Financial Markets and Economy
What Doesn't Kill Bull Market in Stocks May Make It Stronger (Bloomberg)
“How low can stocks go,” the Wall Street Journal wondered on March 9, 2009, as the financial crisis was wiping away trillions of dollars from American equities, the deepest rout since the Great Depression.
This chart is proof that US worker productivity is not dead (Business Insider)
US worker productivity has been declared dead.
You Deserve a Better Financial Adviser (Bloomberg Gadfly)
“Financial advisers are often perceived as dishonest, and consistently rank among the least trustworthy professionals.” So proclaims the Capital Ideas Blog of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business in a post about a new study that finds that 7 percent of advisers have been disciplined for misconduct.
China: The Trilemma and Reserves, Again (EconBrowser)
The yuan strengthened after China’s central bank raised its fixing for a fourth day and data showed a less-than-estimated drop in the nation’s foreign-exchange reserves.
Fee Tactics Grow As ETF Costs Fall (ETF)
When investing in any ETF, the fund’s expense ratio is usually the most important cost.
Wall Street is ditching experienced traders, and it could backfire when markets go haywire (Business Insider)
There is a phrase on Wall Street for the practice of firing senior traders and salespeople and replacing them with younger talent.
Growth of Financial Tech Industry Requires Unified Regulation (NY Times)
America’s financial technology industry has exploded in recent years, but regulators have not kept pace.
This is partly because of the country’s outdated patchwork of state rules. Britain and other countries are further ahead in addressing this emerging sector in a fresh way. Creating a modern, federal agency to oversee these companies is a priority for United States policy makers.
When Measures Become Targets: How Index Investing Changes Indexes (Investor Field Guide)
In Vietnam, under French colonial rule, there was a rat problem. To solve the rat infestation, the French offered a bounty on rats, which could be collected by delivering a rat’s tail as proof of murder.
Nasdaq Buys Deutsche Boerse's Options Market for $1.1 Billion (Bloomberg)
Nasdaq Inc. agreed to buy Deutsche Boerse AG’s International Securities Exchange for $1.1 billion, catapulting it to the top of the U.S. options market.
The Fool’s Gold (Fool's Gold)
“Patterns are the fool’s gold of financial markets” Benoit Mandelbrot
Amazon to Lease 20 Boeing 767s to Build Its Own Delivery Network (Bloomberg)
Amazon.com Inc. is stepping up plans to build its own air delivery network, saying it will lease 20 Boeing Co. 767 freighters from Air Transport Services Group.
Chart shows how bad negative rates have been for stock markets (Market Watch)
Markets are gearing up for an expected rate cut from the European Central Bank on Thursday, but stock investors shouldn’t get too excited about the prospects of lower interest rates, according to some analysts.
Not So Fast, Say Biotech And Bonds (Price Action Lab)
A 2.5% gain in IBB on Monday caused the usual reactions in the financial blogosphere. The same happened in the case of TLT after a 1.9% drop last week. Both moves were invalidated yesterday. The market sent a message: not so fast or you will be disappointed.
Here's Why Fintech Companies Are Opting to Stay Private: Funding Just Hit A Record (Bloomberg)
Some fintech companies that have recently entered the public market have had a tough time of late.
Has the value investing pain train ended? (Alpha Architect)
Last year we highlighted what we deemed the “value investing pain train.”
Is it Time to Abandon Emerging Market Stocks? (Cordant Wealth)
Emerging market stocks have struggled quite a bit recently. Down 15% last year and significantly underperforming U.S. stocks since mid-year 2012, some investors are wondering: Is it time to abandon Emerging market stocks?
Why the bull market’s birthday isn’t a reason to celebrate (Market Watch)
The S&P 500 index bull market celebrated a birthday Wednesday, but it didn’t get much love from two Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts: One recommended buying gold and dumping Wall Street, while another suggested cautious plays for those not ready to break up with stocks just yet.
