President Trump is open to waiting until later this year to secure funding for a wall along the border with Mexico. The shift could clear the way for lawmakers to strike a deal avoiding a government shutdown on Saturday, which marks Trump's 100th day in office. Democratic votes will be needed, since spending bills need 60 votes to clear procedural hurdles.

Economy

The President has also directed staff to accelerate efforts to draft a tax plan which would slash the corporate rate from 35% to 15%. Priority will be given to cutting rates vs. concern about the deficit, WSJ reports. Trump has promised a big tax announcement tomorrow, while Treasury Sec. Mnuchin and Gary Cohn meet today with Republican Congressional leaders.

Ahead of NAFTA talks, the Trump administration has taken a first step toward imposing a 20% tariff on Canadian softwood timber - the type of wood used for residential home construction. About $5B of Canadian exports to the U.S. will be subject to the tax. The decision is preliminary and still has to go through a couple of bureaucracies before any tariff is collected.

French Presidential finalist Marine Le Pen is "taking a leave of absence" from her role as the leader of the National Front, in an attempt to broaden her appeal before the next round of voting. "I will feel more free and above all, above party politics," she told France 2. Le Pen is still backed by NF, which wants to slash immigration, clamp down on trade, and overturn France's relationship with the EU.

More eurozone banks are set to tighten standards on loans to companies in the current quarter than ease them, though most are likely to keep them unchanged, according to the ECB's Lending Survey. It also showed that demand for financing from firms is expected to grow in Q2 against a backdrop of QE monetary policy.

Tensions are rising in Korea... The North has reportedly staged a massive live fire-drill to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the founding of its military following the docking of a U.S. submarine in the South. The Trump administration has also invited all 100 U.S. senators to a White House briefing tomorrow to discuss the situation, while the President calls for new U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang.

Stocks

When IBM shareholders gather today, they'll be asked to sign off on a $33M pay package for CEO Ginni Rometty. It's a hefty sum for any chief executive, let alone one who's overseen five years of falling revenue and left shareholders with a total return of less than 0.1%. According to proxy adviser ISS, her 2016 pay package may actually exceed $50M, based on its own estimate of her IBM stock options.

Meanwhile, ABB has sealed a collaboration agreement with IBM, combining its digital offering, which gathers information from machinery, with Big Blue's expertise in AI (featured in its Watson data analytics software). "This powerful combination marks truly the next level of industrial technology... and takes actions that drive greater uptime, speed and yield," said ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer.

European earnings roundup: Novartis (NYSE:NVS) +2% premarket after confirming its 2017 outlook and declaring it's still on the M&A hunt. Growing software spending, SAP is 1% higher as sales again topped estimates. Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) -2% premarket with writedowns and restructuring fees dragging earnings into the red.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is set to make some $186M as a result of the internet company's sale of its core business to Verizon (NYSE:VZ). A special meeting to vote on the deal is scheduled for June 8, according to securities filings. Yahoo's (NASDAQ:YHOO) hefty payout comes despite Mayer's inability to accomplish what she was hired to do five years ago: revitalize the fading internet icon.

With heavy turnout, the Writers Guild of America voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against Hollywood and other TV and film producers, threatening to bring the flow of fresh media content to a halt. Some 96% of voters signed off on a strike. A work stoppage could start as early as May 2, after the current three-year master contract has expired. Related tickers: CBS, DIS, CMCSA, FOX, FOXA, SNE, TWX, VIA, VIAB

A secret team of NASA veterans, robotics experts and ex-Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) staffers - recruited by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to lead its self-driving car project - has had its cover blown by what appears to be a snafu. Recently released documents by the California DMV contained the names of six "driver/operators" of Apple's driverless cars, but those names were supposed to have been redacted.

More Uber drama... The ride-hailing company told Europe's top court on Monday that it was a digital service, not a transport service - which would see it subjected to stricter rules - in its latest legal battle with the taxi industry. Separately, LYFT drivers have accused UBER of illegally gaining a competitive edge by tracking their whereabouts using spyware code-named Hell.

