Financial Markets and Economy
The world’s losers are revolting, and Brexit is only the beginning (Washington Post)
The world has enjoyed an unprecedented run of peace, prosperity and cooperation the last 25 years, but now that might be over. At least when it comes to those last two.
A Sober Economy Can Handle the Brexit Hit (Bloomberg View)
One of the main signs of the health of the global and U.S. economies is its ability to absorb a blow, and shake it off. At least that's how Lakshman Achuthan of the Economic Cycle Research Institute sees it. That's something to consider in light of all the fretting and hang-wringing after the U.K. vote last week to exit the European Union.
The 96% Gainer: Government Bonds (Wall Street Journal)
A corner of the market once sought after for steady returns has been this year’s jackpot investment: the government debt of advanced economies.
Everything you need to know about the bitcoin ‘halving’ event (Quartz)
Bitcoin has been on a wild ride.
Wall Street is getting crushed, and it’s hurting Main Street (Business Insider)
Have you read Leo Tolstoy's War & Peace? It's a weighty tome. Now imagine reading it 15 times.
Nearly All U.S. Banks Pass Fed’s Stress Test (NY Times)
All but one of the nation’s largest banks earned an unconditional passing grade from federal regulators on their annual stress tests, which measure their preparedness to weather a financial crisis.
Standard & Poor's cuts EU credit rating after British vote to leave (The Guardian)
The European Union has suffered a downgrade of its long-term credit rating following the UK’s Brexit vote last week.
Snack Giant Mondelez Makes $23 Billion Takeover Bid for Hershey (Wall Street Journal)
Mondelez International Inc. made a roughly $23 billion bid for Hershey Co. in an effort to create the world’s largest candy maker at a time when both companies’ sales are under pressure.
In ‘Brexit’ and Trump, a Populist Farewell to Laissez-Faire Capitalism (NY Times)
Donald J. Trump and Boris Johnson: Is this how the era ushered in by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher finally ends?
Vanguard’s King Sees No Future For ETFs In 401(k)s (ETF)
Defined contribution retirement plans—such as 401(k)s—are a $6.7 trillion market today, covering some 90 million working Americans. Vanguard manages about $800 billion of those assets.
Asian Futures Tip More Gains Before Data Dump; Oil, Copper Climb (Bloomberg)
Futures on Asian indexes signaled gains, while oil and copper futures climbed as investors bet central banks will act to prevent the U.K.s secession from roiling financial markets.
Tesla and SolarCity? Yes, it makes sense. Or at least it will. (Vox)
Elon Musk announced last week that he wants Tesla, his electric-car company, to acquire SolarCity, the rooftop-solar company he helped found and now serves as chairman. The result would be a single "end to end" energy behemoth. "As a combined automotive and power storage and power generation company," Musk said, "the potential is there for Tesla to be a $1 trillion company."
Apple Watch Is Already a $10 Billion Business (Above Avalon)
It took fourteen months but it finally happened last week. I began seeing Apple Watches on a daily basis. Just a few months earlier, it would have been rare for me to see someone wearing an Apple Watch..
6 Impressive Bank Dividend and Buyback Hikes After Fed-CCAR Results (24/7 Wall St)
It was just last week that investors learned that all of the major banks were shown to have passed their Federal Reserve stress tests. Now the capital return plans (CCAR) have been approved as well. That means that some of the banks were freed up to increase dividends and to increase stock buybacks. Some of the hikes were considerable.
Mario Draghi, Collateral Scarcity, And Why The ECB Will Soon Buy Corporate Bonds (Zero Hedge)
While Mario Draghi was most certainly not the star of yesterday’s ECB presser, he did say something some pretty ridiculous things about bond scarcity.
Why the Stock Market Makes You Feel Terrible Every Single Day (A Wealth of Common Sense)
“The one rule I have is I give very general instructions to my financial advisor, and then I don’t monitor it. I think that’s good, both because it causes more anguish than pleasure, on average, and because you’re tempted to make stupid decisions if you monitor things too closely.”
Politics
Hardly anybody wants to speak at Trump's convention (Politico)
A slot at the Republican National Convention used to be a career-maker — a chance to make your name on the big stage and to catch the eye of the Republican donors and activists who make or break campaigns.
In the year of Trump: Not so much.
Paul Ryan Among the Ruins (Bloomberg View)
Paul Ryan is a sunny politician in a party devoted to spreading gloom. But as Republicans slouch toward Cleveland, even he must be having dark moments.
As the highest-ranking official in his party, he will oversee the Republican National Convention that is poised to nominate Donald Trump — a role he could have avoided, and almost did.
Who will win the presidency? (Five Thirty Eight)
Our win probabilities come from simulating the election 20,000 times, which produces a distribution of possible outcomes for each state. Here are the expected margins of victory. The closer the dot is to the center line, the tighter the race. And the wider the bar, the less certain the model is about the outcome.
Technology
A.I. Downs Human Fighter Pilot In Dogfight Simulation (Popular Science)
In the military world, fighter pilots have long been described as the best of the best. As Tom Wolfe famously wrote, only those with the "right stuff" can handle the job. Now, it seems, the right stuff may no longer be the sole purview of human pilots.
A pilot A.I. developed by a doctoral graduate from the University of Cincinnati has shown that it can not only beat other A.I.s, but also a professional fighter pilot with decades of experience.
Health and Life Sciences
'Civil war' in immune system can fight disease
The immune system can be trained to attack itself to reverse a devastating autoimmune disease, in animal studies.
US researchers treated Pemphigus vulgaris in mice by instigating civil war within the immune system, and say the approach could work in people.
Gene editing could destroy herpes viruses living inside you (New Scientist)
Almost all of us carry one form or another of herpes virus, and the consequences can be far worse than the occasional cold sore. Herpes viruses also cause shingles and can be implicated in blindness, birth defects and even cancer – and as yet, we can’t rid ourselves of them.
Life on the Planet
The world's decision to fix the ozone hole is paying off 30 years later (The Verge)
The ozone hole over the Antarctic has begun to heal, according to a new study, more than 30 years after its discovery. The findings suggest that global efforts to phase out ozone-depleting chemicals have been effective, though scientists still aren't entirely sure about what's driving the ozone hole's recovery.
El Niño And Climate Change Are Making The Amazon Dry And Flammable (Think Progress)
The Amazon could be facing fire risks in the coming dry months greater than those experienced in the last 14 years due to the long lasting effects of El Niño, according to the Amazon fire forecast unveiled by NASA and the University of California, Irvine, Wednesday.
