Financial Markets and Economy
Global Stocks Subdued Amid Weak Oil Prices (Wall Street Journal)
U.S. stock futures edged lower Wednesday as oil prices climbed off three-month lows.
Here's What U.S. Executives Are Saying About Brexit on Their Earnings Calls (Bloomberg)
If the U.K.'s vote to leave the European Union sent instant shock waves through financial markets, the effect on real-sector business has been glacial by comparison. Still, earnings calls show the new reality is already having an impact on businesses across the Atlantic.
Oil futures gain ground ahead of U.S. supply data (Market Watch)
Oil futures regained a little ground Wednesday on hopes U.S. data will show a drawdown in stockpiles, though a global supply glut was keeping prices close to three-month lows.
World’s Largest Oil Hedge Set to Make Billions for Mexican State (Bloomberg)
Mexico is on track to receive billions of dollars from its 2016 sovereign oil hedge, the first time it will reap the windfall two years in a row, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Japan's Prime Minister picks hawkish defense minister in limited reshuffle (Reuters)
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appointed a conservative ally as defense minister on Wednesday, in a cabinet reshuffle that left most key posts unchanged, and he promised to speed up the economy's escape from deflation and boost regional ties.
The Thai baht is tumbling (Business Insider)
The Thai baht is tumbling after the Bank of Thailand kept rates unchanged.
Dollar gains against euro, yen, with private-payrolls data on deck (Market Watch)
The U.S. dollar edged higher Wednesday, with investors looking for a private-sector labor update for any signal about the future of interest rates before this week’s headline economic data — U.S. government jobs report for July.
U.S. Index Futures Retreat Amid Investor Skepticism Before Data (Bloomberg)
U.S. stock-index futures slipped amid corporate earnings and employment data, with investors on edge over prospects for growth after crude oil’s retreat this week into a bear market.
Gold creeps lower after ADP jobs data (Market Watch)
Gold futures inched lower Wednesday after a gauge of private-sector U.S. employment proved in line with Wall Street expectations, possibly providing the Federal Reserve evidence that the domestic economy is on a relatively healthy footing.
European bank rebound not enough to save world stocks from further losses (Reuters)
World stocks fell for a third straight day on Wednesday, depressed by growing nervousness surrounding central bank policy and the spike in world bond yields, although European bank shares rebounded after two major earnings reports.
Euro zone business growth picks up slightly but still muted (Reuters)
Euro zone business activity expanded a touch faster than expected last month as the region appeared, so far, to have largely shrugged off Britain's vote to leave the European Union, a survey found.
Rising yen drags down Nikkei as oil unsettles markets (Market Watch)
Asian stock markets fell Wednesday, after U.S. oil lingered in bear market territory and a stronger yen dragged Japanese equities lower.
Singapore Rig Giant’s Man in Brazil Says Managers Backed Bribes (Bloomberg)
Keppel Corp.’s Brazil problems just keep growing.
Russian Bonds Drop Most in Three Weeks Before Auction on $42 Oil (Bloomberg)
Russian government bonds dropped for a third day as crude oil traded near a four-month low, crimping investors’ appetite for assets in the world’s biggest energy exporter.
An Agenda to Help the Poor Up the Economic Ladder (Bloomberg View)
The American left is casting around for a new economic paradigm. Everyone knows that neoliberalism — the program of tax cuts, deregulation and privatization — is looking pretty shopworn, but it’s not clear what the left can offer to replace it.
A star quant trader is launching his own firm with the backing of a $4 billion hedge fund (Business Insider)
Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, a multi-billion family office and hedge fund, is expanding its reach in quant trading.
Under Tesla's wing, SolarCity's future remains uncertain (Reuters)
After four rocky years as a publicly traded company in the volatile renewable energy sector, SolarCity Corp may now be wading into an equally uncertain future.
Bitcoin worth $72 million stolen from Bitfinex exchange in Hong Kong (Reuters)
Nearly 120,000 units of digital currency bitcoin worth about US$72 million was stolen from the exchange platform Bitfinex in Hong Kong, rattling the global bitcoin community in the second-biggest security breach ever of such an exchange.
Politics
A Republican intellectual explains why the Republican Party is going to die (Vox)
Trump’s politics of aggrieved white nationalism — labeling black people criminals, Latinos rapists, and Muslims terrorists — succeeded because the party’s voting base was made up of the people who once opposed civil rights.
The Democrats Who Cried Wolf (The Atlantic)
So say his critics, particularly those on the left: He’s dangerously ignorant about policy, and incurious about the world. His views on women are radical and unacceptable. His business career ain’t what it’s cracked up to be. He doesn’t have the temperament to be president. He’s a fascist. His positions are the most extreme any Republican has proposed since Goldwater.
New Rough Patch for Trump Campaign Roils Republicans as Defections Grow (Wall Street Journal)
Donald Trump is confronting the roughest patch of his presidential campaign, with even some of his strongest supporters urging him to shift gears and focus more on policy than personality.
Republican rift widens as Trump declines to endorse Ryan, McCain (Reuters)
U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump ratcheted up tensions in his party on Tuesday by denying two leading figures, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator John McCain, support in their re-election bids.
Technology
China's robotics rush shows how its debt can get out of control (Reuters)
Down a side street bracketed by massage parlors and cheap hotels in this city on the banks of the Yangtze river, a humanoid food service robot trundles around the corner of a table in a cafe, red eyes flashing in tune with synthesized classical music.
Health and Life Sciences
‘Mobile’ model depicts chemistry of schizophrenia (Futurity)
It’s called mental imbalance for a reason. Sanity hangs, in part, in the gentle balance of chemicals strung together within regions of the brain in an intricate matrix.
In schizophrenia, the matrix is sharply jarred, debilitating the mind and triggering hallucinations. Now, researchers have created an interactive model of that matrix to fast-track research and treatment of the tormenting disorder.
5 Good Reasons To Keep Flossing (Forbes)
Perhaps you’ve read the recent stories that flossing isn’t the toothsaver your dentist keeps saying it is (although that’s not exactly breaking news). Maybe you experienced relief from a lurking sense of shame you’ve always felt about your poor flossing habits.
Life on the Home Planet
2015 Set a Frenzy of Climate Records (Scientific American)
The warming of the world’s climate has reached a fever pitch in recent years, causing records to fall like dominoes. In 2015, the planet saw a number of such records set, from the hottest global temperature measured to the largest annual increase in carbon dioxide.
The deadly trade around exotic fish (BBC)
Emily Voigt devoted three years of her life, visiting fifteen countries in search of the rare Asian arowana and discovered a deadly trade.
It is rumoured to sell for up to $300,000.
Latest North Korea missile launch lands near Japan waters, alarms Tokyo (Reuters)
North Korea launched a ballistic missile on Wednesday that landed in or near Japanese-controlled waters for the first time, the latest in a series of launches by the isolated country in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
