New York City is not only the world's financial capital, it is also where the independent press was invented by one Peter Zenger. The busy port was the source of newspapers and other information coming from across the Atlantic on prices of stocks, bonds, and commodities.

The founding fathers were active supporters of economic growth, notably Alexander Hamilton, who before starring in a musical was the author of the Report on Manufactures in 1790. New York founded the first American stock exchange under a buttonwood tree in 1792. But Wall Street only really got going in 1825 when the Erie Canal was opened, linking the NY Harbor with the west.

Initially daily broadsheets covered stock trading, with closing prices input by hand. But in a New York moment, things soon sped up. By 1844 the telegraph was invented and financial information was available instantly. The closing Wall Street prices could be input into ticker tape machines which delivered the codes to banks and brokers all over the country. Ticker tape parades celebrated heroes and warriors until the tape became redundant.

During the Great Depression even more information became available to investors, like Fortune, founded in 1930 by Henry Luce, and its rival, Business Week, a favorite of my father's when I was a kid, and where I got my first journalistic job. In the economic crisis people also turned to the radio which reported on stock markets at the end of the day.

With the abundance of news, fake news, and false news on the internet today's financial news is virtually free of charge, but not necessarily without cost to those who believe what they read. That is why I am so tough on web advisories which quote supposed analyst notes backing short sellers. Shorting is legal but spreading false news is very dangerous to your wealth and should be controlled better by publishers and consolidators of stock advisories like marketbeat.com which can cause havoc. It is distributed by my broker (because it is free) and repeatedly writes up fake bad news about a company we own.

Theresa May belatedly fulfilled one of my predictions, by calling an election in Britain for June 8. However she did not take up my suggestion that the vote be treated as a second chance to remain in the European Union. My UK national husband will insist on being in London to vote, and I will go with him. Germany's foreign minister said that the vote “can lead to more clarity and predictability in negotiations with the EU.” It may also offer Britons a chance to reconsider the whole Brexit move.

Sterling rose to $1.266 against the dollar and London stocks crashed. Under new rules Parliament must vote 2/3 in favor of an earlier poll than the next one slated, for 2020. The Labour party indicated it would back the June vote but Scottish nationalist leader Nicola Sturgeon warned that the vote might give the Tories a stronger majority and lead to cuts in social programs.

In my list of disasters caused by errant computer programs I did not include receiving an updated 1099 from my stockbroker by internet notification April 14. (I asked for it to be mailed as it is too late to change what was filed yesterday.) I don't think this really was the fault of computers, but in fact the fault of E-trade's cost-cutting zeal keeping human beings out of the process until it was too late.

Heavies

*BP plc (BP) has successfully capped the second natural gas storage well leak in Alaska's North Slope yesterday, 3 days after the spill was discovered. A broken pressure gauge in the well pipe caused the blowout. BP is off by 3.6% in London trading as a dollar earner.

*Veresen was strongly tipped by Canada's newsletters@dailybuyselladvisor.com which cheered its exit from power generation. This raised $1.2 bn in cash for FCGYF (or VSN up north) to invest in its Alliance and Ruby pipeline systems and Alberta ethane gathering, plus its midstream business. The result was that it paid a dividend of $1.15/sh last year vs $1.06 in 2015. While Veresen predicts its cash distriubtion this year will be $1-1.14, the Canada newsletter expects the payout will be at the high end of the estimate, at $1.09, before rebounding in 2018. Even at $1 its yield is 7.1%. All those numbers are in loonies, of course. For US investors the yield is 6.52% now with the analyst community mostly rating it a hold.

*Eduardo Garcia writes from Mexico that Cemex is selling for $150 mn its business in aggregates, asphalt, and concrete in Washington and Oregon to Cadman Materials, a sub of Germany's Heidelberg Cement. Eduardo edits sentidocomun.co.mx (in Spanish) with which we trade news.

*Worries about China's steel surplus have taken down the price of Vale (VALE) by another 3.2% yesterday. We exited from the world's cheapest producer of iron ore at a good time, after riding it up. It closed at $8.57 yesterday.

*Australian Orocobre (OROCF) lost 3.65% on concern Chile will allow more lithium production which will compete with its Argentina facilities. OROCF hardly trades in the USA.

*However Chilean Sociedad Quimica Minera (SQM) gained 1.1%, among the rare stocks in the black yesterday.

*Agrium cut the ribbon on its new facility in Borger, TX. It will ramp up production over the quarter to hit operational capacity of 610,000 metric tonnes of urea (fertilizer) plus 100,000 tones of diesel exhaust fluid. AGU of Canada is due to merge with Potash of Saskatchewan, a plant food giant.

