Financial Markets and Economy
Wanted: Big Returns, Low Risk (Bloomberg)
Incredibly optimistic. That's the attitude of investors around the world toward the minimum annual income they want from their investments.
Oil rig count rises for 3rd straight week (Business Insider)
The US oil rig count rose by 9 to 337 this week, according to driller Baker Hughes.
Go-Anywhere Bond Funds Struggle to Attract Investors (Wall Street Journal)
Investors poured money into unconstrained bond funds a few years ago in a move to hedge against rising interest rates. But that early affection has faded as investors are still awaiting a sustained climb in U.S. yields.
The World Economy Looks a Bit Like It's the 1930s (Bloomberg)
To understand today’s global economy, look back 80 years.
Are Money Managers Creating Too Many Products? (Wall Street Journal)
Asset-management firms are launching too many new funds and risk attracting investors to products at the wrong time, says Vanguard CEO F. William McNabb III.
'This is a bubble. A very big bubble. And it is going to end in tears' (Business Insider)
The Canadian housing market just keeps getting hotter.
‘Undertow’ could drag oil back below $40 a barrel (Market Watch)
Oil futures could fall back below $40 a barrel this year, pulling retail gasoline prices significantly lower with them, an analyst says, but the reasons may surprise you.
Stocks are under pressure again (Business Insider)
Stocks fell to their lows of the session in late-morning trading in New York on Friday.
Debate Blooms at Fed as Policy Makers Wrestle With New Normal (Bloomberg)
As the Federal Reserve grapples with an economy that isnt behaving as expected, policy makers are having a re-think on the public stage.
AEP: ECB closes ranks with Bank of England to avert Brexit crunch (Telegraph)
The European Central Bank has pledged to flood the financial system with euro liquidity if credit markets seize up after a Brexit vote.
Coal Isn't Dying Because There's a War on It (Bloomberg View)
I never cease to be amazed how people with an agenda massage facts, or omit them, in order to support their cause.
It comes up in the investing world, where these agendas often lead to money-losing decisions.
The SEC approved IEX’s bid to be a new US stock exchange and fight high-frequency traders (Quartz)
Beginning in late August, US brokers will have a new, and quite different, choice for making their trades. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today voted to allow Investor’s Exchange (IEX) to operate as a public stock exchange. It will be the first public exchange to employ techniques specifically designed to thwart manipulative strategies used by high-frequency traders.
Microsoft-LinkedIn Deal Ignites Twitter Speculation (NY Times)
In the relentless push toward consolidation in technology and social media, Twitter, the social networking site that allows users to send and receive short messages, or tweets, has been the perennial bridesmaid. But this week’s megadeal between Microsoft and LinkedIn has renewed speculation on Wall Street that Twitter needs to attract a suitor or risk being overtaken by ever-larger competitors.
EEM Vs VWO: Country Tilts Mean Little (ETF)
One of the main reasons we often tout the idea that you should look closely under the hood of any ETF you choose within a segment is because differences in the makeup of a portfolio will lead to differences in total returns. Sometimes, however, those return differences aren’t quite apparent despite sizable portfolio tilts.
The Case for Free Money (New Yorker)
In the mid-nineteen-seventies, the Canadian province of Manitoba ran an unusual experiment: it started just handing out money to some of its citizens. The town of Dauphin, for instance, sent checks to thousands of residents every month, in order to guarantee that all of them received a basic income.
Bull markets don’t die of old age, and this one has more room to run (Financial Post)
Up until the summer of 2015, global equity markets hadn’t seen a 10 per cent correction in four years. While that’s highly unusual, what’s more notable is the fact that stocks have experienced two corrections in past 10 months, and more could certainly be on the horizon.
Politics
Where Republicans Stand on Donald Trump: A Cheat Sheet (The Atlantic)
Is the floodwall breaking, or have the last couple of weeks shown just how solidly it holds?
The last fortnight has been bad for Donald Trump. First, there was the slow trainwreck of his attack on Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who’s overseeing the Trump University case, on the basis of his ethnicity. Just as Trump was finally moving past that came the horrific attack in Orlando, which induced Trump to reiterate his call for a ban on Muslim immigration, and also to suggest Barack Obama had betrayed the country.
Technology
This driverless car can harness the power of IBM Watson (Mashable)
Local Motors, creators of the world's first 3D-printed car, unveiled Thursday morning debuted its latest creation, a driverless car that incorporates IBM Watson Internet of Things (IoT) technology called Olli.
Olli is capable of carrying up to 12 passengers, without a human driver.
Aston Martin's 'Project Nebula' hypercar will be limited to 99 units (The Verge)
A few critical details have emerged on what could be the world's fastest production car — and we're not talking about the Bugatti Chiron.
Aston Martin is currently working with Red Bull to make the extreme machine, which is alternately called AM-RB 001 and "Project Nebula." Up until now, precious little has been revealed about the car apart from an abstract sketch (pictured above) and the fact that legendary F1 engineer Adrian Newey is involved.
Health and Life Sciences
Why Do Some Songs Give You The Chills? (Popular Science)
Think about the first time you ever heard Asia's Heat of the Moment, one of my favorite songs of all time. The synths, the poignant lyrics and the novel harmonies combined might have sent shivers running up your spine, all the way to the base of your very cool mullet.
Life on the Home Planet
How can we feel safe in the midst of terror? (Futurity)
Personal security has been a defining American anxiety, long before Columbine, 9-11, or Sandy Hook. But following the United States’ biggest mass shooting last weekend at an Orlando gay nightclub, the issue has regained heightened importance.
Melt ponds suggest no Arctic sea-ice record this year (BBC)
Arctic sea-ice extent is unlikely to see a new record this summer, claim polar experts at Reading University, UK.
The floes have experienced much reduced winter coverage and go into the warmest months tracking below the all time satellite minimum year of 2012.