The maiden flight of the C919 will happen on or around May 5, sources told Reuters, after COMAC completed ground-testing and the aircraft popped its first runway wheelie. China's first national passenger jet aims to challenge the dominance of Boeing's (NYSE:BA) 737 and Airbus's (OTCPK:EADSY) A320 in the global commercial aviation market.

A complete tie-up between Japanese car makers Mitsubishi Motors (OTC:MMTOY) and Nissan Motor (OTCPK:NSANY) is not an option, declared Carlos Ghosn, chairman of both firms. "Full merger is not on the table. We want Mitsubishi to reform itself," he said, while attending the opening ceremony of Mitsubishi's new factory on the outskirts of Jakarta.

Toshiba will start taking bids for Landis+Gyr, its Swiss smart meter unit, as early as June, sources told Kyodo news. Hitachi (OTCPK:HTHIY) and other Japanese firms are seen as possible suitors for the unit. Reuters last month reported that Toshiba (OTCPK:TOSYY) had hired UBS to explore a sale or an IPO of the business, potentially valued at over $2B.

Wells Fargo will no longer be subject to the growth restrictions imposed on it last year after U.S. banking regulators said it "adequately remedied the remaining deficiencies" of its "living will." In December, the Fed and FDIC had banned Wells (NYSE:WFC) from establishing international bank entities, such as a branch in a foreign country, or acquiring nonbank subsidiaries.

In December, a vaccine from Merck (NYSE:MRK) and NewLink Genetics (NASDAQ:NLNK) was declared to be 100% effective at preventing people from contracting Ebola, but there are now questions about that claim. Scientists from the esteemed U.S. National Academy of Medicine have challenged the methodology of the drugmakers, concluding their vaccine "most likely provides some protection to recipients" but that protection "could in reality be quite low."

Express Scripts doesn't expect Anthem (NYSE:ANTM), its biggest customer, to extend a pharmacy-benefits management agreement slated to expire at the end of 2019. "We've offered them billions of dollars of rate relief for the next three years - price concessions, as it were - that they're not contractually entitled to," CEO Tim Wentworth told CNBC. It is "difficult for us to understand." ESRX -15% premarket.

While Saudi Arabia's deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has said Aramco (Private:ARMCO) is set to be valued at $2T, officials working on the deal have struggled to come up with a scenario under which it is worth more than $1.5T, WSJ reports. The figure even accounts for a more favorable tax rate and other tools the government has instituted to make its IPO more attractive.

U.S. East Coast refiners, including Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) and Monroe Energy (NYSE:DAL), are looking to move more crude by ship from Texas into the Philadelphia area. It's the latest twist in a trade flow upheaval resulting from the opening of more pipelines in North Dakota; as the discounts of Bakken crude disappeared, so did the rail cars that transported the commodity.

Monday's Key Earnings

Alcoa (NYSE:AA) +3% AH with strong start as independent firm.
Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) -3.2% AH missing expectations.
Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) -0.7% despite beating estimates.
Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) +5.9% passing Mattel in sales.
Kimberly Clark (NYSE:KMB) +0.3% on mixed results.
T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) -0.3% AH as customer growth slowed.

Today's Markets

In Asia, Japan +1.1%. Hong Kong +1.3%. China +0.2%. India +1%.
In Europe, at midday, London +0.3%. Paris +0.3%. Frankfurt flat.
Futures at 6:20, Dow +0.3%. S&P +0.1%. Nasdaq +0.2%. Crude +0.3% to $49.39. Gold -0.4% to $1272.60.
Ten-year Treasury Yield +3 bps to 2.31%

Today's Economic Calendar

8:55 Redbook Chain Store Sales
9:00 FHFA House Price Index
9:00 S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index
10:00 Consumer Confidence
10:00 New Home Sales
10:00 Richmond Fed Mfg.
10:00 State Street Investor Confidence Index
1:00 PM Results of $26B, 2-Year Note Auction