Technology

*BAE Systems's (BAESY) VP and Chief Tech Officer Peder Jungck was named as president of the International Cyber Threat Intelligence Sharing Operation, a not-for-profit outfit which works to cut cyber risk, and includes tech firms like Intel, Oracle, and HP. The US Dept of Homeland Security also backs the forum to get near real-time ripostes into place against cyber threats. Mr. Jungck, 49, an engineer, has 26 patents in networking and security and has experience in Silicon Valley and worked in the past for AT&T and NCR. BAE is a rare UK winner.

*While you don't want to buy Naspers (NPSNY) (unless you are a South African investor seeking a haven from Zuma) you also don't want to sell it, warns our Harry who picked the stock. Its main appeal, its 30% stake in Tencent Holdings (TCTZF) of Hong Kong, was off modestly by 0.85% yesterday. 

*The stock constantly attacked by short sellers on-line is CAE, a Canadian maker of simulation systems for training airplane and medical personnel--but not on how to remove passengers whose seats the aviation company wants back. It was picked by Patti the Biotech Maven whose son is a pilot trainee.

*UK metrology firm Renishaw crashed 3.6% as Britain returned from its Easter break and found out there would be a general election in June. RNSHY was a Martin Ferera pick and has done quite well YTD.

Drugstories

*GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was down 2.5% because of the unexpected currency move boosting sterling against the greenback after the May snap election call. GSK is a dollar earner. Separately, GSK via its jv with Japan's Daiichi Sankyo applied for a new drug permit for its Shingrix shingles vaccine after the completion of phase III trials in, among other countries, Japan. The non-live recombinant jab to prevent varicella zoster is also being considered for a new drug application in the US, Canada, and in the EU but has not yet been approved anywhere. It is also being tested for re-immunization of people (like me) who had been given older less effective vaccines. Shingles can cause blindness and older people are particularly susceptible to the virus which hits people who had chicken pox as children.

*LA billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, whose NantWorks invested in (and rescued) Australia's Benitec Biopharma BNTC , has taken to twittering against a medical news site, STAT. It accused Dr Soon-Shiong of using his group's private “cancer moonshop 2020” to channel money into companies he owns. South African-born Dr Soon-Shiong developed nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane), sold to Celgene for nearly $3 bn, making him the richest biotech research scientist in the USA. He has also been attacked by Adam Feuerstein, who covers biotech for TheStreet.com but was given much praise by 60 Minutes in a program about his work on cancer. I have no input beyond the public domain but assume that Dr Soon-Shiong is very good at medicine and investing. BNTC gained 1.1% but then fell back by 1.1%. If you don't like the price wait ten minutes.

*Teva (TEVA) was down another 2.27% after opening off even more. I averaged down about 5 weeks ago, too soon it turned out. It has now hit a 12-mo low in part because many folks are still observing Passover and therefore aren't buying stocks. (I am reform and we only observe 7 rather than 8 days.) It will probably report on a disastrous quarter May 11. TEVA yields 3.6% itself astonishing. The company is suffering from its former CEO Vigodman causing a fake legal claim over buying Mexican Rimsa, which he tried to wiggle out of, and because of US FDA problems at a Chinese API (drug precursors) plant. And of course the expiry of the patent on multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone. S&P (now renamed CFRA) rates Teva a buy.

*Galapagos of Belgium, sold, is raising $338 mn or more by a US share offering headed by Morgan Stanley which set the $90 price and also exercised a green shoe option. The closing will be April 21. The main reason I sold was that our former Italy drug maven who joined the company then retired.

Bancos

*Standard Life SLFPY fell 5.5% yesterday on sterling's rise, and also because it is now ex-div for the payment due June 7, exactly election day in Britain. SLFPY yields 9.43% at yesterday's exchange rate and stock price. It is a Scottish firm which is taking over another, fund manager Aberdeen.

*Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio corrected its invitation for its Q1 conference call to Friday April 21 from Friday April 17, In Panama they don't appear to have calendars.

Fundos

*Korea Fund is launching a tender offer to buy back ~10% of its shares out. The economic and political situation is improving if you forget how close Seoul is to Kim-land. KF gained ~0.50% on the news.

*Kennedy Wilson Real Estate plc rose 1.3% in a mostly panicky London market as a quickie way to buy the EU.

*SPDR Gold, GLD, is also on a roll.

*Investor A/B, the Swedish holding company, is within pennies of its 12-mo high at $42.75 yesterday.