Financial Markets and Economy
G20 growth promise keeps global shares near nine-month high (Reuters)
World shares held near nine-month highs on Monday after G20 finance chiefs said over the weekend they would use "all policy tools" to lift global growth.
Stocks That Ignore Defaults Are Cruising for a Bruising (Bloomberg View)
A worrying trend is developing in the corporate bond market: Even with borrowing costs at or near their lowest ever, companies are increasingly unable to pay their debts. There have already been enough defaults around the world this year to suggest that the record set in 2009 might be beaten. And that should ring alarm bells for traders and investors who continue to push benchmark equity indexes to record highs.
Yellen Still Waiting for Overwhelming Evidence to Warrant Hike (Bloomberg)
For Federal Reserve officials, getting better never seems to rise to good enough.
Stocks That Ignore Defaults Are Cruising for a Bruising (Bloomberg View)
A worrying trend is developing in the corporate bond market: Even with borrowing costs at or near their lowest ever, companies are increasingly unable to pay their debts. There have already been enough defaults around the world this year to suggest that the record set in 2009 might be beaten. And that should ring alarm bells for traders and investors who continue to push benchmark equity indexes to record highs.
Oil Bulls Headed Over Demand Cliff as Refinery Shutdowns Loom (Bloomberg)
Beware, oil bulls: Just as U.S. oil production sinks low enough to drain supplies, demand is about to fall off a cliff.
The Turkish lira is surging (Business Insider)
The Turkish lira is spiking.
Japan monthly economy assessment unchanged, but business sentiment worsens (Reuters)
Japan's government kept its assessment of the economy unchanged in July but said business sentiment has worsened after the Bank of Japan's tankan survey showed the corporate mood stagnated in April-June due to a strengthening yen.
Nervous Investors Are Watching U.K. Banks This Week (Bloomberg)
As U.K. banks post second-quarter results, investors will be watching for yet another deepening of cost cuts — courtesy of Brexit.
How Much Oil Is in Storage Globally? Take a Guess (Wall Street Journal)
The historic fall in oil prices has created a pileup of inventories, much of it stashed in tanks in the U.S. and other industrialized countries that are committed to disclosing the latest tally, but millions of barrels of oil are flowing to locations outside the scope of industry trackers.
Hedge Funds in Japan Are Getting None of SkyBridge’s $13 Billion (Bloomberg)
As one of the world’s biggest investors in hedge funds, it’s Raymond Nolte’s job to find traders who can navigate even the toughest markets. Right now, he doesn’t trust anyone to do that in Japan.
What To Expect From The Fast-Approaching FOMC And BOJ Meetings (Seeking Alpha)
Contrary to conventional wisdom, we think monetary policy remains an important variable for asset prices. Interest rates and foreign exchange are two dimensions of the price of money. There is a relationship, even if it is not linear or temporally consistent.
Europe Stocks Up Ahead of Central Bank Moves (Wall Street Journal)
European stocks ticked higher Monday, but investors remained cautious ahead of policy decisions from two of the world’s major central banks this week.
Chinese Companies are Turning Japanese (Bloomberg)
Chinese companies are swimming in cheap cash. Problem is, they're not spending it.
Helicopter money and the Japanese economic conundrum (The Globe and Mail)
Let me start off by saying that I’m bearish on the longer-term outlook for Japan. The combination of a shrinking population, an aging demographic and the lowest birth rate in the developed world is a toxic trifecta for economic growth.
Hedge Funds Helped Wreck Puerto Rico’s Economy, And The Poor Are Paying The Price (Think Progress)
Angry graffiti scrawled across the brightly colored buildings of San Juan tells the creditors of the world exactly where they can stick their plan to extract roughly $73 billion in debt from the struggling U.S. territory. “Puerto Rico comes first. To hell with the debt,” reads one wall. “Don’t play around with my retirement,” says the side of a major freeway. Down by the University of Puerto Rico, the walls and sidewalk are filled with laments — “Look into my unemployed face” — and calls to action: “Study and fight!”
Another iPhone decline, stronger software revenue expected (Market Watch)
Apple Inc. is expected to report its second straight quarter of iPhone declines on Tuesday, but the company’s software and services business could provide growth that hardware sales have lost.
