Financial Markets and Economy
U.S. Buyback Announcements Tumble to a 2012 Low (Bloomberg)
Stock buybacks appear to be slowing down, suggesting either corporate America's outlook has dimmed, stock valuations have become prohibitively high or, most optimistically, that companies are starting to listen to investors and put funds toward other uses.
Oil Panic-Buyers Ignore US Dollar Bounce (Zero Hedge)
The market remains glommed onto Saudi comments from a few days ago, choosing to ignore the real bearish fundamentals which are getting worse. This morning's USD weakness sparked some oil momentum… but once the USD started to bounce higher so oil ignored it and melted up…
U.S. Retail Sales Rose in Latest Week — Redbook (The Wall Street Journal)
National retail sales rose 0.2% in the second week of August from the comparable period a year ago, Redbook Research reported Tuesday.
An Unexpected "Biggest Tail Risk" Emerges Within The Investing Community (Zero Hedge)
Over the weekend, we presented the latest BofA survey of credit managers, according to which there was a schizophrenic dichotomy: on one hand virtually everyone admitted there was a bond bubble…
Indiana’s Economy Isn’t The Conservative Success Story Mike Pence Is Telling (Think Progress)
As Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence took the stage on Wednesday night, he took some time to tout his economic record during his tenure as governor of Indiana.
Sterling corporate bond issuance surges after BoE easing (Financial Times)
Sterling corporate bond issuance has surged following the Bank of England’s stimulus package, which seems to have helped breathe life into a market …
Venezuela Oil Exports Seen Falling as Economic Woes Worsen (Bloomberg)
The long decline in Venezuela’s oil production is becoming a supply risk for international markets, according to a report by Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.
US inflation retreat clouds Fed rate outlook (Financial Times)
The US inflation rate retreated in July, in a further sign of the benign price pressures that have allowed the Federal Reserve to leave its interest …
Trillions in Murky Investments Could Rock China’s Economy (NY Times)
A Shanghai investment firm is offering a fat return of up to 10 percent a year, handily beating both the local stock market and the paltry payouts from bank accounts. It requires a minimum deposit of about $15, making it accessible to just about anyone. Investors can pull out in as little as seven days. Best of all, the money is guaranteed.
U.S. Natural Gas Prices and Cheniere's First LNG Export Cargo (EconMatters)
Cheniere Energy has long been my favorite contrarian indicator in the U.S. natural gas market. For those unfamiliar with the term, a contrarian indicator is an event which suggests that a broadly and firmly held view–in this case, the view that U.S. natural gas supplies will grow and remain cheap for decades–is about to begin a reversal.
Hain Celestial Group Inc (HAIN) Collapses On Accounting Issue (Value Walk)
Hain Celestial Group Inc (NASDAQ:HAIN) stock is collapsing this morning – down around 27 percent at the time of this writing. While that is a lot for a company even with a few million dollar market cap it is rare for a company with a (now) size of around $4 billion
BAML Quants Warn Of Market “Disappointment,” Target S&P 500 at 2000 By Year End. (Value Walk)
The equity quantitative team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch thinks this complacent stock market, lulled to sleep by high expectations for growth and central bank stimulus, is “ripe for disappointment.” What does disappointment look like? Markets could fall by 8% before year end, as the bank lowered its price target on the S&P 500 to significantly lower levels than present.
Why brick-and-mortar just can't compete with online retail (Yahoo FInance)
For most goods and services, it’s just a whole lot cheaper to buy online through websites like Amazon.com (AMZN) than at brick-and-mortar retailers. For this simple reason, online retailers are booming.
U.S. crude oil exports are increasing and reaching more destinations (Energy Information Administration)
The number of countries receiving exported U.S. crude oil has risen since the removal of restrictions on exporting U.S. crude oil in December 2015. U.S. crude oil exports have occurred despite relatively small price spreads between international crude oils and domestic crude oils, as well as other factors that should reduce crude oil exports such as falling U.S. crude oil production and added cargo export costs.
