News You Can Use From Phil’s Stock World

Financial Markets and Economy

These 4 charts are evidence the US economy is falling apart (Mauldin Economics)

My college-aged kids love him. I’m not talking about Stephen Curry or Justin Bieber (although they love them too); I’m talking about Bernie Sanders.

The housing crunch is forcing the middle class out of major American cities (Business Insider)

Anna Slavicek refuses to leave the Mission. As escalating housing costs drive her fellow teachers out of San Francisco, Ms. Slavicek stays put, determined to remain in the historic neighborhood where she has lived and taught for 22 years. To make rent, she shares a two-bedroom apartment with two other women.

Shanghai nut's plan to bail out bad investments (BBC)

By nature, venture capitalism is a risky business. But not in Shanghai — at least not any longer.

China's financial capital introduced a bailout scheme in January that fundamentally changes the laws of venture capitalism. Now, even the duds can't lose, to the finance world's dismay.

Homebuilders: Watch for Correction (Stock Charts)

The Homebuilders sector has had an interesting six months, declining -25% from the December high, then rallying +27% from the February low. Now the internals are implying that a correction is about to start.

Three Clues From Japan That A Bigger Bazooka Is Coming (Forbes)

If you listen to analysts and economists on a daily basis, it’s clear that they are prone to missing the forest for all of the trees.  Oil was a good example.  When oil was $147, all we heard about was the “peak oil” theory.  They said demand from China was insatiable.  Supply had peaked. Goldman Sachs told us oil was on its way to $200.

High-speed traders now dominate the most important market in the world, and it is freaking some people out (Business Insider)

High-frequency traders have taken over the market for US Treasuries, and a bunch of market participants say that they're alarmed by the change.

The US Treasury recently asked for public comments on changes to the largest government-bond market in the world. The responses have been flooding in.

Macau Casino Stock Rally Seen Unsustainable as Downturn Endures (Bloomberg)

Macau casino stocks just had their worst week since January, and for Invesco Ltd.’s Paul Chan, there’s no let up in sight.

Commodity Prices Rise For 3rd Week In A Row (Capital Spectator)

Last week’s performance leader: commodities, which posted a gain for the third week in a row, based on a set of ETFs that track the major asset classes. The rise has barely made a dent in the steep year-over-year loss that still weigh on commodities overall. But the rally so far this year for prices of raw materials generally is the strongest since the bear market started pinching these markets in 2014.

German Scorn Could Kill the Transatlantic Trade Deal (Bloomberg View)

In Hannover on Sunday, Barack Obama sought to convince a hostileGerman public of the merits of a transatlantic free-trade deal. Pitching European Union membership in Britain was a walk in the park by comparison.

It’s hard to overstate the level of opposition to the new deal in Germany. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, is more unpopular in Germany these days than President Obama in a room full of Tory euroskeptics. 

The Tokyo Whale Is Quietly Buying Up Huge Stakes in Japan Inc. (Bloomberg)

They may not realize it yet, but Japan Inc.’s executives are increasingly working for a shareholder unlike any other: the nation’s money-printing central bank.

Don’t Expect a Rate Hike this Week (Crossing Wall Street)

This looks to be an interesting week with a Fed meeting, the first GDP report for Q1 and many more earnings reports. Express Scripts is due after the close.

Semiconductors Signal No Relief in Global Macroeconomic Slowdown (Money Ball Economics)

The industrial slowdown predicted by semiconductors is coming true.

Which one of these indicators for the stock market is lying? (Market Watch)

Might a recession be averted after all? The odds that it might got a major boost earlier this week, when the Conference Board reported its index of leading economic indicators rose in March, breaking a three-month downtrend.

Open Interest for VIX Call Options Recently Topped 7.5 Million Contracts (CBOE Options Hub)

Last week the open interest for call options on the CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX®) surged to more than 7.5 million contacts (see chart below).

Aging Baby Boomers Push Spam, Diaper Stocks to Record Valuations (Bloomberg)

For all the attention paid to the massive snap-back in riskier stocks in the last two months, a somewhat less glamorous group has quietly been reaching record valuations.

German business morale dips as growth concerns take edge off firms' optimism (Reuters)

German business morale unexpectedly dipped in April, a survey showed on Monday, with global growth concerns prompting firms to tone down a generally optimistic outlook they had pegged on a solid start to 2016 for Europe's biggest economy.