Nintendo shares plummet after investors realize it doesn't actually make Pokémon Go (The Verge)
Nintendo shares have skyrocketed since following Pokémon Go's release and instant transformation into global cultural phenomenon, but they fell dramatically today after investors realized that Nintendo doesn't actually make the game. Nintendo put out a statement after the close of trading on Friday pointing out that the bottom-line impact will be "limited" as it only owns 32 percent of The Pokémon Company, and that revenue from the game and its Pokémon Go Plus smartwatch peripheral have been accounted for in the company's current forecasts.
China's oil product exports set to break all records (Platts)
China's oil product exports are likely to stay strong in the second half of 2016 after rising to close to record highs in June as new independent refiners prepare to join the bandwagon and state-owned oil giants sit on large volumes of unused export quotas.
"It's Not Panicking If You're First" – China Devaluation Is Closer Than Anyone Thinks (Zero Hedge)
Once again – ahead of the G-20 meetings – China's currency mysteriously abated its incessant plunge suggesting 'stability'. As Bloomberg notes, history shows that the Chinese currency usually strengthens ahead of major political or economic events, such as President Xi Jinping’s state visits to the U.S. and the Boao Forum.
Depression And Confidence (Alhambra Partner)
Some people have impeccable timing. Even if by accident, there are occasions when what they say or write comes out in almost perfect sequence. At the end of August 2014, UC Berkeley economist J. Bradford DeLong wrote an article for Project Syndicate that argued in favor of proper categorization. The lack of recovery was so drastic that the economist community and indeed the world at large needed to come to terms with what was actually taking place; and that was not anything like what was being described especially at that time.
Politics
America's Rejection of the Politics of Barack Obama (The Atlantic)
The 2016 presidential race represents a vivid rejection of the Obama style. This is easy to miss: His approval ratings are climbing, and Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary by running as his successor. But the two most dramatic and portentous campaigns of the year, Donald Trump’s vertiginous win and Bernie Sanders’s astonishing insurgency, both flew in the face of the Obama era’s premises.
Donald Trump threatens to pull US out of the World Trade Organisation (Telegraph)
Donald Trump has threatened to pull the US out of the World Trade Organisation if he enters the White House, as the Republican presidential nominee branded the body a "disaster".
Technology
Will Robots Ravage the Developing World? (Bloomberg View)
When the Chinese appliance maker Midea Group announced a bid for the German robotics manufacturer Kuka AG this spring, it seemed like something of an omen. Kuka makes robots that specialize in assembling goods on a factory floor — exactly the kind of work that has lifted millions of Chinese out of poverty.
In China, a Robot’s Place Is in the Kitchen (Wall Street Journal)
Wang Peixin has seen the future, and he’s sure it features robots serving up fried dumplings.
On a recent day, a white robot wearing a flowered kerchief rolled across Mr. Wang’s Together Restaurant, a plate of pork-and-water-chestnut dumplings upon its built-in tray. As it traveled, it played an upbeat pop tune. A trio of customers hummed along and whipped out their phones to film its journey.
Health and Life Sciences
You Probably Don’t Need Dental X-Rays Every Year (NY Times)
Some human gut bacteria may have existed for millions of years — since before the evolution of people, scientists report.
Did Your Gut Bacteria Evolve Over Millions of Years? (Medicine Net Daily)
Some human gut bacteria may have existed for millions of years — since before the evolution of people, scientists report.
Life on the Home Planet
California’s fires force evacuation of people and exotic animals (New Scientist)
California is burning, again. Flames raced down a steep hillside “like a freight train” leaving smouldering remains of homes and forcing thousands to flee the wildfire churning through the state’s tinder-dry canyons.
The Weird Ways Americans Try To Make The Wilderness Comfy (Wired)
This summer, millions of Americans will pour into US national parks to immerse themselves in unspoiled nature. Joshua Haunschild recently came back from a parkland odyssey of his own—but he wasn’t interested in the breathtaking cliffs or sweeping prairies. His fascination: the informational signs, protective barriers, and outhouses punctuating it all.
