Financial Markets and Economy
Oil Turns Lower After Bigger-Than-Forecast U.S. Crude Build (Fox Business)
A bigger-than-expected build in U.S. crude inventories to fresh record highs pushed oil markets down after an early rally on Wednesday over concerns about production cuts in Canada's oil sands region due to a wildfire.
Trade Deficit Shrinks as Goods Imports Hit Five-Year Low (Fox Business)
The U.S. trade deficit fell more than expected in March as imports of goods tumbled to their lowest level since 2010, a potential boost to first-quarter economic growth estimates that also hints at sluggish domestic demand.
Siemens beats forecasts, gets boost from Iran (Reuters)
German industrial group Siemens easily beat expectations for second-quarter profits but said a recovery in businesses such as factory automation may be slower than expected.
Group industrial profit jumped 28 percent, boosted by a one-off impact from the easing of sanctions on Iran and a return to profit at Siemens' wind power unit as projects were completed and initial costs fell.
There's one big problem with China's plan to transform its economy (Business Insider)
One of China's long-term economic plans is to get its workers out of rural areas and into cities.
These economic experts are getting seriously worried about Brexit (Business Insider)
Economic uncertainty hit its highest point in 19 years during March thanks to the upcoming EU referendum, according to the academic group behind the Economic Policy Uncertainty Index.
A Currency War Battle That Europe and Japan Can’t Afford To Lose (Dollar Collapse)
The dollar is tanking lately. From a high of around 100 in December, the dollar index — which measures USD against a basket of foreign currencies — is down about 8%, and the decline is steepening. In counterintuitive currency war terms, that means the US is winning the latest battle.
The Lost Decade for Value (Crossing Wall Street)
It’s a well-known fact that value stocks have, over the long-term, outperformed the overall stock market. But how long is long-term?
Why Goldman Sachs suddenly wants to work for average people (Washington Post)
For 147 years, Goldman Sachs has been best known as a secretive, Wall Street dealmaker with the ear of the White House. It helps big institutions and billionaires bet on the markets and large corporations raise money.
Bad loans and bankruptcies sound the alarm for Turkey's economy (Reuters)
After years of growth fueled by credit and domestic consumption, bad debts and bankruptcies are rising in Turkey, squeezing banks and exposing a fragile real economy which risks denting support for the ruling AK Party.
In its first decade in power, the AKP, founded by President Tayyip Erdogan, built its reputation on growing Turkey's wealth, overseeing a sharp rise in incomes and providing new roads, hospitals and airports in what was long an economic backwater.
Smart Beta Indexes Fall Short of Factor Investing (Chief Investment Officer)
Smart beta indexes may not provide true exposure to factors, according to research from Robeco Asset Management.
The Worst Bear Market That Nobody Ever Talks About (The Irrelevant Investor)
The longest bear market didn’t begin in 1929 or 2007, but rather on January 11, 1973 [i]. The 437 days from peak-to-trough gave birth to many well-known value investors and also left in its wake a generation of brokers that would never return to Wall Street. Roger Lowenstein described how this period is remembered forgotten today. The market collapse of 1973-74 has been oddly ignored in the annals of investing.
Why Shares of Fintech Lenders OnDeck and Lending Club Are Getting Crushed (Fortune)
OnDeck might not have been ready for the major leagues.
China is in the middle of a pork-based crisis (Business Insider)
China is in the middle of a pork crisis, with prices hitting record highs thanks to waning supply within China and a boom in consumption of the country's favourite meat.
The spot price of a kilogram of pork hit 20.9 renminbi on Tuesday, up more than 4% since the same time last week, and nearly 25% since the start of the year.
OnDeck might not have been ready for the major leagues. (Zero Hedge)
Just another central bank intervention in what is now a daily occurrence?
Takata’s Future in Doubt as Airbag Recall in U.S. Doubles in Size (NY Times)
Takata, the Japanese auto-parts supplier, faces big losses, dwindling cash and mounting costs from an auto safety scandal already linked to 11 deaths.
Politics
Bernie Sanders pulls off shock victory over Hillary Clinton in Indiana (The Guardian)
Bernie Sanders threw a last-minute hurdle in front of Hillary Clinton’s march toward the Democratic party nomination on Tuesday by clinching a surprise victory in the Indiana primary.
Hillary Clinton Widens Lead Over Donald Trump in Poll (NY Times)
Hillary Clinton holds a wide lead over Donald J. Trump in a new national poll that came out shortly after the Manhattan businessman became the presumptive Republican nominee.
The Four Horsemen of the Republican Apocalypse (Bloomberg View)
Last night, I commemorated Donald Trump’s victory in the Republican primaries by eating Mexican food in Utah, a redder-than-red state where he came in a distant third.
While I ate my very tasty beef taco, I mulled on the factors that have brought us to this pass. Other columnists may look forward, to the heat death of the Republican Party and the triumphant ascent of Hillary Clinton to the position of least popular Democratic president since Jimmy Carter. But I’d like to take a moment to remember the folks who have brought us to this strange pass — the four horsemen of the Republican apocalypse, if you will.
Technology
There’s now a robot-doctor that can finish performing a surgery on its own (Quartz)
In a not-too-distant future, robots will be driving us around, serving us our coffee, and, apparently, performing our surgeries. New research published in the journal Science Translational Medicine today hints at a time when robots will be able to perform parts of surgeries on their own, without any help from humans.
IBM just beat Google to a brand new type of computing (Business Insider)
On Wednesday, IBM scientists will make a quantum computer available to the public as a cloud service for the first time.
Though the cloud service is geared mostly toward scientists and students, anyone interested in this strange new computer will be able to give it a try, Jerry Chow, one of the scientists leading the project, tells Business Insider.
Health and Life Sciences
Embryo study shows 'life's first steps' (BBC)
Scientists say a breakthrough in growing embryos will improve fertility treatments and revolutionise knowledge of the earliest steps to human life.
For the first time, embryos have been grown past the point they would normally implant in the womb.
There's A 30% Chance You Don't Need That Antibiotic (Forbes)
The last time I needed antibiotics, I toughed it out for days before seeing a doctor, by which point my pain had gotten so bad I couldn’t sleep through the night. The reason? I didn’t want to be a vector for the next superbug. By the time I did get medical help, the doctor reassured me in the worst way possible: “Honey, it’s too late for that,” she said. “You are not going to be the reason for the next superbug.”
Many people with an ‘allergy’ could take penicillin (Futurity)
Many people who believe they’re allergic to this antibiotic may not actually be allergic at all, explains allergist Thomas Leath.
“Hypersensitivity reactions are the major problem in the use of penicillin,” says Leath, of the Texas A&M College of Medicine. “Many people who report a penicillin allergy don’t even know why. It could be because they had a reaction when they were very young, or, because a family member had an allergic reaction and told their children not to take penicillin.”
Life on the Home Planet
Neil deGrasse Tyson thinks there's a 'very high' chance the universe is just a simulation (Business Insider)
We trust the scientists around us to have the best grasp on how the world actually works.
So at this year's 2016 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate at the American Museum of Natural History, which addressed the question of whether the universe is a simulation, the answers from some panelists may be more comforting than the responses from others.
