Financial Markets and Economy
PBOC Money-Market Tactic Has Traders Trying to Decode Signal (Bloomberg)
The People’s Bank of China sold 50 billion yuan ($7.5 billion) of 14-day reverse-repurchase agreements on Wednesday, its first offering of anything with a tenor other than seven days since February.
Anything Goes With Ethical Funds Holding Exxon to Big Tobacco (Bloomberg)
Thinking of putting your money into a fund that describes itself as ethical? You’d better read the fine print if backing Exxon Mobil Corp. and British American Tobacco Plc isn’t your idea of doing good.
A Gold Standard "Comes After War, Not Before" Macquarie Warns "The Private Sector Will Never Recover" (Zero Hedge)
Do you feel something is wrong with the United States and the global economy? Despite a respectable recovery and low unemployment, many people aren’t happy with their current economic situation or their outlook for the future.
Why the hottest investment trend in the world could have worse economic outcomes than Marxism (Business Insider)
Earlier this year, we highlighted data from Vanguard that showed that money parked in funds seeking to meet rather than beat a benchmark index had risen to $4 trillion in 2015 from $11 million40 years ago.
Are Low Yields Really Responsible for Low Vol's Success? (Fortune Financial)
There has recently been a steady stream of financial articles declaring that the main driver of the excess performance of traditionally 'defensive' sectors such as consumer staples and utilities is solely attributable to the decline of interest rates to near-record lows.
Texas Power Plant Is Switching From Coal to Less Dirty Coal (Bloomberg)
Forget the coal-to-gas switching that’s happening at power plants across the U.S. In Texas, power generators are just trying to wean their plants off some of the dirtiest coal around by switching to, well, less dirty coal.
Hybrid robo-advisors will manage 10% of all investable assets by 2025 (My Private Banking)
After the strong growth of the robo-advisory approach in recent years, promoted by numerous start-ups worldwide as well as sizeable number of early adopting wealth managers, a new ‘sub-species’ has emerged: the hybrid robo/personal contact service, which adds a substantial software component to human interaction in the client advisory process.
Vancouver Foreign Tax Slowing an Already Cooling Home Market (Bllomberg)
British Columbia’s measures to cool off North America’s hottest real estate market are starting to have the desired effect.
California Passes Toughest Greenhouse Gas Emission Curbs (Bloomberg)
California is poised to make the nation’s strictest carbon emission controls even tougher, with a bill to cut greenhouse-gas discharges to 40 percent less than 1990 levels by 2030 now headed to Governor Jerry Brown.
16 photos that show the dirty way the world gets an important energy source (Business Insider)
While global coal use has fallen significantly in recent years, so far in 2016 it has seen a slight rebound, placing among the top five best performing commodities, according to Citibank.
Workday shares rocket higher after it beats revenue targets (Business Insider)
Workday's stock popped as much as 12% in after hours trading on Wednesday after the companyreported quarterly revenue that topped Wall Street targets.
Why the Swiss Favor Negative Rates Over QE in Three Charts (Bloomberg)
Not everyone’s a fan, but Thomas Jordan has little choice when it comes to negative interest rates.
Since his principal headache is the exchange rate, they’re the best available tool — along with currency interventions — for the Swiss National Bank president.
Asia Stocks Fall as Commodity Shares Slump Before Yellen Speech (Bloomberg)
Asian stocks fell as commodity shares slumped with oil before a speech Friday from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen that may provide further clues to the path of U.S. interest rates.
OPEC is stuck in a delicate balancing act since Doha (Oilprice.com)
It’s possible that OPEC is crying wolf with hints of an output freeze next month in Algiers; but it’s also possible that they are ramping up production to take the sting out of a freeze.
Japan Shares Slide as Crude Weighs on Oil Stocks Ahead of Yellen (Bloomberg)
Japanese shares fell, as the benchmark equity index pared Wednesday’s rally ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and as a slump in crude prices led oil related stocks lower.
Investors Have Pulled $109 Billion From Active Equity Funds In 2016: Here's Why (Zero Hedge)
2016 has been another bad year for the hedge funds community in particular, and active managers in general (despite the previously noted rebound in performance since the end of Q2 on the back of short covering and major releveraging).
Mylan Raised EpiPen’s Price Before the Expected Arrival of a Generic (NY Times)
In 2012, the company behind the EpiPen settled a lawsuit by agreeing to allow a generic competitor into the market in 2015, potentially cutting into a big part of its business.
Geneva’s Corporate-Tax Fight Becomes ‘Mother of All Battles’ (Bloomberg)
When the European Union pressured Switzerland to scrap tax breaks for foreign companies, Geneva had most to lose. Now, the canton that’s home to almost 1,000 multinationals is set to use tax to burnish its appeal.
THE UK P2P LENDING REPORT: Market forecasts, top growth drivers, and why the UK market is protected against the troubles facing the US (Business Insider)
P2P lending has seen a rash of negative press following the high-profile resignation of Lending Club's CEO Renaud Laplanche, but that's just a minor hurdle for this exciting new industry.
