoria Guida for Pros: “Federal regulators are set to agree as soon as Tuesday to relax oversight of insurance giant Prudential Financial, marking an end to a decade-long effort to police nonbank institutions whose failure could once again threaten the nation’s financial system.

“The Financial Stability Oversight Council … is expected to vote to remove Prudential’s label as ;systemically important,’ which places it under the scrutiny of the Federal Reserve. Four nonbanks — including AIG, a central player in the financial crisis, which received a massive government bailout — were also given that tag under the Obama administration, but Prudential is the only one left.” Read more.

U.S. POLITICS IN A NEW YORK MINUTE — Check out my latest video for GZero Media giving you the week in U.S. politics in just sixty seconds.

RIP PAUL ALLEN — Seattle Times’ Rachel Lerman: “Paul Allen, founder of Microsoft and prominent Seattle businessman and philanthropist, has died at age 65. Allen died Monday afternoon, according to his multi-faceted holding company Vulcan Inc., just two weeks after announcing he had restarted treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

“Allen co-founded Redmond tech giant Microsoft with childhood friend Bill Gates. After leaving the company, he turned his focus to a wide range of other business and scientific pursuits, which including founding the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and the real estate arm of Vulcan, which went on to build much of Amazon’s campus. Allen also owned the Seattle Seahawks and the Portland Trail Blazers.” Read more.

GOOD TUESDAY MORNING — Email me on bwhite@politico.com and follow me on Twitter @morningmoneyben. Email Aubree Eliza Weaver on aweaver@politico.com and follow her on Twitter @AubreeEWeaver.

THIS MORNING ON POLITICO PRO FINANCIAL SERVICES — Katy O’Donnell’s interview with Michael Bright, acting president of Ginnie Mae. To get Morning Money every day before 6 a.m., please contact Pro Services at (703) 341-4600 or info@politicopro.com.

POLITICO IS PARTNERING WITH THE MILKEN INSTITUTE to bring a special edition of the POLITICO Pulse newsletter to the Milken Institute Future of Health Summit. Written by Dan Diamond, the newsletter will take readers inside one of the most influential gatherings of global health industry leaders and innovators as they tackle today’s most pressing health challenges. The newsletter will run Oct. 23-24. Sign up today to begin receiving exclusive coverage on Day One of the summit.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYS A RED WAVE IS COMING ON ELECTION DAY. Is he right, or will the tide turn blue? Compete against the nation’s top political minds in the POLITICO Playbook Election Challenge, by correctly picking the winning candidates in some of the most competitive House, Senate and gubernatorial races in the country. Win awesome prizes and eternal bragging rights. Sign up today: Visit politico.com/playbookelectionchallenge to play.

OOPS — Bloomberg’s Alex Wayne and Saleha Mohsin: “Trump said that Sears Holdings Corp. had been mismanaged for years before it declared bankruptcy. Among those responsible for its management: his Treasury secretary.

“Steven Mnuchin was a member of Sears’s board from 2005 until December 2016, and before that was a director for K-Mart Corp., which was acquired by Sears in 2005. ‘Sears has been dying for many years,’ Trump told reporters as he departed the White House on Monday to inspect hurricane damage in Florida. ‘It’s been obviously improperly run for many years and it’s a shame.’” Read more.

BIG COAL PLAN DIES AT THE WHITE HOUSE — POLITICO’s Eric Wolff and Darius Dixon: “One of the Trump administration’s major efforts to prop up ailing coal companies has run aground in the White House, a setback to an industry that had hoped for a major resurgence after Donald Trump won the presidency.

“Energy Secretary Rick Perry has spent more than a year pushing various plans that would invoke national security to force power companies to keep their economically struggling coal plants running — a goal in line with Trump’s frequent pledges to revive what he calls ‘beautiful, clean coal.’ But the White House has shelved the plan amid opposition from the president’s own advisers on the National Security Council and National Economic Council” Read more.

FORMER CFPB STUDENT LOAN CHIEF MAKES HIS CASE IN STATES – Via POLITICO’s Michael Stratford: Seth Frotman, who earlier this year resigned as the top student loan official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in protest of Trump administration policies, is making the case that states need to step up their oversight of the student loan industry.

— Frotman will appear today at a consumer advocacy conference in New Jersey to urge state lawmakers to more tightly regulate student loan companies. He’ll blast the Trump administration as captive to industry interests at the expense of student loan borrowers, according to prepared remarks shared with Morning Education.

ELIZABETH WARREN IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT — POLITICO’s Natasha Korecki and Alex Thompson: “At a town hall meeting last month, Sen. Elizabeth Warren finally revealed she was taking ‘a hard look’ at running for president. Now it’s clear just how hard she’s looking Monday’s grandiose, made-for-media detailing of her Native American ancestry — complete with DNA documentation — erased any questions about the Massachusetts senator’s intent.

“Something approaching a 2020 campaign slogan is beginning to take shape: ‘Persist.’ … The breadth of her national political operation was made clear in an exhaustive account on Sunday. In recent months Warren has released 10 years of tax returns, introduced a major anti-corruption legislative package, published policy papers and even shifted from her studied avoidance of the press to stopping in the Senate hallway to take questions and taking private, off-the-record meetings with national reporters in New York and D.C.”

