Financial Markets and Economy
The fuel of the US economy is getting cut off? (Business Insider)
The warning signs of a credit slowdown are beginning to appear.
S&P 500 Rally At Risk As Valuation Hits 99th Percentile: Goldman Sachs (Value Walk)
As a shift in investor perceptions of various risks could trigger a drawdown, analysts at Goldman Sachs anticipate that the S&P 500 index will end 2016 roughly 3% above its current level at 2100.
How High Must Prices Be To Save The Oil Industry? (Forbes)
The global oil market is returning to balance based on the latest data from the EIA. That should mean higher oil prices but how high must prices be to save the industry?
Four Stats that Show the Fear in the Market (Wall Street Journal)
Are stocks poised for another big drop? Some investors think so.
Why the ETF Acronym Can Be Misleading (Bloomberg)
Sometimes an ETF isn’t exactly an ETF.
Apple Watch sales dropped 63% from the holiday quarter (Business Insider)
Apple doesn't reveal Apple Watch sales like it does for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac lines.
Commodities: Last Week’s Asset-Class Leader (Capital Spectator)
Broadly defined commodities bounced higher last week, topping the performance list for the major asset classes, based on a set of proxy ETFs. iPath Bloomberg Commodity (DFP) increased 1.4% for the five trading days through May 13, delivering a relatively outsized gain vs. the rest of the field.
Deconstructing 30 Year Stock Market Returns (A Wealth of Common Sense)
This graph shows the rolling annual 30 year returns from the corresponding start dates.
China’s debt bubble is getting only more dangerous (Washington Post)
It would be like finding out Warren Buffett's financial empire may have been, quite possibly, a sham.
Oil futures hold near six-month highs as supply concerns dominate (Reuters)
Crude oil futures held near six-month highs in early Asian trading as the market focused on supply disruptions that prompted long-time bear Goldman Sachs to issue a bullish assessment on near-term prices.
A Battle Brews Over Negative Rates on Mortgages (Wall Street Journal)
As interest rates in Europe fall near or below zero, lawmakers and consumer advocates in Spain and Portugal are attacking an ancient tenet of finance by insisting that lenders can owe money to borrowers.
The World's Smartest Investors Have Failed (Motley Fool)
Investors started getting excited about hedge funds in the 1990s, when people like George Soros and Steve Cohen were earning returns of 30% or more, year after year, crushing the market. More funds opened, and their marketing pitch went something like this: We have the best investors in the world, and their returns are not correlated to the rest of the market. We will earn you so much money that we deserve the absurd fees we're going to charge you for it.
This unique online lending company just raised $25 million (Business Insider)
Capital Float, an Indian online lending company that targets small businesses, has raised $25 million in a Series B funding round.
Oil Drillers Adding Hedges as Crude Closes In on $50 a Barrel (Bloomberg)
Oil producers are taking advantage of the rebound in crude markets to lock in protection against another slump.
Cloak of Secrecy Fuels Anxiety Over Trans-Atlantic Trade Talks (NY Times)
Opposition to a sweeping trade deal between the United States and the European Union has gathered strength in Europe in recent weeks, but with a twist: The latest objections have less to do with what is known to be at stake, and more about what is unknown.
"Markets Have No Purpose Any More" Mark Spitznagel Warns "Biggest Collapse In History" Is Inevitable (Zero Hedge)
After making over $1 billion in one day last August, and warning that "the markets are overvalued to the tune of 50%," Mark Spitznagel knows a thing or two about managing tail risk.
Politics
Trump and Cameron Have a Row (The Atlantic)
Donald Trump said he might not “have a very good relationship” with David Cameron following the British prime minister’s critique of Trump’s proposed plan to ban Muslims from entering the United States.
Hillary Clinton says she'll put Bill 'in charge' of fixing economy? (CNN)
If she's elected president, Hillary Clinton says she'll appoint her husband, Bill, to oversee the economy.
During a speech in Kentucky Sunday she referred to "my husband, who I will put in charge of revitalizing the economy 'cause he knows what he's doing."
Technology
New form of light could make fiber optics more secure (Engadget)
When light hits your eyeball, the spinning photons actually twist it (infinitesimally). The force of that spin, known as angular momentum, has always been thought to be a direct multiple of a quantum physics number called Planck's constant. However, scientists from Trinity College Dublin discovered a form of light with an angular momentum that's exactly half that amount. Though that may not sound like a big deal, the discovery could have "real impact on the study of light waves in areas such as secure optical communications," says Professor John Donegan.
Nanorobots: Where We Are Today and Why Their Future Has Amazing Potential (Singularity Hub)
My goal here is to give you a quick overview of the work going on in labs around the world, and the potential applications this nanotech work will have in health, energy, the environment, materials science, data storage and processing.
Health and Life Sciences
This funky-looking 'inhaler' that just became available could be a huge help for migraine sufferers everywhere (Business Insider)
The device is an inhaler — or rather, an exhaler, as you breath out into the device — that contains the prescription drug sumatriptan (a longtime staple for migraine treatment). It goes by the name Onzetra Xsail and uses about 80% less medication than the typical oral dose of 100 mg. Unlike pills that are swallowed and need to have their medication absorbed through the stomach, the inhaler sends the medication right into the bloodstream via the soft tissue lining the mucous membrane of the sinus cavity. That can be a huge benefit for people who are nauseated (one side effect of migraines) or have trouble taking pills.
Low birth weight raises death risk into adolescence (Futurity)
Babies born with a low birth weight are at an increased risk of death during infancy and through to adolescence compared to babies born at a normal weight, a new study of more than 12 million births in England and Wales shows.
Life on the Home Planet
2016 to be hottest year yet as April smashes records (CNN)
Another month, another climate worry.
This year the Earth experienced the warmest April on record, keeping 2016 on track to be the hottest year yetand by the biggest margin ever.
India to 'divert rivers' to tackle drought (BBC)
India is set to divert water from its rivers to deal with a severe drought, a senior minister has told the BBC.
Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti said transferring water, including from major rivers like the Brahmaputra and the Ganges, to drought-prone areas is now her government's top priority.
