Financial Markets and Economy
This could be the trigger for market mayhem (Business Insider)
The stock market went haywire about a year ago.
U.S. Oil Production Proves Resilient as Forecast Increased (Bloomberg)
Oil producers in the U.S. are proving more resistant to low prices, even as global supply is set to fall into a deficit next year.
Several U.S. states unprepared for a recession (Reuters)
Several U.S. states studied by S&P Global Ratings are ill-equipped to deal with an economic recession, hampered by the slow rebound in U.S. economic growth after the damage wrought by the Great Recession.
The hedge fund industry has a problem (Business Insider)
The hedge fund industry has a problem: There are too many hedge funds.
Oil Holds Slide as Increasing U.S. Crude Supplies Add to Glut (Bloomberg)
Oil held declines after industry data showed U.S. crude stockpiles increased, swelling supplies already at a seasonal high.
Americans have $12.29 trillion of debt — here's what it looks like (Business Insider)
Americans are still adding debt.
For Oil Companies $110 Billion Debt Wall Looms Over Next 5 Years (Bloomberg)
The worst may be yet to come for some strained oil services companies as $110 billion in debt, most of it junk rated, creeps closer to maturity.
America's worst borrowers are grabbing credit cards like it's 2006 (Business Insider)
The Liberty Street Economics blog at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York just published a study on recent developments in consumer credit card borrowing.
London will be hit hardest in the post-Brexit economic storm (Business Insider)
London will bear the brunt of the economic shock from the UK's decision to leave the European Union, and will lag behind the rest of the country in terms of growth for the next few years.
Government Statistics May Be Wrong, But They're Not Manipulated (Bloomberg View)
I can think of lots of reasons to question or criticize the unemployment rate, gross domestic product and other economic numbers that the U.S. government puts out. Manipulation by politicians looking to win elections is not one of them.
Why Marc Faber is calling for an ugly stock-market crash—again (Market Watch)
Permabear Marc Faber has some good news for you: the S&P 500 index could soar to 2,300 over the next several months, rising about 5% from its current toppy level.
Amazon Most, Apple Least Crowded Trade? (Value Walk)
The ten most overweight stocks in the UBS listing include half that are technology names, three that are healthcare names and one that is – gasp – a financial and another an old school media company.
Chile Investment to Go From Bad to Worse as Building Frenzy Ends (Bloomberg)
Chile's construction industry has prevented a slide in investment turning into a slump in the past few years amid a boom in home building. Next year will be a different story.
Investors just can't say no to hedge funds (Business Insider)
Hedge fund doomsayers have long warned about big investors yanking cash, shrinking the high-fee industry.
This oil bear says prices are headed back below $30 (Market Watch)
Oil bulls were relieved when Brent crude rallied in recent days after having fallen nearly 20% from its recent peak above $52.
Busted Mergers Spell Trouble for U.S. Corporate Bond Investors (Bloomberg)
Bond investors who have lent blue-chip companies $181 billion this year to fund acquisitions just got a tough reminder that mergers can fail.
China's Money Outflow Goes Quiet, for Now, as Stability Reigns (Bloomberg)
A year after global markets were shaken by a surprise China devaluation, they are now becalmed, and pressures for an exodus of capital from the nation have eased.
Amazon and Google Change the R&D Race (Bloomberg View)
The numbers for another quarter are in, and it's becoming ever clearer that Amazon.com and Google's parent company, Alphabet, are pulling away from their U.S. peers in research and development spending.
Norwegian Cruise Cuts Forecast on Brexit, Europe Demand (Bloomberg)
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Inc. cut its forecast for profit this year and next as the cruise industry continues to grapple with the effects of terrorism, the Zika virus and Brexit.
Playing The Long Game Inside Tim Cook's Apple (Fast Company)
Eddy Cue doesn’t look like a man in the midst of his toughest year in decades. Sporting an untucked apricot camp shirt and blue jeans over camouflage socks and a pair of blue leather racing shoes from Germany, Apple’s SVP of Internet software and services pulls up a chair at one of the marble-topped tables outside Caffé Macs, the employee restaurant at the heart of Apple’s 23-year-old Cupertino campus. (The company will begin to move into its new "spaceship" HQ next year.) Cue dives right into telling me about his latest horror story.
Yahoo's most important business stopped growing, and now the company admits it will shrink even more (Business Insider)
One of the biggest letdowns in Yahoo's second-quarter earnings was the negative growth in the so-called Mavens, short for "mobile, video, native, and social."
P&G to Scale Back Targeted Facebook Ads (Wall Street Journal)
Procter & Gamble Co., the biggest advertising spender in the world, will move away from ads on Facebook that target specific consumers concluding that the practice has limited effectiveness.
Risk-Seeking Behavior Evident Everywhere – RBC Capital (Value Walk)
All’s well, with risk-seeking behavior evident everywhere: Overseas, we see Brent crude reclaims its 200dma, Asian EM shows a number of equities markets breaking-out to YTD highs + (Kospi, Hang Seng, Nifty, SE Thai, with Jakarta Comp / Indonesia near all-time highs), DAX bouncing off 200dma and making a new YTD high as we speak, while FX momentum factor continues working, as evidenced by the DB G10 FX Carry Basket +1.4% since the start of August.
