Opening Bell: 2.21.18

As Stock Jitters Recede, Focus Shifts to Surging Company Profits [Bloomberg]
A stream of rosy profit reports has helped soothe the nerves of investors rattled by this month’s stock market plunge. U.S. companies are seeing the biggest growth spurt in quarterly earnings in six years, and the pace is set to accelerate.
The question now is whether that momentum will fuel further stock gains.

Here’s a Change: U.S. Borrowing Costs Among Highest in Developed World [WSJ]
For the first time since 2000, U.S. 10-year yields, at 2.88%, are above those of Australia, at 2.84%, notes ADMISI, a brokerage unit of agricultural giant Archer Daniels Midland. At first glance, this makes sense. Benchmark yields have converged as the U.S. Federal Reserve has raised rates while the Reserve Bank of Australia has stood pat. Indeed, the Fed is treading a lonely path, with other central banks still far behind in the policy stakes.
For investors, however, this turns a familiar backdrop upside down. Australia and New Zealand have for decades been the highest-yielding government-bond markets among advanced economies, with higher rates needed thanks to sizable current account deficits and higher inflation in the past. But now New Zealand, with a 10-year yield of 2.96%, is only just stopping the U.S. from claiming the high-yielder crown.

Why this week’s Fed minutes could hold the key to the market’s next move [CNBC]
It's a big week for the bond market, and the Federal Reserve's latest meeting minutes, set for release Wednesday afternoon, could be a particularly pivotal event for Treasurys.
For one, rates are rising relatively quickly. As the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield inches ever closer to 3 percent, the more Fed policy-sensitive 2-year Treasury yield hit its highest level in nearly a decade. A massive Treasury auction on Tuesday showed weak demand for some short-dated notes.

Exclusive: Investment star Alan Howard's comeback hits headwind [Reuters]
A fund managed directly by Alan Howard, one of Britain’s best known investors, lost nearly 9.0 percent net of fees from May through December 2017, according to information provided to Reuters by a spokesman for two New York City employee pension funds.
The Brevan Howard AH Fund LP was launched last year amid client defections from Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP, Howard’s London and Jersey-based firm. The appeal of the new fund, which helped attract new money, was that it was managed solely by Howard, a so-called macro trader who made his name through Brevan Howard’s impressive profits during the financial crisis of 2008.

Bitcoin prices are back up 30 percent over the last week [re /code]
Bitcoin prices are back up to more than $11,600 today after South Korea’s finance regulator said the country would support “normal” cryptocurrency trading. That’s the highest it’s been since the country’s regulators said they would ban cryptocurrency traders from using anonymous bank accounts last month
The price of the cryptocurrency is higher on South Korean exchanges, where a relatively large share of the world’s bitcoin trading volume occurs, driving overall prices up.

Farting Passenger Forces Plane To Make Emergency Landing [HuffPo]
A flight from Dubai to Amsterdam had to make an emergency landing in Vienna after a fight broke out because one of the passengers wouldn’t stop breaking wind.
The fart-induced fracas happened Feb. 11 aboard Transavia Airlines Flight HV6902 when two men sitting next to an apparently very flatulent man raised a stink about his repeated gas attacks, according to Fox News.
When the alleged perpetrator didn’t stop, his disgusted seatmates reportedly complained to the airline crew, who apparently did nothing.