Financial Markets and Economy
The Case for Free Trade Is Weaker Than You Think (Wall Street Journal)
Economists disagree on plenty, but they’re pretty much unanimous that free trade is good and protectionism is bad. Elite opinion among noneconomists concurs: Editorial pages have roundly condemned Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump for threatening to tear up trade agreements and slap steep tariffs on Mexico and China.
Wall Street bull emerges, makes bold call on stocks (Yahoo! Finance)
The bull market in stocks is in its seventh year. And if it can stick it out through the end of the month, it will have been the second longest bull market in U.S. history.
Investors Stockpile Cash, In Latest Hint that All’s Not Well for Stocks (Wall Street Journal)
Cash levels are rising, the latest sign that investors aren’t wildly enthusiastic about stocks after a rally since mid-February.
Why no economic boost from lower oil prices? (Econbrowser)
Many analysts had anticipated that a dramatic drop in oil prices such as we’ve seen since the summer of 2014 could provide a big stimulus to the economy of a net oil importer like the United States. That doesn’t seem to be what we’ve observed in the data.
Fed eyes U.S. rate hike, but second-guesses economic gauges (Reuters)
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has declared that the U.S. central bank's interest-rate decisions will depend on how the economy performs.
Currency-Hedged Funds—Safer or Riskier Thanks to Derivatives? (Wall Street Journal)
A government proposal meant to limit the use of risky derivatives could hamper an increasingly popular breed of mutual funds that hedge against currency risks.
S&P 500 Energy Sector Closes Above 200-Day Moving Average After 566 Days Below (Be Spoke)
The S&P 500 Energy sector closed above its 200-day moving average after closing below it for the last 566 days going back to September 24th, 2014!
What Is America's Proper Place in the Global Economy (The Atlantic)
What would “a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by Providence, impoverished, in squalor … the 10-dollar Founding Father without a father” think about Bernie? About Trump? About manufacturing vs. finance, main street vs. Wall Street? About China?
Saudi Arabia’s credit rating just got downgraded thanks to oil prices (Quartz)
Saudi Arabia might be plotting its return to the center of the oil world, but that journey won’t be without some speed bumps.
Time Of Year To Remember ETF Tax Magic (ETF)
For U.S. taxpayers, the dread of tax-filing season is now upon us in full force. After all, it’s not the nominal investment return that matters,
Valeant Pharma Default Notice: Analysts Also Confused (Value Walk)
Another day and more news saga from Valeant Pharma this time only coming after the market close. The company is being accused by a bondholder of being in default of its debt and shares tanked on that news. Then Valeant denied the news and shares are only down 2.7 percent in after hours trading.
Long-Term Government Bonds Shine as Fed Goes Slow (Wall Street Journal)
For investors, one of the best bets of 2016 has been a wager via U.S. Treasurys on falling interest rates.
Berkshire Hathaway's stock isn't that expensive (Business Insider)
$211,660.00.
That’s the price for one share of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock.
Oil Plunges After Surprisingly Large Inventory Build (Zero Hedge)
Following last week's 'biggest inventrory draw in 3 months', expctations were for a 1mm build this week, so whenAPI reported a huge 6.2mm build. Perhaps slightly offsetting this surge is a 1.93mm draw at Cushing (after Genscape forecast a 1mm draw at Cushing this week and expectations were for a 800k draw).
Street Estimates Will Rise For First Time In 6 Months Off Earnings, Into iPhone 7 Launch (Benzinga)
Apple Inc. is scheduled to report its F2Q earnings, ended March 31, on April 25. Goldman Sachs’ Simona Jankowski maintained a Buy rating for the company, with a price target of $155, saying the company is entering an “upward estimate revision cycle."
Politics
A new national poll found Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders tied (Business Insider)
The top contenders in both the Democratic and the Republican presidential nominating races have roughly equal support among members of their respective parties, according to a national Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday.
Technology
Study finds that “male-dominated” professions are more at risk of being taken over by robots (Salon)
Computers are getting faster, our attention span is getting shorter, and time seems to be speeding up – meet the phenomenon known as ‘the great acceleration.’ The rise of automation — basically robots taking over human jobs — is helping us to cope with this perceived acceleration, not to mention the greater demand on reducing turn around time for manufacturing.
Bots, explained (Recode)
While the technology to simulate conversation with a computer has been around for decades, bots — or “chatbots” — are an increasingly trendy model for software.
This new obsession came on fast. But why? Where did these bots come from? Who is building them? What for? Is a fake conversation better than just clicking buttons? You’ll be hearing a lot more about bots soon, so here’s an overview.
Here's where all the components of your iPhone come from (Business Insider)
The iPhone 6s is arguably the best smartphone available at the moment, and a large part of that success is Apple's "in-house" mentality where it makes and designs its hardware and software to work with each other.
But Apple doesn't do it on its own.
It relies heavily on a bunch of different tech companies to make the parts for the iPhone, and some of them even come from competing smartphone makers like Samsung. Apple has to make sure those parts play nicely with the other important parts, as well as the iPhone's operating system, iOS.
Health and Life Sciences
First LSD brain imaging study offers insights into consciousness (New Scientist)
Almost three-quarters of a century after chemist Albert Hofmann accidentally ingested LSD and experienced its mind-expanding effects, brain imaging has given researchers their first glimpse of how it causes its profound effects on consciousness.
Is Your Sleeping Position All Wrong? (The Daily Beast)
When you get in bed and cozy into your covers at night, you probably don’t put much thought into whether you’re on your side, back, or stomach. But if you snore like a bear every time your head hits the pillow or you wake up feeling stiff as a board, it might be time to switch things up at bedtime. Here’s the scoop on the benefits and drawbacks of the most common sleeping positions.
Missing Y chromosome kept us apart from Neanderthals (New Scientist)
Modern humans diverged from Neanderthals some 600,000 years ago – and a new study shows the Y chromosome might be what kept the two species separate.
It seems we were genetically incompatible with our ancient relatives – and male fetuses conceived through sex with Neanderthal males would have miscarried. We knew that some cross-breeding between us and Neanderthals happened more recently – around 100,000 to 60,000 years ago.
Life on the Home Planet
Number Of Refugees Arriving In Greece Drops Dramatically (The Huffington Post)
Fewer than 100 migrants and refugees crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece over a 24-hour span Monday and Tuesday, a dramatic drop from the number of arrivals earlier this year. The declining numbers could fuel hope that an agreement between Turkey and the European Union to stem the flow of migrants to Greece is starting to have an effect.
Wildfires, Once Confined to a Season, Burn Earlier and Longer (NY Times)
The first Alaska wildfire of 2016 broke out in late February, followed by a second there just eight days later.
