Financial Markets and Economy
This chart breaks down the crazy amount of oil production disruptions in 2016 (Business Insider)
Oil prices have recovered this year on the heels of numerous, ongoing production disruptions that have reached multi-year highs.
For One Breed of Wall Street Bankers, Business Is Booming Again (Bloomberg)
The job market is grim on Wall Street. Trading desks are shrinking, hiring is flat, even incentive pay is taking a hit. Except in one little corner of the financial world, where managers can’t read resumes fast enough.
Philly Fed beats expectations (Business Insider)
The Philly Fed manufacturing index came in at 4.7 for May, leaping into positive territory from the prior month.
Global Stocks Fall as Bank of Japan Stands Pat (Wall Street Journal)
A brief recovery in global stock markets was derailed Thursday after Japan’s central bank dashed hopes for additional monetary easing, sending shares down while the yen and gold rose to their highest levels this year.
Oil hits three-week low on weak U.S. stock draw, Brexit fear (Reuters)
Oil prices hit their lowest in more than three weeks on Thursday, the sixth straight day of losses and longest bearish run since early 2016, as U.S. crude stocks fell less than expected and concerns over Britain's future in the EU weighed.
Corporate Clients Push Back After Law Firms Hike Starting Salaries (Wall Street Journal)
After Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP said last week it would boost starting pay for its junior-most lawyers to $180,000, law firms across the country stumbled over themselves to announce salary increases for their own associates.
Futures lower as Fed comments, Brexit vote spook investors (Business Insider)
U.S. stock index futures were lower on Thursday, a day after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged but warned of slowing economic growth and the repercussions of Britain's possible exit from the European Union.
Pound set for 11% slide if Brexit goes ahead, Goldman says (Market Watch)
Sterling has already dropped sharply in June on Brexit fears, but the U.K. currency is bound for a much steeper slump if the Brits vote to ditch the European Union next week, according to Goldman Sachs.
Stocks Fall on Bank of Japan Inaction (Wall Street Journal)
U.S. stocks followed global stocks lower and the yen and gold rose to their highest levels this year after Japan’s central bank dashed hopes for additional monetary easing.
China Dumping More Than Treasuries as U.S. Stocks Join Fire Sale (Bloomberg)
For the past year, Chinese selling of Treasuries has vexed investors and served as a gauge of the health of the world’s second-largest economy.
Brexit darkens cloud hanging over European banks (Reuters)
Euro zone bank stocks dipped to near four-year lows on Thursday due to fears that a possible departure of Britain from the European Union would worsen their already dim prospects.
European stocks, oil slide as growth fears add to Brexit pressure (Reuters)
European shares hit a four-month low on Thursday as banks dropped sharply, while oil prices headed for a sixth session of losses after the Bank of Japan refrained from further stimulus and the U.S. central bank struck a cautious note.
U.S. stock index futures were down around 0.4 percent, indicating a lower Wall Street open.
Scottish leader says EU referendum on knife edge, Brexit could trigger independence vote (Reuters)
Britain's referendum on European Union membership is on a knife edge and if England backs an exit that drags Scots out of the bloc against their will, Scotland may call a new vote on independence, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said.
China’s Tencent Nears Deal for ‘Clash of Clans’ Maker Supercell (Wall Street Journal)
Tencent Holdings Ltd. is nearing a deal to buy the Finnish maker of the popular “Clash of Clans” game in a deal that values the company at more than $9 billion, said people familiar with the matter, a move that could thrust the Chinese internet giant atop the fast-growing and lucrative mobile-games industry.
Yellen Says Forces Holding Down Rates May Be Long Lasting (Bloomberg)
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen seems to be coming around to what her one-time rival, Lawrence Summers, has been arguing for a while: Some of the forces holding down interest rates may be long-lasting and secular.
Wary Fed Rethinks Pace of Hikes (Wall Street Journal)
The Federal Reserve held short-term interest rates steady and officials lowered projections of how much they’ll raise them in the coming years, signs that persistently slow economic growth and low inflation are forcing the central bank to rethink how fast it can lift borrowing costs.
Politics
What the Press Got Right About Trump's Candidacy (The Atlantic)
If there’s one thing people know about Donald Trump’s announcement that he was running for president, one year ago today, it’s his statement that Mexicans are “bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” If there’s a second, it’s the golden escalator he rode into the announcement.
Technology
This Glove Fights Hand Tremors (Popular Science)
While working at a London hospital, 24-year-old medical student Faii Ong went to perform some routine tests on a 103-year-old patient suffering from hand tremors. The woman’s hands shook so badly, Ong says, that she’d spent half an hour just trying to eat soup, most of which had spilled. He spent the next half-hour cleaning her up.
Health and Life Sciences
What a Smell Looks Like (Scientific American)
Boulder smells of peppermint…and crisp snow. The frozen water smells pure, as if still trapped in the clouds hanging just overhead. The sun glints off the Rocky Mountains, their iron musk mixes with mountain pine. Before crossing the road to enter the University of Colorado Boulder, a truck dashes by, muffling these scents with sulfuric exhaust.
End-of-day brain drain impairs decision-making (New Scientist)
We’ve all been there: after a tough mental slog your brain feels as knackered as your body does after a hard workout.
Now we may have pinpointed one of the brain regions worn out by a mentally taxing day – and it seems to also affect our willpower, so perhaps we should avoid making important decisions when mentally fatigued.
Life on the Home Planet
“Where did you put the smoke?”
When you hear that, you know a village demo is going well. It’s one of the best reactions we get in the field when we take our stove out into a public space, light a fire with a few pieces of wood, and gather a crowd just as a bright orange flame pops out from the top of the unit. The moment is mesmerizing, and if things go our way, potentially life-saving.
Heatzilla Will March Across the West From California to Arizona (Bloomberg)
It may be just a forecast, but it looks inevitable at this point: The West is about to bake.