NOT ALL DEMS THRILLED WITH WARREN — Jim Messina, @messina2012, on Twitter: “Argue the substance all you want, but why 22 days before a crucial election where we MUST win house and senate to save America, why did @SenWarren have to do her announcement now? Why can’t Dems ever stay focused???”

STOCKS FADE, FINISH LOWER — AP’s Marley Jay: “After a wobbly day of trading, U.S. stocks fell for the seventh time in eight days Monday as technology companies continued to slide. Industrial and high-dividend companies rose, and the market’s losses were limited relative to the steep losses it suffered last week.

“Stocks opened lower and repeatedly switched between small gains and losses before falling in the last hour of trading. Along with technology companies, health care and energy stocks and retailers also fell as the companies that have led the U.S. market higher this year continued to struggle.” Read more.

And Asian stocks rise — Bloomberg’s Andreea Papuc: “Asian stocks chalked modest gains at the open Tuesday as U.S. equity index futures advanced, with investors balancing the outlook for global growth and earnings against geopolitical flareups and technical weakness. Read more.

YELLEN CALLS TRUMP’S ATTACK ON FED COUNTERPRODUCTIVE — WSJ’s Nick Timiraos: “Former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said … Trump’s attacks on the central bank could be counterproductive if they cause investors to doubt the Fed’s commitment to keeping inflation in check.

“Ms. Yellen said Monday at the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association that she didn’t think the central bank or her successor as Fed chairman, Jerome Powell, would be influenced by Mr. Trump’s criticism last week, in which he said the Fed had ‘gone crazy’ in its campaign to slowly raise short-term borrowing costs. That comment came amid the biggest selloff in stock prices in more than seven months.” Read more.

BLACKSTONE/BLACKSTONE CHIEFS OUT FOR SAUDI EVENT— NYT’s Michael J. de la Merced and Andrew Ross Sorkin: “The chief executives of the Blackstone Group and BlackRock have canceled plans to attend an investment conference in Saudi Arabia next week … joining Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase as the latest Wall Street titans to pull back in the wake of the disappearance, and potential murder of a prominent Saudi journalist.

“The decisions by Stephen A. Schwarzman of Blackstone and Laurence D. Fink of BlackRock add to a string of ruptures between the business community and Saudi Arabia as questions continue to swirl over the fate of Jamal Khashoggi, who has not been seen since he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.” Read more.

And so has Google — Reuters’ Arjun Panchadar: “Alphabet Inc’s Google on Monday became the latest company to drop out of a business conference in Saudi Arabia. … Google said in a statement that Google Cloud Chief Executive Diane Greene would not attend the Future Investment Initiative Summit scheduled to be held in Riyadh starting Oct. 23. Google’s Greene did not offer a reason for her action, and a spokesman declined to elaborate.” Read more.

FIDELITY PLANS TO TRADE BITCOIN FOR HEDGE FUNDS — WSJ’s Justin Baer: “Fidelity Investments said it will store and trade bitcoin for hedge funds and other professional investors, becoming one of the first Wall Street giants to step into this volatile corner of the financial world.

“Most large financial-services firms have resisted the idea of trading digital currencies because of concerns about risk, regulations and stability. The price of bitcoin has plunged roughly 67% since its peak last December, partially reflecting doubts about the practical use of a currency that isn’t sponsored by any government.” Read more.

BOFA’S LAGGING LOAN GROWTH OVERSHADOWS PROFIT GAINS — Reuters’ Imani Moise and Siddharth Cavale: “Bank of America Corp’s loan growth lagged rivals and fees from advising on deals and underwriting bonds fell in the third quarter, sending its share price 1.7 lower even as profit beat expectations. The No. 2 U.S. bank’s profit rose 35 percent, helped by cost controls, but investors focused on the underlying businesses. …

“Bank of America’s total loan book grew 0.3 percent to $930 billion during the third quarter compared with the year-ago period. Declines in mortgages and loans to customers of its markets business offset gains in consumer banking, wealth management and commercial loans.” Read more.

SUSPENSE BUILDS FOR GOLDMAN, MORGAN STANLEY RESULTS — Bloomberg’s Jennifer Surane and Claire Ballentine: “Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley are typically the finale when giant U.S. banks report quarterly earnings, and by then, everyone on Wall Street can guess how their traders and bankers fared. Not this time.

“Unusually divergent results from major rivals in recent days make it harder for investors to anticipate what the figures from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will look like early Tuesday morning.” Read more.

VETERANS SUMMIT — Per KKR official: “Some of the biggest investment/PE firms are hosting the Veterans Initiative Summit this week in Washington DC … Mission Backpack: Afghanistan is taking place [Tuesday] where attendees (portfolio company employees and others) will be filling backpacks for schoolchildren in Afghanistan as part of a service project.” More info here.

NEW AT WAYS AND MEANS — Per release: “House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) announced a change to his senior staff team for the Committee, naming Rob Damschen as Communications Director.”

WALMART LINKS WITH PAYPAL — Per release: “With millions of people relying on Walmart as a safe, convenient and affordable place to access a variety of financial products and services, and millions more using PayPal’s digital properties to manage and move their money, Walmart and PayPal are teaming up to provide financial services and products that help their shared customers.” Read more.

Source link

from RSSUnify feed https://hashtaghighways.com/2018/10/16/mnuchin-still-in-question-for-saudi-event/