Financial Markets and Economy
The sun is finally coming out for the US economy (Business Insider)
After an 18-month stretch in which regular data releases were more likely to surprise to the downside than the upside, it appears that these data points are finally turning positive, according to Binky Chadha, chief global strategist at Deutsche Bank.
Something that could give a massive boost to the world economy isn't going to happen (Business Insider)
In a world of anemic economic growth, it seems that everyone from central banks to small businesses are looking for a catalyst to kick the world's slow growth into high gear.
Next Test for U.S. Stocks: Will Consumers Step Up? (Wall Street Journal)
With U.S. stocks at new highs, investors are looking to consumers for signs the rally will last.
Fed Rate-Hike Bets Back on Table on Strong Economic Data (Bloomberg)
Traders are pricing in higher chances that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates some time this year after U.S. economic reports including retail sales and industrial production signaled improving growth.
3 Reasons the Stock Market Is Rising Even As the World Feels Like It's Falling Apart (Fortune)
It’s been three weeks since British voters shocked the world and voted to leave the EU. After a two-day Brexit freakout, the stock market pretty much returned to business as usual—and beyond. The S&P 500 hit record highs four straight days this week, its longest streak since November 2014, before retreating slightly on Friday.
Stock Market’s Enduring Record of Calling Presidential Races (Bloomberg)
For an idea of how a presidential election will go, you could do a lot worse than look at the stock market.
Oil Prices Fall on Product Glut (Wall Street Journal)
Oil prices fell back toward two-month lows Monday, the latest sign that a growing glut of fuel and questions about flagging demand may bring the strongest oil rally since the financial crisis to an end.
EPA Study Bolsters Keeping 2025 U.S. Fuel Economy Targets (Bloomberg)
A highly anticipated report by U.S. regulators buttresses calls for staying the course on fuel economy targets that automakers say are unworkable and want eased.
Short-sellers are up $500 million on Netflix's stock price drop (Business Insider)
Netflix flopped on its earnings expectations and investors betting against the stock are making a boatload.
Will earnings and mounting debt spoil bond-funded share buybacks? (Market Watch)
Will this finally be the quarter of sluggish earnings news that unnerves investors — shareholders who have been soothed by bond-funded share buybacks that gloss over stagnant earnings?
Asian Stocks Set to Gain as Japan Returns; Kiwi Dollar Tumbles (Bloomberg)
Asian stocks look set to open higher as Japanese equity traders return from a holiday, with the yen holding declines and U.S. equities advanced to another record close.
America’s growing temporary workforce (Economist)
America’s temporary help industry first emerged after the second world war, when companies like Manpower and Kelly Girl Service began “renting out” office workers on a short-term basis. In those early years, temps numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts – Same Old (Jesse's Cafe Americain)
Patience stands on the twin pillars of faith and hope, and is nourished by love.
Arm Holdings confirms Softbank is buying the chip designer for £24.3B in cash in big Iot move (Tech Crunch)
In the wake of the historic Brexit vote and the fall of the Pound, the UK is now witnessing its biggest-ever technology exit. Today, Arm Holdings confirmed that Japan’s Softbank Group has offered to pay £24.3 billion ($32 billion) in cash to acquire the company — known for its chip designs for mobile handsets (Apple is a customer) as well as for processors to power hardware in Internet of Things networks. It’s the IoT piece that interests Softbank the most, Softbank said.
Why are Investors so Tribal? (Tony Isola)
Investors are often no better than a pack of chimps protecting their banana supply from their rivals. Six million years of history has ingrained this behavior in all of us. “Beware of hostile groups” runs through our veins just as much as flowing blood.
Politics
Never Trump Almost Succeeds (The Atlantic)
The Republican National Committee turned aside a last-ditch effort to block the nomination of Donald Trump on Monday, as delegates opposing Trump tried and failed to secure a vote that could have jeopardized his victory.
A Border Wall Isn’t Very Popular Among The People Who Actually Live There (Think Progress)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump built his political career on a campaign promise to build a border wall along the U.S. border with Mexico if elected president. But a new poll has found that a large majority of residents living in major cities along the southern U.S. border with Mexico aren’t excited about that prospect.
Technology
Catch Some Pokemon and Glimpse the Future (Bloomberg View)
One of the interesting debates over Pokemon Go, the addictive smartphone game that 9.5 million Americans play — and probably a lot more than that now — is whether it's truly augmented reality (AR), an up-and-coming companion technology to virtual reality (VR).
Nanorobots: Where We Are Today and Why Their Future Has Amazing Potential (Singularity Hub)
Most historians credit the concept of nanotechnology to physicist Richard Feynman and his 1959 speech, "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom."
Health and Life Sciences
Thousands of fMRI brain studies in doubt due to software flaws (New Scientist)
It’s another blow for neuroscience. The discovery of major software flaws could render thousands of fMRI brain studies inaccurate.
The use of fMRI is a common method for scanning the brain in neuroscience and psychology experiments. To make sense of the data produced, researchers sometimes use a technique called spatial autocorrelation to identify areas of the brain that appear to “light up” during particular tasks or experiences.
Life on the Home Planet
The world is trying to end the AIDS epidemic for good — and it's totally within reach (Tech Insider)
In June 1981, the Centers for Disease Control announced that a strange infection was showing up in Los Angeles.
Five patients had severely weakened immune systems, and many were suffering from an extremely rare form of pneumonia. Doctors couldn't figure out how a cluster of previously healthy, young gay men had gotten so sick so quickly.
The Elders express concern over lack of global action on climate change (The Elders)
Six months after the Paris Agreement on climate change, The Elders call on global leaders to live up to their commitments and take prompt action to cut emissions, end fossil fuel subsidies and provide adequate financial support to developing countries to tackle climate change.
Beijing has fallen: China's capital sinking by 11cm a year, satellite study warns (The Guardian)
China’s capital is known for its horrendous smog and occasional sandstorms. Yet one of its major environmental threats lies underground: Beijing is sinking.
Excessive pumping of groundwater is causing the geology under the city to collapse, according to a new study using satellite imagery that reveals parts of Beijing – particularly its central business district – are subsiding each year by as much as 11 centimetres, or more than four inches.
