Financial Markets and Economy
Global investment banks had their slowest half since 2012 (Business Insider)
Global investment banking fees fell by nearly a quarter in the first half of 2016 from a year earlier as market volatility hit capital markets and M&A deal making, Thomson Reuters data published on Monday showed.
Oil falls below $50 on economic concerns (Reuters)
Oil fell below $50 a barrel on Tuesday as concern about a potential slowdown in economic growth that would sap demand trumped supply outages in Nigeria and other exporting nations.
Gold is the only option for when paper currencies die — and that could be sooner than you think (Business Insider)
Recent history has been a long and volatile ride for gold investors.
S&P scoffs at 'Armageddon' warnings for Britain (Telegraph)
Britain will scrape by without a full-blown recession over the next two years as a weaker pound cushions the Brexit shock and panic subsides, Standard & Poor’s has predicted.
Stock Market to Bond Market: ‘La-La-La I Can’t Hear You’ (Wall Street Journal)
After Lehman Brothers fell over in September 2008, equities slumped, then rallied back to their previous levels within a week. Brexit isn’t Lehman, but the stock market is behaving similarly. The S&P 500 remains a little lower than it was immediately prior to the British vote to leave the European Union, but it is already back above where it stood the day before that.
A Prime Minister, a Referendum and Italy’s Turn to Get Worried (Bloomberg)
It’s now a familiar refrain: A European prime minister calls a referendum, his job could be on the line and markets are getting worried.
Natural Gas Hedging Interest Explodes (Seeking Alpha)
Natural gas futures prices added another 4.4% last week, as the nearby contract closed just below the psychologically important $3.00 mark. Since its low in March, natural gas prices are up an astounding 82.2%.
Shares of Cheniere Energy Took a Wild Ride in June (Fox Business)
Shares of Cheniere Energy ended June up more than 16% after a month that would make even the most adamant roller coaster fan a little queasy. What makes Cheniere Energy's ups and downs even more puzzling is that its subsidiaries — Cheniere Energy Partners and Cheniere Energy Partners Holdings — remained relatively stable throughout the month.
Russia to exhaust Reserve Fund in 2017 – Finance Ministry proposal (Reuters)
Russia will exhaust one of its sovereign funds next year to cover the budget deficit, according to a finance ministry proposal submitted to the government.
The only way to fix Europe is to have more referendums — here are the countries that want one (Business Insider)
Europe’s got a fever, and the only prescription is…more referendums.
Silver extends rally, gold tags along as stocks sink (Market Watch)
Silver traded at two-year highs Tuesday, maintaining its status as the standout among metals as lingering post-Brexit economic uncertainty underpinned the relative safety of haven investments, including silver and gold.
Hong Kong financial secretary Warns economy is facing its “worst time in 20 years” (Value Walk)
Hong Kong’s financial secretary John Tsang Chun-wah warned recently that the city’s economy is facing its “worst time in 20 years”. In the past half a decade, growth has more than halved to close to 2.5 percent. With Brexit chills, some analysts fear a contraction.
Volkswagen's finance arm sells Russia bond to fund local operations (Reuters)
Volkswagen's financial services business has sold a 5 billion ruble ($78 million) bond in Russia to fund its local operations, it said on Tuesday, its first issue in the country's battered debt market in almost two years.
Pound Tumbles to 31-Year Low as Its Post-Brexit Selloff Resumes (Bloomberg)
The pound fell to its weakest level in three decades against the dollar, surpassing lows reached in the aftermath of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.
The pound is getting smoked after the Bank of England's stark warning (Business Insider)
The pound is tumbling again after the Bank of England warned on Tuesday that "the current outlook for UK financial stability is challenging."
Business investment hasn’t been this crummy in 40 years (Maclean's)
When the Bank of Canada released its latest survey of business managers on Monday, it confirmed what we’ve known for some time now—companies in Canada are a panicked bunch. The Business Outlook Survey, conducted each quarter, found that business leaders view the next year with apprehension, particularly those with ties to the energy sector.
Theresa May demands early talks on Britain leaving the EU (Evening Standard)
Theresa May today squared up to Brussels boss Jean-Claude Juncker by demanding early talks on Britain’s exit from the European Union.
