Financial Markets and Economy
Shorts Won’t Leave Industrial Stocks Alone as Economy Sows Doubt (Bloomberg)
After a stellar run in the winter that made them among the market’s high fliers, industrial stocks have now seen investor euphoria all but evaporate.
Negative Yielding Sovereign Debt Surpasses $10 Trillion (Wall Street Journal)
The amount of global sovereign debt with negative yields surpassed $10 trillion for the first time in May, according to Fitch Ratings.
The measure stood at $10.4 trillion on May 31, up 5% from $9.9 trillion on April 25, when the rating agency last measured the amount, according to a Thursday report. It’s spread across 14 countries, with Japan by far the largest source of negative yielding bonds. Of the total, $7.3 trillion was long-term debt and $3.1 trillion was short-term debt.
Goldman Says Hedge Funds Wedded to Top Picks Like Never Before (Bloomberg)
Hedge funds, who’ve seen their reputations take a beating in recent months, have not suffered a corresponding hit to their confidence, at least as far as stock-picking goes.
Oil Price Poised For A Boost From A Big Fall In U.S. Production (Forbes)
U.S. oil production has entered the end game with output forecast to plummet as drilling dries up and banks foreclose on oil companies teetering on the brink of insolvency.
Central Banks Have Already Used a Better Tool Than Helicopter Money (Bloomberg)
Former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke has worked to disabuse investors and economists of the notion that the Fed is nearly out of ammunition, pointing to a number of other tools at the central bank's disposal.
Yuan Forecasts Cut at Fastest Pace Since January on Fed, Economy (Bloomberg)
Analysts are cutting their forecasts for China’s yuan at the fastest pace since January with the currency’s losses accelerating as the economy slows and the U.S. moves closer to raising interest rates.
The Deepening Deficit That Makes Zinc One of 2016’s Top Bets (Bloomberg)
The Chinese smelters that churn out more than 40 percent of the world’s zinc may cut production for the first time in four years because they can’t get enough raw material, further lifting prices of one of this year’s strongest-performing commodities.
Radical Changes Are on the Way for Investment Banks (Wall Street Journal)
For a glimpse of the future of investment banking, just look at the recruiting section of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s website.
Should Investors Care About Banks’ Exposure To Energy? (Value Walk)
“Should investors still care about Bank Energy Exposure with oil at $50?” That’s the question posed by Morgan Stanley’s equity research team in a new research note sent to clients this week.
Taiwan Stocks Seen Falling by Double Digits on U.S. Rates Rise (Bloomberg)
Taiwan’s benchmark stock index could fall as much as 24 percent by the end of the year, according to a senior executive at the island’s biggest publicly traded financial services company.
Bitcoin has been on an explosive rally — and it's back through $500 (Business Insider)
Bitcoin is back.
Iran Resists Saudi Gesture for Unity as OPEC Fractures Reappear (Bloomberg)
Iran resisted overtures from OPEC’s largest producer Saudi Arabia to restore a production target scrapped at the group’s last meeting in December.
Going Broke Slowly: A Guide to Sprint’s $33 Billion Debt Dilemma (Bloomberg)
Sprint Corp.’s top executives are confidently promising a revival that will lead to the “greatest turnaround in history.”
The Verizon strike was a huge contributor to the miserable jobs report (Business Insider)
The jobs report was, to put it mildly, not pretty.
Why Margin Debt Should Make You More Fearful Of The Stock Market Today (Felder Report)
‘Stocks have gone up over the past few years so they’ll probably continue to do so. We had a 10% correction recently so we should be prepared for that sort of thing to happen again but there’s no reason to believe a bear market is lurking.’
Politics
Iran Supreme Leader: 'We will not cooperate with America' or 'evil' Britain (Business Insider)
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday Tehran had no intention of cooperating on regional issues with its main enemies, the United States and "evil" Britain.
Once it became clear that the 2016 general election matchup would be between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, one of the big unanswered questions was how the Democrats and the Clinton campaign would approach their politically exotic adversary. And it was looking a little dodgy there for a bit. Early reports indicated that the Clinton campaign was going to attack Trump as a heartless businessman whose ruthless tactics had screwed over normal people – an attack that worked perfectly well against Mitt Romney but risked feeding into Trump’s self-styled image as a cutthroat hard-ass.
Technology
Elon Musk’s Future: Robot Cars, People on Mars and AI Run Amok (Bloomberg)
SpaceX and Tesla Motors Inc. founder Elon Musk has never been shy about making bold predictions. His latest pronouncements: that most cars won’t have drivers in three years and people will arrive on Mars by 2025.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. could start sending people off-planet by 2024 (they take months to get there), starting a 26-month cycle that will colonize the Red Planet and form the foundations of a space-faring civilization, the chief executive officer of both companies told Recode’s Code conference.
Health and Life Sciences
The Genetic Tool That Will Modify Humanity (Bloomberg)
It took millions of years for apes to evolve into humans. It may take only a century for humans to change again.
Genetic engineering, which for decades never quite lived up to its promise, is being transformed thanks to a new tool called Crispr. Scientists can use it to manipulate the genes of any living creature with astonishing ease. Its initial applications have been to target genetic disease, modify foods, and develop new drugs. What comes next is up to us.
'New era' of personalised cancer drugs (BBC)
Precision medicine is one of the big themes at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Doctors say "breath-taking" advances in the understanding of tumours are being used to unlock new treatments.
Life on the Home Planet
What’s keeping Golden Rice from feeding the world? (Futurity)
Heralded on the cover of Time magazine in 2000 as a genetically modified crop with the potential to save millions of lives in the developing world, Golden Rice is still years away from field introduction and even then, may fall short of lofty health benefits still cited regularly by GMO advocates.
“Golden Rice is still not ready for the market, but we find little support for the common claim that environmental activists are responsible for stalling its introduction.
Rusty Ships and Unused Aircraft Carriers: the Other Side of Asia's Militaries (Bloomberg)
As China spends billions to upgrade and reorganize the People's Liberation Army, the deficiencies in competing Asia-Pacific militaries are coming into focus. And even some of China's much heralded military advances are drawing attention for their shortcomings. Here is a snapshot of some of Asia's less illustrious military kit.
