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Just like the Tesla electric car was spun as a niche product which will be adopted by everyone in the US (and the world) but increasingly appears that not only will this fad fade away only to be replaced by the next such attention-grabbing gimmick created by someone else, so the PowerWall is a product that while clearly appealing to some 40,000 early adopters "it’s yet not clear that it will expand much beyond that." According to Catalytic Engineering, the PowerWall "economics don’t make sense for most customers in North America" and that "by itself, the Tesla PowerWall residential unit won’t disrupt the energy industry, as it’s looking like a niche product."

Why would financial firms pay so much for blogger Ben Bernanke’s thoughts? Aside from the marketing benefits we noted, there is one good reason. In essence, you’d want to know what Bernanke would think if he were wrong or ill-informed about some important economic issue. That is something money managers understand in a way that academics and policymakers do not, for being wrong – and knowing what to do next – is a critical skill for the professional. Getting the most information from Bernanke, either in a one-on-one or just reading his work online, boils down to just two questions: “What doesn’t he know” and “What is he sure of that is actually wrong?”

• Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage resign as Tories sweep to victory (Telegraph)
• Bonds and stocks rebound, sterling soars after UK election (Reuters)
• Cameron Set to Return With U.K. Majority as SNP Sweeps Scotland (BBG)
• Tory win brings marked EU exit risk (Reuters)
• Why did Labour lose this election? It never tried to win it (Telegraph)
• Stock Buybacks Hit New Records (WSJ)
• Hard Money Comes Easy as Wall Street Funds Home Flippers (BBG)
• Justice Department to Investigate Baltimore Police (WSJ)
• Saudi Arabia mulling land operations on Yemen border (Reuters)

By going after Ripple (a major player in the industry), FinCEN is trying to scare all the smaller players into ratting out their customers. You don’t see rich, stable countries doing this sort of thing. In fact, the exact opposite. An official from HK Treasury recently stated that: “the Government does not consider it necessary to introduce at the moment new legislation to regulate trading in such virtual commodities or prohibit people from participating in such activities.”

What follows is a remarkable data base of Corporate Fines and Settlements. From blatant cartel price-fixing or not disclosing the dangers of the company's heavily promoted medications to destroying documents to thwart an investigation of wrong-doing, the list is stunning and reads like a who's who of Corporate America and Top 100 Global Corporations. In other words, these were not wrist-slaps for minor oversights of complex regulations - these are blatant violations of core laws of the land and while the PR spins how corporate profits benefit widows and orphans, this vast wealth is concentrated in the top 1% and the top 5%.

As is almost always the case, the price of gold was leaned on at the standard PLAN A time in London when The Gold Cartel traders reported for work, but their nudge was thwarted pretty quickly. Gold took off again going into the Comex trading hours and managed to reach $1200 where it was stopped dead in its tracks. James Mc early this morning…

Yes ... They're Collecting the Content of AMERICANS' Phone Calls, Too

After the Saudis allegedly halted their air campaign against Yemen's Houthi rebels on April 21 (allegedly because it promptly resumed the very next day to almost no public announcement), the Yemen civil war and the "skirmishes" by Houthi rebels along the border with the world's biggest oil exporter were quickly forgotten. Until this morning, when the Saudi press and social media has been overrun with reports that the Saudi city of Najran was shelled by Houthi mortars, an attack which Saudi advisor to the armed forces Ahmed Asiri said "will not pass without a response".

We heard from several central banks in the last few days, and what they had to say was just one more reminder that we are in a Hill Street Blues financial world. So, hey, let’s be careful out there - and then some!

• Record month ends in pain as biotech, small-caps, Apple tumble (BBG)
• Japan inflation rises for first time in nearly a year (WSJ)
• US Navy starts to accompany ships in strait where Iran seized cargo carrier (WSJ)
• Russia may be readying for new Ukraine offensive: NATO commander (Reuters)
• Big banks use loophole to avoid ban (WSJ)
• China April official PMI shows factories struggling to grow (Reuters)
• CME suspends traders for alleged Sarao-like manipulation (BBG)

With the topic of racial division increasingly top of mind in America, The Washington Post reports a new study suggests that the rural Northeat and South are the most racist regions of America. The study, based on Goggle searches for race-related phrases, shows racist people in the U.S. appear to be clustered along the Appalachian Mountains from Georgia, through New York and all the way up to Vermont. West of Texas, no region falls into the "much more than average" category.

Hookers for Brazilians, and MiGs for Russians... what cost is your country obsessed with?

Apple is the Ty Cobb of corporate America. Like Cobb, Apple has set some impressive records. Nine years, a trillion dollars in sales, and almost no taxes paid. Apple risks having a legacy of tainted success and isolation.

As Sarao faces charges for crashing the US market for "spoofing" stocks, there is another seemingly much graver 'hack' that is now publicly available for all to utilize (and has been). As SputnikNews reports, the information necessary to hack a military drone is freely available to the public via a simple Google search that explains how to successfully "spoof" GPS signals. NATO has admitted this is possible in a 2013 report, and as we have previously noted Iran has already allegedly brought down and reverse-engineered a US drone.