Sears Holdings: Long-Term Underinvestment Creates Many Problems (Seeking Alpha)
Sears Holdings' comparable store sales have been in a constant decline for many years and there is not much to suggest that it will get better. Although department store retail is a challenging industry, Sears has essentially given up on trying to retain its customers. Under-investing in stores and slashing advertising is not a strategy that will generally result in good sales performance, but that is what Sears has done.
Wall Street CEO circulated this must-read 10-point guide for navigating this ‘confusing period’ (Yahoo! Finance)
Right now, the world might seem like a complete mess, with the fallout from the shocking Brexit decision, low interest rates, market volatility, investor redemptions, earnings misses, and so on.
The Broker Who Saved America (The Reformed Broker)
You know Hancock and Washington and Franklin and Jefferson. You might even know Greene and Knox, Henry and Hale. And we know you know Hamilton, pretty tough to escape that one these days!
Want to Help the Economy? Learn to Trust. (Bloomberg View)
It's hard to know whom you can trust anymore — at least that's the attitude of many Americans today. Therein lies a crucial challenge for the world's largest economy.
Five years ago, Justin Wolfers and I examined data showing that trust in institutions such as Congress, banks and big business had plummeted during the recession, hitting an all-time low.
Politics
Republicans’ many tortured excuses for not going to their Donald Trump-led convention (Washington Post)
It's no secret that the Republican Party is split right now; while millions and millions of Republicans voted for the party's presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump, the party leadership is still wary of hitching its wagon to him, for fear of the consequences in 2016 and beyond.
Machine Guns Are Not Protected By The Second Amendment, Appeals Court Rules (Huffington Post)
A Texas man who sued the federal government because it wouldn’t approve his application to manufacture a machine gun doesn’t have a constitutional right to possess the automatic weapon, an appeals court ruled.
Boris Johnson backs Andrea Leadsom for Prime Minister (Telegraph)
Boris Johnson has given his backing to Andrea Leadsom in the Conservative Party leadership campaign, in a move which could end Michael Gove’s hopes of becoming Prime Minister.
GOP Leaders Totally Ignored Trump’s Anti-Semitic Clinton Tweet (Huffington Post)
This weekend, Republican leaders had time to tweet about Independence Day, tax policy and Elie Wiesel’s death, but not to comment on Donald Trump’s use of an anti-Semitic image.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee on Saturday tweeted an anti-Hillary Clinton picture that originated on a white supremacist website.
Technology
China builds world’s largest radio telescope to hunt for aliens (New Scientist)
Covering an area the size of 30 football pitches, China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) was officially completed this week, making it the largest radio telescope in the world.
Toyota wants to patent a ridiculous flying car (Quartz)
If there are flying cars in the future, Toyota wants dibs on making them.
Health and Life Sciences
Marijuana Compounds Show Promise In Protecting Brain Cells From Alzheimer's (Forbes)
Some potentially good news about cannabis compounds is wafting from the Salk Institute labs in San Diego. Researchers discovered that the main psychoactive compound in marijuana—tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)—and a few other active compounds remove amyloid beta proteins from lab-grown neurons. Amyloid is the toxic protein known to accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. The compounds also significantly reduced cellular inflammation, an underlying factor in the disease’s progression.
Sleep Problems Tied to Diabetes in Men (NY Times)
Men who do not get enough sleep — or get too much — may have an increased risk for Type 2 diabetes, a new study suggests.
Indian doctors grow new nose on boy's forehead (BBC)
Doctors in India have replaced a 12-year-old boy's damaged nose with a new one which was grown on his forehead.
Life on the Home Planet
New York Police Investigate Mysterious Central Park Blast (Wall Street Journal)
New York City police were combing buildings near Central Park for surveillance video on Monday, the day after an 18-year-old Virginia man was seriously injured when he stepped on a bag that contained explosive material.
Our primitive solar system was a mixed bag of ice and rock (Cosmo Magazine)
Clues to our early solar system sometimes literally fall out of the sky. Tiny glassy blobs trapped in meteorites show rocky material close to the sun mixed with icy material from further out during its first million years or so.