Core CPI Remains Above Fed Mandated 2% For 9th Straight Month (Zero Hedge)
Core CPI (ex food and energy) rose 2.2% YoY (below the 2.3% expectations) but remains above The Fed's 2%-mandate for the 9th straight month. The modest disappointments across the board in CPI data were led by a drop in energy-related prices (down 1.6%) with food prices unchanged. The headline CPI data was unchanged month-over-month, the weakest price change since Feb 2016.
Politics
Trump's strategy to attack Obama's foreign policy appears to be helping Hillary Clinton (The Fiscal Times)
In his effort to reset a presidential campaign that has dangerously gone off track, Republican Donald Trump mistakenly continues to believe there is much to be gained politically by closely linking Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton to President Obama’s foreign policy record.
Mexico's president is in hot water over property dealings — and the backlash is fierce (Business Insider)
Last week, The Guardian reported that Angelica Rivera, the wife of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, had used an apartment in Florida owned by a Mexican businessman who also paid the property-tax bill on her own adjacent apartment.
Technology
8 hydrogen-powered cars in the works right now (Business Insider)
Not many people have heard of the technology, and from an infrastructure standpoint, purely electric vehicles make more sense. For example, there are 14,117 electric stations in the United States, and hydrogen stations are really only available in California.
Sorry Los Angeles and San Francisco, it looks like the Hyperloop is moving to Dubai (Salon)
When the Hyperloop project was first introduced in May 2013, the plan involved a circuit between Los Angeles and San Francisco that would parallel the I-5 corridor. Now, however, like most feats of infrastructure and engineering, it appears as if the first iteration of Elon Musk’s dream of hybrid “Concorde and rail-gun and air-hockey table” will be built in Dubai.
5 ways transportation will radically change by 2026 (Business Insider)
Right now, the way we get around can seem fairly lackluster.
That's mostly because we've become accustomed to emerging forms of transportation, like high-speed rails and airplanes, that were considered revolutionary not too long ago.
Losing Control: The Dangers of Killer Robots (Singularity Hub)
New technology could lead humans to relinquish control over decisions to use lethal force. As artificial intelligence advances, the possibility that machines could independently select and fire on targets is fast approaching. Fully autonomous weapons, also known as “killer robots,” are quickly moving from the realm of science fiction toward reality.
Delta is making an unprecedented change for its business class (Business Insider)
On Tuesday, the airline introduced the very first business class to offer rooms with a sliding door at each suite. It will have a September 2017 debut on the Airbus A350, the route of which has yet to be determined, and then will roll out on Delta's Boeing 777 plane in Spring 2018, according to a New York Times article.
Health and Life Sciences
This video perfectly explains why CRISPR really will change the world forever (Science Alert)
We've heard a lot about genetic engineering over the past two decades – and, lately there's been even more hype about a new molecular tool called CRISPR, which acts like a cut-and-paste tool for our DNA.
Life on the Home Planet
Earth's hottest month on record was July 2016: NASA (Mashable Asia)
Earth just had its hottest month yet, and the record-shattering warmth shows no signs of stopping.
According to NASA, global average surface temperatures during July were 0.84 degrees Celsius, or 1.51 degrees Fahrenheit, above average.
In both parties, men and women differ over whether women still face obstacles to progress (Pew Research Center)
As Hillary Clinton seeks to become the first woman to win the presidency in U.S. history, the public is divided over whether women continue to face obstacles that make it more difficult for them to get ahead.
Giant Coral Reef in Protected Area Shows New Signs of Life (NY Times)
In 2003, researchers declared Coral Castles dead.
On the floor of a remote island lagoon halfway between Hawaii and Fiji, the giant reef site had been devastated by unusually warm water. Its remains looked like a pile of drab dinner plates tossed into the sea. Research dives in 2009 and 2012 had shown little improvement in the coral colonies