American house prices: realty check (The Economist)
WHAT a difference a decade makes. In 2006 house prices in America hit an all-time high, after rising unabated for the previous ten years. The crash that followed brought the entire global financial system to its knees.
Federal budget deficit increases for the first time since 2009 (The Fiscal Times)
The federal budget deficit this year will increase in relation to the overall economy for the first time since 2009 and will continue on an upward trajectory for the coming decade, according to a new report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
Young investors rushing to ETNs for the fun of the oil price 'roller coaster' (Bloomberg)
Chris Santos likes a little spice in his investing life.
That’s why the 26-year-old Toronto man trades Credit Suisse Group AG’s VelocityShares 3x Long Crude ETN, which offers returns equal to three times the move of the S&P GSCI crude oil index for each day.
Energy Analysts at the Big Banks are Not Very Good These Days (Video) (Zero Hedge)
We look at A Bloomberg Go piece regarding the Oil Market, and illustrate just how poor critical reasoning abilities are in this role for the Big Banks.
Politics
Brexit Hasn’t Dispelled Concerns Over U.K. Immigration Control (Bloomberg)
Britons are coming to the realization that leaving the European Union won’t bring immigration under control.
Karachi’s new mayor might be working remotely — from prison (Quartz)
Waseem Akhtar, a former member of parliament in Pakistan, was elected mayor of Karachi on Wednesday (Aug. 24), while still behind bars.
Donald Trump, Surrounded By White People, Calls Hillary Clinton A ‘Bigot’ Who Won’t Help Minorities (The Huffington Post)
GOP nominee Donald Trump, surrounded by white people at a rally Wednesday evening in Jackson, Mississippi, called Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton a “bigot” who doesn’t care about minority voters.
Top Trump Backer Bets Big on Overpriced EpiPens (The Daily Beast)
The recent price hike for lifesaving EpiPens is a nightmare for the people who need them and now can’t afford them. But one of Donald Trump’s top backers is hoping those EpiPens can become a financial bonanza.
Technology
Amazon will donate Kindles to promote digital reading (Engadget)
Amazon aims to promote digital reading around the world and has established a new program called Kindle Reading Fund to achieve that goal. The Fund will be in charge of donating Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets and ebooks to various recipients, such as reading programs in developing nations.
Apple under Tim Cook: More socially responsible, less visionary (CNN Money)
Hours after Steve Jobs resigned as the CEO of Apple, his successor Tim Cook sent an email to reassure employees about the company's future.
Health and Life Sciences
Doctors use ultrasound to jump-start coma patient's brain (Engadget)
We're getting better at predicting when a patient might come out of a coma, but helping them recover is another matter. Even after a patient wakes up, the effects of being in a persistent unconscious state can result in severe brain injury.
An Earth-Like Exoplanet Orbits Our Nearest Neighbor (Scientific American)
The red dwarf star Proxima Centauri is home to a newly discovered exoplanet, which may look a lot like Earth.
The EpiPen, a Case Study in Health Care System Dysfunction (NY Times)
Three times in the last two weeks, people — a patient, a colleague and my wife — told me stories about how out of control the price of EpiPens were. Monday, my New York Times colleagues recounted in detail how expensive the devices have become in recent years.
NASA Wants To Make Space Habitats From Orbiting Rocket Fuel Tanks (Jalopnik)
The idea of re-purposing an (ideally) empty rocket fuel tank and turning it into a space habitat has been around for a long time, because it’s a really appealing idea.
Life on the Home Planet
Italy Earthquake Kills At Least 159, Reduces Towns To Rubble (Associated Press)
Rescue crews using bulldozers and their bare hands raced to dig out survivors from a strong earthquake that reduced three central Italian towns to rubble Wednesday. The death toll stood at 159, but the number of dead and missing was uncertain given the thousands of vacationers in the area for summer's final days.
Starbucks iced coffee lawsuit dismissed with chiding from judge (Chicago Tribune)
A lawsuit that accused Starbucks of misrepresenting the sizes of its cold drinks has been dismissed by a California judge, who issued a written tongue-lashing of the plaintiff's claims.
How Many Guns Did the U.S. Lose Track of in Iraq and Afghanistan? Hundreds of Thousands. (NY Times)
Early this year, a Facebook user in Baghdad using the name Hussein Mahyawi posted a photograph of a slightly worn M4 assault rifle he was offering for sale. Veterans of the latest war in Iraq immediately recognized it.
Japan Sees First Pokemon Go-Related Death (Bloomberg)
A woman died after being run over by a car driven by a man playing Pokemon Go, the first known death in Japan linked to the hit smartphone game.
Scientists have uncovered a 66.3-million-year-old dinosaur skull still intact (Business Insider)
In Hell Creek Formation, Montana, paleontologists have uncovered a 66.3-million-year-old T-rex fossil with the skull still intact.
Risky Baking: It’s Hard to Make a Perfect Bagel Without Lye (NY Times)
I hunched over the stove wearing protective eyewear and rubber gloves, boiling a pot of water laced with a toxic, corrosive chemical.<p>I wasn’t trying to dissolve a body like Walter White in “Breaking Bad.”
