Hot on the Bloomberg:
-Trade Worries Drive U.S. Stocks Lower (Bloomberg)
-Full-Blown Trade War Quickly Shifting From Risk to Baseline (Bloomberg)
Nomura’s new base case is full U.S. tariffs on China imports as JPMorgan now sees current tariffs in place for the long haul.

Today in Trade Tensions:
-Chinese Government Expert Sees Trade Tensions Lasting Until 2035 (Bloomberg)
-Fears Rise China Could Choke off Supply of Rare Earths in Trade War (Bloomberg)

Brexit Update: Theresa May Backtracks on Vote as Pressure to Go Mounts (Bloomberg)

EU Elections:
-Populism Watch: Far-Right Parties Hope to Undermine EU by Winning European Elections (Washington Post)
-Live Results on Sunday: What You Need to Know About the 2019 European Parliament Elections (Bloomberg)
Voting begins today, starting with the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and continues over four days. Live results will be here Sunday.

Washington Today:
-How Nancy Pelosi Humiliated Trump on Infrastructure Week (Vanity Fair)
-Trump’s Financial Secrets Move Closer to Disclosure (New York Times)

2020 Watch:
-Facebook, Twitter, Google Seek to Assuage Lawmakers About 2020 While Warning of New Ways of Meddling (Bloomberg)
–Brutal New 2020 Numbers for Beto O’Rourke and Bill de Blasio – Quinnipiac Poll (Washington Post)
De Blasio’s net approval is worse than Trump’s, and no Democratic candidates comes close to his minus-37 net favorability.

Financial news.

Climate of Hope: Financial Groups in the Front of Fight Against Climate Change (Financial Times)
As the move towards a lower carbon economy gains pace, policymakers and investors are using standards set by the Mike Bloomberg and Mark Carney-led Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures as the basis for making changes to disclosure requirements.

More Investment Managers Joining Early-Adopters in Using Alternative Data (Profit & Loss)

SEC Staff Says Nasdaq, NYSE Must Defend Fee Increases With Evidence (Bloomberg Law)

Metro section.

Rats Are Taking Over New York City (New York Times)
The New York Times has a new reason to hate gentrification in their story blaming gentrifying neighborhoods as a key reason behind the vermin outbreak. Seriously? Leaving aside a one-sided view of development, does anyone really believe this is the “key reason?” The City suffered from a decade of decay (the antonym of gentrification) in the 1970s.

Rats have been with us in good times and bad, and if anything, were more emboldened during the bad. Here is a Times story from 1979:

Scores of Rats Are Found at Site Where They Attacked a Woman (New York Times)
From the piece: “The tug became a sharp, searing pain. The woman screamed. She was being attacked by a pack of rats, one of which apparently bit her on one leg. The account of the attack, provided by witnesses, was released by the police. One of the witnesses was a man who said he had run to help the victim, pulling off his light summer jacket to use to wave the rats away.

But more rats appeared, and the man ran to dial 911, the police emergency telephone number (established in 1968). Meanwhile, the woman leaped into her car and drove off. She was in a “state of hysteria,” witnesses said. The rats were still there when a police radio‐patrol car arrived minutes later.”

TV section.

Stephen Colbert Captures Late-Night Ratings Crown for First Time in 20 Years (Hollywood Reporter)
Good news for one of our most loyal readers, Chris Licht.

Best of late night.

On billionaire Robert F. Smith’s commencement speech at Morehouse College where he pledged to pay off student loans for the 2019 graduating class:

“And guess what, since his Morehouse speech, Smith has received offers to speak at 8,000 other universities!”
— Conan O’Brien

“Oprah gave the commencement speech at the University of Colorado. And then she gave out a copy of her book to all the graduates. Yeah. The book is called ‘You Should Have Gone to Morehouse.’”
— Conan O’Brien

“Queen Elizabeth today learned how to use a self-service check-out at a supermarket’s 105th birthday celebration. Apparently, up until this point, she’s just been shop-lifting.”
— Seth Meyers

“Experts reported this week that so much trash has accumulated in Los Angeles that they believe it could lead to a spread of the bubonic plague. Said people of Los Angeles: ‘We are going to get sooooo skinny! Do you have the plague? You have to get the plague.’”
— Seth Meyers