Something to keep on your radar, though it’s unlikely to have an impact on S&P 500 prices, is this evening’s meeting of Federal Reserve Chairheads.  The guest list includes former greats like Paul ‘Pall Mall’ Volcker and Benjamin ‘Blunt’ Bernanke as well as the nagging Allen Greenspan and dangerous Janet Yellen.

They will likely enjoy a round a tea sandwiches whilst making quips about foreign central bank leaders.

The meetup starts at 5:30pm and Bernanke usually sparks the first blunt around 7.

China is out for blood in one of the most sacred parts of the coveted shared economy–they want to dominate ride sharing.  Their horse, Didi Kuaidi, is lead by heavy hitter Cheng Wei, who doesn’t shy away from aggressive posturing:

Didi Kuaidi, China’s largest ride-hailing service, has warned arch-foe Uber Technologies Inc. that its days are numbered.

The startup backed by the country’s largest Internet corporations is stockpiling cash for the battle ahead. It raised the target on its latest round of funding to more than $1.5 billion, which could value the company at more than $20 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person asked not to be named because the matter is private.

“We will be the last one standing,” Vice President of Strategy Stephen Zhu told the Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong. “Why is our competitor consistently 20 to 30 percent cheaper but still failing to gain market share? It’s because the customer experience is not as good, their network is much less than ours.”

– Source: Lulu Yilun Chen, Bloomberg

The customer experience is not as good using Uber, according to Mr. Zhu.  Even if America starts winning again, building walls and whatnot, it will be difficult to keep out digital competition bearing down on us from the communist people of China.

The Chinese foam and shake at the thought of internet domination.  They will stop at nothing to eliminate the purple hats at Lyft and the black cars of Uber.  Soon all drives will be united under the red flag of Didi Kuaidi!

Both Facebook and Twitter were mentioned in a rumor that MasterCard might be interesting in working with the social media companies to offer peer-to-peer money transfers.  Twitter ended the day up nearly 7% but so did a bunch of other mobile/social plays.

SEE ALSO: Social Media Dogs Are Running

Peer-to-peer money exchange is already huge.  Venmo, for example, facilitated over $1 billion in payment in January according to their blog.  Their recent NYC subway ad campaign created tons of buzz also.  Meet Lucas. Lucas uses Venmo.

The social aspect of Venmo is really fun.  You essentially include a tweet’s worth of text and emoticons with any fund transfer you make.  Thus, it makes lots of sense for Twitter to have peer-to-peer transfers.  Goodness, Snapchat already has this, via SnapCash.

Do you know what powers SnapCash?  Square.  Square also has Square Cash which facilitates the same ends as Venmo.  And who heads Square?

Jack Dorsey

Jack Dorsey is not Lucas.  Jack Dorsey is a bearded man who is CEO of two publicly traded companies.  Jack Dorsey runs a peer-to-peer money transfer company and Twitter.  Yes, Twitter, the company that rallied 7% today on some MasterCard noise.

Get out of here with that nonsense.

This is according to the New York Post who reported that John de Mol wants the wrestling empire.

The New York Post reported that John de Mol, a Dutch media tycoon best known for the “Big Brother” franchise is interested in buying the company. The publication, citing its sources, noted an offer was extended to Vince McMahon to acquire the company, should the 70-year-old executive ever decide to sell his empire.

This news comes on the tails of Wrestlemania 32, which is being considered a rousing success by its diehard fans.

The WWE has been an acquisition target since 2014.  It seems Vince McMahon’s wrestling theater is stronger than ever.

News out of KGI’s Kuo suggests iPhone SE sales were abysmal on opening weekend:

According to Mac Rumors, KGI Securities’ analyst Ming-Chi Kuo commented in a
research note that iPhone SE sales “has been significantly lower than that of past new models” since its launch on March 31. The analyst cited the poor sales to poor demand for smaller-size smartphones and the fact that the iPhone SE offers no significant upgrades from prior models.
“We believe this is due in part to lackluster demand for smaller-size smartphones and, more importantly, that the product itself offers no significant upgrades to form factor or hardware specs,” Kuo added.

