Financial Markets and Economy
Stocks are back at all-time highs, but markets are still trading like we're in a crisis (Business Insider)
Stocks in the US are back at record highs.
Global Stocks Inch Higher (Wall Street Journal)
Global markets rose in volatile trade Wednesday, extending a recent rally that saw Wall Street surge to record highs.
Here’s who’s driving stocks to record heights (Market Watch)
Investors have been bailing out of equity funds at a rapid clip. So how come stocks keep rising?
Japanese monetary policy could be about to get really radical (Business Insider)
Global markets, particularly in Japan, are in the midst of a full-on stimulus splurge at present.
No balance: oil markets still oversupplied, now growth is stuttering (Business Insider)
Oil industry hopes that markets are about return to balance, ending a global glut that pulled down prices by over 70 percent between 2014 and early 2016, might be abruptly dashed.
Record high oil stocks threaten prices (Market Watch)
Global crude markets have undergone an “extraordinary transformation,” swinging from a major surplus to near balance in the second quarter of this year, but record high oil stocks are threatening the recent stability of prices, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday.
More banks add real-time P2P (Business Insider)
Capital One, Chase, and Wells Fargo will be the next banks to grant customers access to digital real-time peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers through clearXchange.
Why so much coverage of Amazon Prime Day? The incentives, of course (The Guardian)
In July 2015, Amazon declared its own annual holiday: Amazon Prime Day. The retail giant promised deals on a wide range of products for customers signed up to its membership program, Amazon Prime.
This is the second Amazon Prime Day, and it’s pretty hard to miss.
Silver looks to test fresh two-year highs as stock surge pauses (Market Watch)
Silver futures regained their footing Wednesday to renew a charge to a fresh, nearly two-year settlement high, and gold tipped higher, as surging U.S. stocks looked to pause their climb.
A Rally That Has Gone Too Far (Seeking Alpha)
During the commodity route that began in 2011 and lasted until the beginning of this year, all commodities fell, but natural gas fell the most. While a confluence of factors caused the overall commodity decline, central bank easy money policies that favored financial assets at the expense of hard assets, were at the top of the list.
Think Governments Are a Mess? Markets Don't (Bloomberg View)
Fear mongers on both sides of the Atlantic would have us believe that governments are failing. They cite racially-charged violence from Charleston, South Carolina to Dallas, Texas; voters in Britain choosing to exit the European Union; the flood of migrants from the war in Syria; terrorist-inspired massacres from Brussels to San Bernardino, and the anemic global economy that is dividing generations of workers, families and communities.
Global Stocks, Futures Rise On Disappointing Chinese Trade Data, Hopes For More Central Bank Intervention (Zero Hedge)
In an otherwise quiet overnight session, which among other things saw Germany sell 10Y Bunds with a zero coupon and a negative yield (-0.05%) for the first time ever (despite being uncovered with just €4.038BN sold below the €5.00BN target) anyone hoping for a confirmation that China will be able to prop up the world economy once more, was left disappointed when earlier this morning China reported June exports and imports that once again dropped substantially in dollar terms as soft demand at home and abroad continued to weigh on the world’s largest trading nation.
Politics
Arguments for Denying Donald Trump the Nomination (The Atlantic)
Last week, I asked whether the Republican Party is bound by the outcomes of various primaries and caucuses to run Donald Trump as its 2016 presidential nominee, in accordance with the preference expressed by its voters; or whether the RNC rules committee, which meets this week in Cleveland, can legitimately free its delegates to vote their consciences when next week’s national convention convenes.
Technology
A real-life robocop patrolling Silicon Valley allegedly ran over a child in a mall (Business Insider)
Step aside, Paul Blart. There's a new mall cop in town.
Standing five feet and weighing in at 300 pounds, the K5 security robot wanders the grounds of corporate campuses, malls, and data centers in the Silicon Valley Area and gathers information from sensors and cameras.
Health and Life Sciences
Japanese Firms Team Up To Fight Baldness With Stem Cell Cure (Forbes)
Giant strides to prevent and cure baldness are being made in medical labs around the world. The latest announcement comes from Japan’s largest research organization RIKEN, which has teamed up with two Japanese companies, Kyocera and Organ Technologies, to develop a cure based on regenerative medicine. The companies are targeting 2020 for commercialization.
Simpler ovarian cancer testing 'saves lives' (BBC)
Simplifying the way ovarian cancers are tested is a "win-win" that saves both lives and money, a study shows.
Testing a patient's DNA helps identify the most effective drugs and finds out if other family members are at risk.
Life on the Home Planet
Death toll in Italy train crash rises to 27, cause still unclear (Reuters)
The death toll from a high speed train crash in southern Italy rose to 27 on Wednesday after rescuers worked through the night to try to extract bodies from the tangled wreckage and continued their search in the morning.
East of Siberia: Tigers and the Art of Persuasion (Scientific American)
The temperate rainforests of Primorye become dense and green in summer, a vastness lost on those within it. Visibility can drop to almost zero along shrub-crowded game trails, where dew-drenched grasses cling like needy toddlers and spider webs tangle in the unshaven faces of those pushing through. Animals, resting nearby in the daytime heat, crash away unseen, and a discordant symphony of birdsong pulses from the canopy.
Nearly Two-Thirds of Americans Can’t Pass a Basic Test of Financial Literacy (Time)
Quick: If you take out a $1000 loan that has a 20% rate, how much will you owe a year in interest?