Politics
Why The Polls Missed Bernie Sanders’s Michigan Upset (Five Thirty Eight)
If Bernie Sanders were to defeat Hillary Clinton in Michigan’s Democratic primary, it would be “among the greatest polling errors in primary history,” our editor in chief, Nate Silver, wrote Tuesday evening when results started to come in. Sanders pulled it off, and now we’re left wondering how it happened. How did Sanders win by 1.5 percentage points when our polling average showed Clinton ahead by 21 points and our forecasts showed that Sanders had less than a 1 percent chance of winning?
Does Money Really Buy Elections? (The Atlantic)
Campaign finance in the aftermath of the Citizens United ruling has been complicated—but what has been the impact of super PACs in the 2016 election? The Atlantic’s Caty Green sat down with senior associate editor Russell Berman to discuss the difference between PACs and super PACs, and to untangle to messy rules of financing elections.
All the lies Donald Trump told in his election night infomercial (Mashable)
Donald Trump had plenty to celebrate on Tuesday night after winning the Republican primaries in Mississippi and Michigan.
But that didn't really matter. He was still pissed at Mitt Romney for making fun of his companies.
Technology
Five Years After Fukushima, Region Encourages Rise of the Robots (Bloomberg)
Japan is spending more than $1 billion to relaunch the area around the wrecked Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant as the country’s “Innovation Coast.”
The region is trying to capitalize on technology developed in the five years spent cleaning up the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, including Hitachi Ltd. and Toshiba Corp. robots that slither like snakes or cruise through radioactive water like speed boats to investigate the flooded reactors.
Google's AI Has Won Its First Match Against Go World Champion Lee Sedol (Gizmodo)
In the first of a series of matches, Google Deepmind’s powerful artificial intelligence AlphaGo has beaten the world champion of Go, Lee Sedol.
The match between Sedol and DeepMind—in fact the first of five—was broadcast live on YouTube beginning March 9th. According to Google, it was a “close first game.” AlphaGo won by resignation after 186 moves, in a game that “looked to be neck-and-neck for its entirety, filled with complex fighting on both sides,” according to Google.
Health and Life Sciences
'Stunning' operation regenerates eye lens (BBC)
More than half of all cases of blindness are caused by cataracts – the clouding of the eye's lens.
An implanted lens is normally needed to restore sight, but the operation describedin Nature activated stem cells in the eye to grow a new one.
What Causes Overconfidence? (The Ness)
People are overconfident. That is a clear signal in psychological research that is reliably replicated. At this point it can be taken as a given. The brain is a complex machine, however, and any one factor such as confidence interacts in multiple and complex ways with many other mental factors.
This Vaccine Could Help You Quit Smoking (Popular Science)
Your immune system would destroy nicotine molecules before they reach your brain
To help those trying to quit, scientists came up with the idea of a nicotine vaccine that can train a smoker’s body to attack nicotine molecules before they reach the brain, eliminating their effect and, thus, the person’s desire to smoke. Now researchers from the Scripps Research Institute in California have developed a more effective nicotine vaccine.
Life on the Home Planet
Paul McCartney on George Martin (Paul McCartney)
I’m so sad to hear the news of the passing of dear George Martin. I have so many wonderful memories of this great man that will be with me forever. He was a true gentleman and like a second father to me. He guided the career of The Beatles with such skill and good humour that he became a true friend to me and my family. If anyone earned the title of the fifth Beatle it was George. From the day that he gave The Beatles our first recording contract, to the last time I saw him, he was the most generous, intelligent and musical person I’ve ever had the pleasure to know.
Five underwater pillars found near Australia's mysterious Twelve Apostles (Mashable)
Australians will have to think differently about the Twelve Apostles, one of the country's most beloved natural wonders, located close to Victoria's Great Ocean Road.
Five underwater columns have been found near the original 12 spectacular limestone structures, which line the rugged coastline and have become famous for their proximity to one another. Researchers discovered the "drowned apostles" while mapping the sea floor using sonar, the University of Melbourne said in a statement.
Stardust found on Earth may be older than our sun (Futurity)
Microscopic dust particles found in material from a meteorite may have come from an stellar explosion that occurred long before the creation of our sun.
Scientists think the particles, known as pre-solar grains, came from an explosion about five billion years ago on the surface of a small star that is part of a binary system—two stars orbiting each other.