It has been disappointing, watching Samsung innovate their hardware, while being pigeonholed into the Apple ecosystem.

Meanwhile the EU is hard at work scrutinizing the agreement Apple hashed out with the beer guzzlers in Ireland.

Reuters is reporting the EU probe into the Apple tax deal with Irish Authorities is expected to take longer than expected amid ‘Large amount of material involved’.

Ireland is making a name for itself due to the sweet tax breaks they are offering tech giants like Amazon, PayPal, Google, Facebook, etc.  When it comes to cash hoards, everyone wants to claw off a piece of it, which is exactly what the European Union, a failing institution, wants to achieve.  They want some of that sweet tech money landing on the green slopes of Ireland.

None of this bodes well for the mature tech giant.  They are losing momentum while regulators find ways to go after that cash stash.  Not good!

Shares of FedEx are set to open St. Patty’s day a bright hue of green after reporting strong earnings.

(RTTNews.com) – Package delivery giant FedEx Corp. (FDX), Wednesday reported a third-quarter profit that beat Street estimates, driven largely by strong revenue growth at FedEx Ground segment. The company lifted its full year outlook, sending its stock up by 5 percent in after-hours trading.

Memphis, Tennessee-based FedEx’s third-quarter profit dropped to $507 million or $1.84 per share from $628 million or $2.18 per share last year.

Adjusted earnings for the quarter rose to $2.51 per share from $2.03 per share last year. On average, 23 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $2.34 per share for the quarter. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter increased to $12.7 billion from $11.7 billion last year. Wall Street analysts had a consensus estimate of $12.4 billion.

Revenues for FedEx Express declined 1 percent to $6.56 billion, while FedEx ground revenues increased 30 percent to $4.41 billion from last year. Revenues for FedEx freight rose 1 percent to $1.45 billion.

Looking forward to full year 2016, FedEx tightened its adjusted earnings forecast to $10.70 to $10.90 per share from prior outlook of $10.40 to $10.90 per share. Analysts currently estimate earnings of $10.56 per share for 2016.

Being a global transportation companies, the performance of shipping giants like FedEx and its rival United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) are considered a strong barometer of overall consumer attitude and economy.

FedEx is one of the many carriers servicing the last great retailer, Amazon.  Thus they serve as a proxy for the health of the consumer space.  By the looks of it, retail is booming.

If you think of the economy as a human body, delivery and transportation are the blood in the system.  The stronger the vascular flow, the more powerful the economy.

FedEx having a strong quarter makes it tough to be bearish on the retail space, especially companies investing into their online experience.

See also: Dick’s Amazing Comeback! Trading Earnings Calls

Founder and former CEO of Chesapeake Energy Aubrey McClendon is being reported dead after being in a car crash today.

Just yesterday he was indicted and charged with conspiring to rig bids for oil and natural gas leases while leading Chesapeake, CNBC reports.

OKLAHOMA CITY —Former Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon was killed in a car crash Wednesday morning.

car was found burning near Memorial and MidwestBlvd. Fire officials confirmed a body was found in the vehicle.

Fire officials said the vehicle hit a bridge in the area.

McClendon was indicted Tuesday on a charge of conspiring to rig bids to buy oil and natural gas leases in northwest Oklahoma.

McClendon was 56 years old.

American Energy Partners released a statement about the incident.

“It is with deep sadness that AELP confirms that earlier today, its founder, Aubrey K. McClendon died in a car accident on Midwest Boulevard in Oklahoma City. Aubrey’s tremendous leadership, vision, and passion for the energy industry had an impact on the community, the country, and the world. We are tremendously proud of his legacy and will continue to work hard to live up to the unmatched standards he set for excellence and integrity. We will deeply mourn his loss and please join us in expressing our condolences to his family.”

The stock spiked higher by 24% on the announcement.  More on the story from RaginCajun.