The Better Burger Won’t Save Chipotle’s Investors (Fortune)

Fast-food chain Chipotle Mexican Grill on Tuesday is expected to report its first quarterly loss as a public company following last year’s E. coli outbreaks that exposed the chain’s health safety issues. Wall Street analysts are estimating a GAAP earnings loss of $1.04 versus $3.88 last year. I suspect the media will focus on Chipotle’s loss and its decline in same-store sales of roughly 30% during the first three months this year. Meanwhile, anyone who is still bullish on Chipotle’s stock will likely focus on the pace of its recovery in same-store sales and the improving profitability over the next two years.

"China Is Hoarding Crude At The Fastest Pace On Record" (Zero Hedge)

In the aftermath of China's gargantuan, record new loan injection in Q1, which saw a whopping $1 trillion in new bank and shadow loans created in the first three months of the year, many were wondering where much of this newly created cash was ending up.

Karma Automotive Renames Updated Electric Car, Moves Production to U.S. (Wall Street Journal)

Karma Automotive is working to complete development of a luxury electric car that it plans to formally unveil this summer with a new battery and charger and electrical controls.

Politics

How to Be Presidential, Trump-Style (Bloomberg View)

If in the early hours of a Saturday morning, there’s a traffic jam in your neighborhood, it won’t be because it’s the opening day of the county fair. These days, it’s more likely to be Donald Trump. 

In Waterbury, Connecticut, this weekend, three days before the state primary, people began lining up at 4 a.m.; the doors opened at 7 for a rally scheduled for 10. 

The Republican Senate majority may be on the verge of collapse (Business Insider)

But if Donald Trump or Ted Cruz is at the top of the GOP ticket, it looks freaking great for them.

The 2014 midterm was nothing short of a disaster for Democrats, a combination of a dismal map, midterm-election Obama fatigue and shoddy recruitment, that ultimately cost Democrats the Senate and netted Republicans nine seats from North Carolina to Colorado.

Can the Front-Runners Sweep the East? (The Atlantic)

When Hillary Clinton delivers her primary-night remarks on Tuesday after five Eastern states have voted, she’ll be speaking from the Philadelphia Convention Center, a key staging ground for the Democrats’ nominating convention that will occur exactly three months from now. It won’t be the same stage where she expects to formally accept the Democratic nomination—that’s the Wells Fargo Center a few miles away—but it’s close enough for a practice run.

Technology

Wisp is a tiny wireless computer that draws power from radio waves (Popular Science)

Power is a limit. When creating an electrical device, it needs some way to draw energy, or else it might as well be an awkward, inert rock. The easiest way is to tap into the grid, limiting the device's mobility to the length of a power cord, or using batteries, which have a limited lifetime. For most everything, one or the other is a workable solution, but if an architect wanted to embed sensors in a tunnel or a bridge to measure stress over a lifespan of decades, they’d need a complicated system for wiring in those sensors or replacing their batteries. 

First Response's Bluetooth pregnancy test is intriguing — and a privacy nightmare (The Verge)

First Response, a pregnancy test company owned by household product manufacturer Church & Dwight, released its Pregnancy Pro test app in March, which it markets as the "first pregnancy test that syncs with your smartphone." The Bluetooth-enabled test comes with a free partner app that's available on Android, iOS, and Amazon. It was last updated a week ago. Once downloaded and synced with a specific test, the app walks users through taking the test and then keeps them entertained while they wait three minutes to get their results. None of this is necessarily problematic. 

Health and Life Sciences

2 chronic lung diseases share gene changes (Futurity)

Smoking is a known risk factor for both chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), but now scientists have discovered the two chronic lung diseases also share a network of genes.

The discovery should inform both future research and drug development, researchers say.

Food for Retaining Thought (NY Times)

“Since the brain and body cells need fat to survive and thrive, depriving them of certain types of brain-healthy fats may be detrimental to your memory,” said Dr. Richard Isaacson, the director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian.

Life on the Home Planet

Rise in CO2 has 'greened Planet Earth' (BBC)

Carbon dioxide emissions from industrial society have driven a huge growth in trees and other plants.

A new study says that if the extra green leaves prompted by rising CO2 levels were laid in a carpet, it would cover twice the continental USA.

New York City Building With 'Pool in the Sky' to Open This Year (ABC News)

By next year, the wealthiest New Yorkers will be able to swim 300-feet in the air in a swimming pool suspended between two towers.