Americans deserve more than an apology for the foreclosure fraud epidemic (Salon)
“I lost my home of 30 years to fraudclosure.”
Verizon eyes automotive technology market, could spur other deals (Reuters)
Verizon Communications Inc's recent purchases of two vehicle tracking firms could spark more deals as the No. 1 wireless provider and rival AT&T see fleet management as a source of growth, analysts said.
OPEC Guide (Platts)
With speculation swirling over possible production freeze talks, OPEC on August 8 appeared to throw cold water on the idea, sounding an optimistic tone about the oil market, dismissing the recent price slump as "temporary," and declaring that higher demand is just around the corner.
The Buyer Strike Is Over: 3Y Treasury Sells In Strong Auction As Foreign Central Banks Rush To Buy (Zero Hedge)
Following a disappointing month of Treasury auctions, one which saw last month's 3Y issue see a plunge in Indirect bidders which dropped to 44.7%, August has started off strongly with the sale of $24 billion in 3 Year paper, which moments ago sold at a high yield of 0.85%, 1 bps inside the When Issued 0.86%, and with a Bid to Cover which surged from last month's 2.686 to 2.984, the highest since December.
Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts – Dollar Lower, Metals Up with Silver in the Lead (Jesse's Cafe Americain)
Even if the opposition party were to nominate a trained chimpanzee, which I do not think is beyond question, and may have already been done without our complete knowledge and realization, I could never find it in my heart to vote for such an iconic figure for almost everything that has gone wrong with the American dream as Hillary Clinton.
Why GAAP Matters: Real Profit Margins Tumble To 10 Year Lows (Zero Hedge)
Over the past several months, the topic of GAAP vs non-GAAP number (and specifically the near-crisis gap that has formed between the time series) has gotten increasingly prominent attention by both regulators and the mainstream media. But while attention has focused on the difference between GAAP and non-GAAP earnings, and EPS, few have paid attention to intermediate financial data, such as profit margins.
Politics
The Polls Aren’t Skewed: Trump Really Is Losing Badly (Five Thirty Eight)
We’ve reached that stage of the campaign. The back-to-school commercials are on the air, and the “unskewing” of polls has begun — the quadrennial exercise in which partisans simply adjust the polls to get results more to their liking, usually with a thin sheen of math-y words to make it all sound like rigorous analysis instead of magical thinking.
For journalists covering Trump, a Murrow moment (Columbia Journalism Review)
As Edward R. Murrow wrapped up his now-famous special report condemning Joseph McCarthy in 1954, he looked into the camera and said words that could apply today. “He didn’t create this situation of fear—he merely exploited it, and rather successfully,” Murrow said of McCarthy.
How the Trump Presidential Campaign is Affecting Trump Businesses (Medium)
At Foursquare, our data scientists are often called upon to analyze real world trends; we use Big Data to determine how commercial fortunes are rising or falling. This year, politics and business are intersecting, as one of the presidential candidates, Donald Trump, has extensive properties including casinos, hotels, and golf courses. Has his campaign been good for Trump-branded business?
Technology
Scientists develop dissolving battery (BBC)
Scientists have developed a self-destructing battery capable of dissolving when exposed to heat or liquid.
Virtual Reality Classrooms Another Way Chinese Kids Gain an Edge (Bloomberg)
Deep within a building shaped like the Starship Enterprise, a little-known Chinese company is working on the future of education. Vast banks of servers record children at work and play, tracking touchscreen swipes, shrugs and head swivels – amassing a database that will be used to build intimate profiles of millions of kids.
How Today’s Jungle of Artificial Intelligence Will Spawn Sentience (Singularity Hub)
You don't have a flying car, jetpack, or ray gun, but this is still the future. How do I know? Because we're all surrounded by artificial intelligence. I love when friends ask me when we'll develop smart computers…because they're usually holding one in their hands. Your phone calls are routed with artificial intelligence.
Health and Life Sciences
‘Superfood’ doesn’t mean anything, so let’s stop using it (New Scientist)
We humans are suckers for a promise that is too good to be true – especially if it offers a shortcut to health and longevity. That is one of the appeals of “superfoods”, which are sold as if they contain a magical elixir of life that will wash away the sins of an otherwise poor diet and inactive lifestyle.
The Need for Human Connection in Digital Mental Health Care (Scientific American)
In conventional mental health care, the therapist—such as a psychologist or counsellor—develops an ongoing relationship with the client that is characterized by trust, empathy, and support. Regardless of the type of therapy being used, the longstanding consensus among researchers is that this relationship can be healing in itself; when therapists actively listen, indicate understanding, communicate effectively, and present a warm, approachable demeanor, clients not only report better experiences, but also show improved health outcomes.
Life on the Home Planet
Britain's tallest mountain is underwater (BBC)
Scientists from Plymouth University have visited the UK's tallest mountains – over 100 metres under the sea.
Out-of-control California wildfire grows, forces schools to close (Reuters)
A wildfire burning out of control in mountains and foothills east of Los Angeles mushroomed more than 50 percent overnight, forcing authorities to order three school districts to cancel classes due to heavy smoke and dangerous conditions.
