Financial Markets and Economy
It's bad news for stocks if the S&P 500 closes below this level (Business Insider)
It looks like the S&P 500 Index’s daily momentum may be grinding to a halt as it’s staying well below 2,085. Market breadth also appears to be waning, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts. Volatility has also been a serious drag on the S&P 500 Index, perhaps causing deja vu for those who remember the market’s action in 2011.
This hidden risk will likely sabotage the stock market (Market Watch)
Chances are good that the U.S. stock market will be a disappointment over the next five years.
Mexican economic growth hits five-month high in January (Reuters)
Mexico's economy grew by 0.6 percent in January from December in seasonally adjusted terms, the fastest pace in five months, figures from the national statistics agency showed on Tuesday.
Growth was driven by a pickup in industrial activity, which advanced by 1.2 percent from the previous month, while the service sector expanded by 0.2 percent, the figures showed.
A Knee-Jerk Reaction to Yellen (Market Chess)
Precious metals and miners initially lurched higher in the face of apparently dovish commentary by Chair Yellen, just now.
Bull Market in S&P 500 Goes AWOL as History Rewards Patience (Bloomberg)
For investors getting antsy after a yearlong stretch in which U.S. stocks have gone nowhere, patience may yet be a virtue.
Slight upward revision to GDP in 2015 (The Economist Intellegence Unit)
On March 25th the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS, the national statistics office) released its second estimate of full-year real GDP growth in 2015, revising it up from 1.9% to 2%, mainly owing to stronger growth in the second and third quarters than previously estimated. We retain our forecast for 1.8% GDP growth in 2016.
Yahoo, Anbang, Bear and Unicorns (Bloomberg View)
The thing about Yahoo's plan to sell itself is that it is not a plan, and it is not to sell itself. It's not, like, "here is what's for sale, please submit your bids in two weeks." It's … like … there's some stuff … and if you want to buy part of it … you can tell Yahoo what you want to buy … and how … or whatever. You want to buy Yahoo's core business? Submit a bid. You want to buy part of that business? Sure, fine, submit a bid. You want to buy Yahoo's stake in Yahoo Japan? Why not. You want to buy the Alibaba stake that started all of Yahoo's contortions? I mean, maybe, but make sure to include your tax analysis as an appendix to your bid.
Case-Shiller Home Prices Jump Driven By West Coast Chinese Buyers (Zero Hedge)
US Home prices rose 5.75% YoY according to Case-Shiller (the fastest rate since July 2014) as it appears the Chinese buyers are migrating south from Canada with Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities with another month of double digit annual price increases. Home prices continue to climb at more than twice the rate of inflation amid a suply shortage as West Coast propertty markets become "Vancouvered."
Barclays Says Commodities to Slump on a 'Rush for the Exits' (Bloomberg)
Commodities including oil and copper are at risk of steep declines as recent advances aren’t fully grounded in improved fundamentals, according to Barclays Plc, which warned that prices may tumble as investors rush for the exits.
Prominent Hedge Fund Luxor Capital Warns Redeeming Investors Will Be "Gated" After Sharp Losses (Zero Hedge)
About a decade ago, Christian Leone's Luxor Capital was one of the biggest brand names in the industry, and alongside Harbinger and DB Zwirn, every trader and analyst on Wall Street wanted to work there. Since then things have changed. According to Reuters, Luxor, which had $3.8 billion under management at last check (a steep drop from the ~$10 billion it ran several years ago) "has been losing money for months" and on Monday it surprised investors when it announced it would "not be returning exiting investors cash in full, keeping a portion locked up until some illiquid investments can be sold."
Here Are The Four Reasons Why Investors Never Believed This Rally (Zero Hedge)
It has been so long, we forgot what it's like for the "smart money" (hedge funds, private clients and institutional clients) to put money to work into the market instead of rushing to unload their exposure to corporations buying back their stock (in near record amounts).
Politics
Why Ted Cruz’s sex life matters: The GOP’s toxic “family values” charade deserves continued scrutiny (Salon)
When is an affair just an affair? And when is someone’s private sex public business? Those are the questions of the moment following two sets of high-profile allegations involving Republican politicians engaging in extramarital relations. Last week, the National Enquirer alleged that GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz had been “caught cheating” with five mistresses, choosing not to identify the women by name. Earlier in the week, a story broke that Robert Bentley, Alabama’s virulently anti-gay governor, was having an affair with Rebekah Caldwell Mason, his married chief of staff.
New National Poll Numbers Show Closest Democratic Race of 2016 (NBC)
After suffering significant losses to Bernie Sanders last weekend in the Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii Democratic caucuses, Hillary Clinton finds herself in a closer race than she perhaps expected after rolling to a series of wins earlier this month.
Technology
Human-Like Robot Interviewed at SXSW—It’s Here to Help and Destroy (Singularity Hub)
Meet Sophia, a new human-like robot exhibited by Hanson Robotics at the SXSW festival. Sophia has a variety of features that make interactions with a human appear ordinary.
Employing a number of facial expressions and cameras behind its eyes, Sophia can have a conversation while detecting emotions and making eye contact. The robot also talks naturally and can remember interactions and facial expressions to improve familiarity over time.
IBM wants to accelerate AI learning with new processor tech (Engadget)
Deep neural networks (DNNs) can be taught nearly anything, including how to beat us at our own games. The problem is that training AI systemsties up big-ticket supercomputers or data centers for days at a time. Scientists from IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center think they can cut the horsepower and learning times drastically using "resistive processing units," theoretical chips that combine CPU and non-volatile memory. Those could accelerate data speeds exponentially, resulting in systems that can do tasks like "natural speech recognition and translation between all world languages," according to the team.
Robots are coming for your job (LA Times)
A viral video released in February showed Boston Dynamics' new bipedal robot, Atlas, performing human-like tasks: opening doors, tromping about in the snow, lifting and stacking boxes. Tech geeks cheered and Silicon Valley investors salivated at the potential end to human manual labor.
Health and Life Sciences
Sitting Increases the Risk of Dying Early (NY Times)
Sitting too much may increase the risk of dying prematurely, while replacing sitting time with just standing or moderate physical activity could counteract the effect.
Life on the Home Planet
The Arctic’s ice has hit another record low (Business Insider)
A record expanse of Arctic sea never froze over this winter and remained open water as a season of freakishly high temperatures produced deep – and likely irreversible – changes on the far north.
Scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center said on Monday that the sea ice cover attained an average maximum extent of 14.52m sq km (5.607m sq miles) on 24 March, the lowest winter maximum since records began in 1979.
In Pod-Based Community Living, Rent Is Cheap, But Sex Is Banned (Vice)
Airbnb, once a saviour from overpriced hotels, has become the new overpriced hotels since becoming the short-term accommodation staple. But with the rise of community living and work-cations, an alternative might be to just sleep where you cowork. That’s the idea behind PodShare, a coworking space with beds, which has three locations in Los Angeles.
China's Pollution May Not Be Decreasing as Fast as Hoped (Scientific American)
China’s greenhouse gas emissions are on a downward trajectory, but its emissions may not have fallen quite as much over the past two years as the Chinese government and the International Energy Agency have suggested.
Humor
Millions Flee Georgia for the Safety of North Carolina's Bathrooms (Andy Borowitz, NewYorker)