At 10am USA ISM Manufacturing PMI for February rose to 49.50 verse the prior month’s reading of 48.20.  Estimates for today’s number were around 48.20.

The markets have been rallying since the data, and appear to be holding onto their gains early on.

Construction spending data was also out at 10am and a beat; US January construction spending +1.5% vs the +0.3% expectations.

The push has the NASDAQ within range of closing the gap it left behind on February 1st when Google’s parent company Alphabet reported earnings, see below:

Nothing says raise interest rates like hearing Halliburton is cutting about 8% of their headcount.

DUNCAN, Okla. – An oilfield company announced that it is laying off employees due to the drop in oil prices.

According to the Duncan Banner, rumors of layoffs have been going around town.

On Thursday, Halliburton officials confirmed that the company would be laying off employees. However, it did not state how many employees would be affected or which areas would see the most layoffs.

“Halliburton has made adjustments to its workforce in Duncan based on current business conditions. Halliburton will continue to monitor the business environment and will adjust the size of our workforce to align with current business demands as needed. We value every employee we have, but unfortunately we are faced with the difficult reality that reductions are necessary to work through this challenging market environment. Details of specific businesses and the number of employees is competitive information and therefore unavailable,” a statement from Halliburton read.

Several energy companies in the Sooner State have been dealing with layoffs.

On Thursday, Kimray announced that it would be reducing its workforce by 10 percent.

Earlier this month, Devon Energy announced that it would be laying off 20 percent of its workforce. Also, , SandRidge Energy laid off hundreds of employees in Oklahoma City.

This news follows on the heels of the deranged note from Goldman Sachs, insisting we’re all making too much noise about the ramifications of the oil industry going into recession.

In short, cash up and look to buy Texas real estate in a few years for pennies on the dollar.

In what appears to be a series of random acts of violence, a crazed gunman shot and killed 6 people in Kalamazoo, Michigan last night.

Police arrested Jason Dalton around 12.40am on Sunday without “confrontation” and nearly seven hours after the shooting rampage began.

Police said Dalton, 45, was cooperative and his demeanor was “even-tempered”. A semi-automatic handgun was recovered from his vehicle, dark-colored Chevy HHR, a description of which was obtained through CCTV footage at a car dealership and restaurant where two of the three shootings took place.

“This is just the most awful thing I can think of having happening, and to have to stand here and talk about these kinds of things is just a terrible thing,” Kalamazoo county prosecuting attorney Jeff Getting told reporters at a press conference early on Sunday.

In early reports, police mistakenly said that seven people had been killed. They later revised the count to six. The 14-year-old girl was initially included in the count, but Getting clarified that she was “seriously, gravely injured”.

Later on Sunday, Michigan governor Rick Snyder released a statement in which he said: “The victims and their families – and the entire Kalamazoo area – should be in everyone’s thoughts today.”

Snyder also praised members of the community and law enforcement officials who he said “quickly came together”.

“Their actions resulted in the suspect being caught before he was able to harm anyone else through these senseless and apparently random acts of violence,” he said.

The victims appear to have been randomly targeted, police said, but few details were offered early on Sunday, as next of kin were still being contacted.

According to police, Dalton had no known criminal record and a motive for the shooting spree was not known.

– for the full article, click here

This morning a Facebook post is being circulated which suggests the man was driving for Uber shortly before going on a shooting spree.  Apparently he was driving like a bedlamite, side swiping cars and whatnot.  Kalamazoo emergency services were notified, but didn’t seem overly concerned:

A Facebook post from 5:30p, shortly before #KalamazooShooting at 6pm. Is this Uber driver the suspect in custody? pic.twitter.com/d7E5my3Fw4

— Brandon Pope ABC 57 (@BpopeTV) February 21, 2016

This is not the kind of headlines Uber wants as competition from other ride share services ramps up.  Look for their screening process to be scrutinized by the media.

The grizzly scene in western Michigan is also likely to put a bid in shares of gun makers SWHC and RGR.