Financial Markets and Economy
OMEGA: 'The in-place equity bull market should last a long time' (Business Insider)
It's a good time to be in stocks, according to Omega Advisors' Steve Einhorn.
The stock market should forge ahead on its bull run, Einhorn said in an email Sunday to macro traders that was viewed by Business Insider.
Goldman Sees Pound, Yen and Kiwi Most Exposed to Yellen Shock (Bloomberg)
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sees the pound, the yen and the New Zealand dollar as most vulnerable to a potential surprise from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s Aug. 26 speech at the annual monetary-policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Apollo, TPG Reject Caesars’ Demand for $990 Million Rescue (Bloomberg)
Caesars Entertainment Corp. needs another $990 million to help get its main operating unit out of bankruptcy, but its biggest shareholders, Apollo Global Management LLC and TPG Capital LP, have refused to kick in any more, according to a company financial adviser.
The Stock Market Is Quiet. Too Quiet. (New York Mag)
It’s been a long time since you’ve read a hair-raising story about volatility in the stock market. But fear not, financial-scare lovers! The market has now been serene for so long, you actually have cause to worry about the calm.
Thoughts On A Handful Of mREITs And The State Of The Industry (Week 45) (Seeking Alpha)
The emphasis this week is on alternative ways to assess book value. The latest sale of an mREIT reinforces the premise that investors should be wary of simply using book value as the key to estimating the fair value of a mortgage REIT.
Most Millennials Have Less Than $1,000 In Savings, Live Paycheck-to-Paycheck (Zero Hedge)
The majority of millennials are living paycheck to paycheck.
A recent survey of millennials by HowMuch.net found that 51.8% of those aged 18-34 have less than $1,000 held between bank accounts and cash savings.
Subscribe and Save on Amazon? Don’t Count on It (NY Times)
WHAT do subscriptions to a newspaper, magazine or Netflix account have in common? Once you sign up, you expect to pay the same rate every month.
Here’s Why Existing Home Sales Are In Unsustainable Path (The Wall Street Examiner)
The NAR reported a decline of 3.2% in existing home sales in July. This was the seasonally adjusted fudgepack number. It prompted the Dow Jones flagship Wall Street Journal to trumpet:
U.S. Existing Home Sales Fall for First Time Since February
The 401(k) Is Wreaking Havoc on Retirement (Bloomberg)
The shift from pensions to 401(k) plans is making retirement inequality much worse—and education is what separates the haves from the have-nots, a new study has found.
The Nation's First Soda Tax Is Working. Can Its Success Last? (Bloomberg)
Nothing kills a sweet tooth like a soda tax.
Minority and low-income residents of Berkeley, Calif., drank 21 percent less of the sugary stuff after the city implemented an excise tax, according to a study published on Tuesday in the American Journal of Public Health.
Macy's, Nordstrom, Others Fight For Identity In An Off-Price Retail World (Retail Wire)
New research from The NPD Group is quite clear. Roughly two-thirds of all consumers who shop for clothes do so at off-price outlets. Their purchases represent 75 percent of all the clothing purchased across all of retail.
Shale Land Grab Tops Mergers as Buyers Await Better Oil Outlook (Bloomberg)
The buyer’s market that the battered U.S. shale patch has become is so far luring more land purchases than takeovers as investors await a more solid crude price rebound before making bigger moves.
Flint Is About To Run Out Of Bottled Water And Filters (Think Progress)
Without any extra funding, the city of Flint, Michigan will run out of the money it needs to keep buying bottled water and water filters for residents in 51 days.
Australia Binges on Luxury Cars as Living Standards Drop (Bloomberg)
Aussies are buying Bentleys, BMWs and Mercedes in record numbers even as living standards fall in a sign that rising inequality seen in the developed world is spreading Down Under.
Mobius Says Helicopter Money Will Be Japan’s Next Big Experiment (Bloomberg)
The Federal Reserve signals a reluctance to raise interest rates. The yen strengthens to 90 per dollar. Haruhiko Kuroda decides to act.
The Infrastructure Investment Debate (EconoSpeak)
While Noah Smith makes the standard case for public infrastructure spending, he only lightly touches on the right wing critiques:
Some question the need for road and bridge repair.
China’s Net Copper Imports Sink to Lowest Level Since ‘13: Chart (Bloomberg)
The world’s largest copper consumer is taking less of the metal. On a net basis, China’s imports of the commodity used in pipes and wires sank to 176,228 metric tons in July, the smallest amount since April 2013, according to Bloomberg calculations based on customs data released on Wednesday.
Politics
Democrats Have a 60 Percent Chance to Retake the Senate (NY Times)
The Upshot’s new Senate election forecast gives Democrats a 60 percent chance of winning control of the chamber in November. Included within this 60 percent is a 17 percent chance that the Senate ends up evenly split with a Democratic vice president providing the tiebreaking vote.
The Senator’s Daughter Who Raised Prices on the EpiPen (Bloomberg)
Members of Congress are in an unusual position as they demand an explanation for Mylan NV’s 400 percent price hike for the EpiPen and focus attention squarely on its CEO: Heather Bresch.
Trump’s Offshore Tax-Cut Pitch Falls Flat in Silicon Valley (Bloomberg)
Republican Donald Trump is proposing a big tax cut for companies like Apple Inc., which would see its tax rate slashed on about $200 billion of profit it keeps offshore.
How To Destroy A Presidential Candidate (Ritholtz)
Technology
World's First Self-Driving Taxis Debut in Singapore (Associated Press)
The world's first self-driving taxis will be picking up passengers in Singapore starting Thursday.
Select members of the public will be able to hail a free ride through their smartphones in taxis operated by nuTonomy, an autonomous vehicle software startup
Google now lets you explore U.S. National Parks via 360-degree virtual tours (Tech Crunch)
Exploring the world is something that’s always been a bit of a luxury for those who can afford to travel, but technology is changing that. With VR and 360-degree videos, you can now immerse yourself in virtual environments that give you a real sense of what a place is like, without actually being there.
Health and Life Sciences
Beyond Terminator: squishy 'octobot' heralds new era of soft robotics (Nature.com)
A squishy octopus-shaped machine less than 2 centimetres tall is making waves in the field of soft robotics. The ‘octobot’ described today in Nature1 is the first self-contained robot made exclusively of soft, flexible parts.
Profits and Health Care: An Introduction to the Issues – For-Profit Enterprise in Health Care (National Academies Press)
Few changes in the organization of health care in the United States have stimulated more interest and alarm than the rise of a new form of entrepreneurism—investor-owned, for-profit organizations that provide health services as a business.
So when will the citizens wake up to the criminality of their government in favoring killer corporate opiates over safe natural painkillers?
Life on the Home Planet
Olympics ratings fell for the first time since 2000 and advertisers aren't happy (Mashable Asia)
Aside from the Super Bowl, few television stages command as much attention as NBC's broadcast of the Summer Olympics.
Tornadoes slam central Indiana, demolishing homes (Reuters)
Several tornadoes plowed through central Indiana on Wednesday, demolishing numerous homes and a Starbucks cafe in the town of Kokomo and cutting off power to thousands of Indianapolis-area residents, but no serious injuries were reported.
Kenyan Olympic athletes were stuck in rundown accommodations in Rio while officials looked for cheaper flights (Business Insider)
Though the Rio Olympics may already feel like an ancient memory, that's not the case for the Kenyan Olympic squad, which is still stuck in Rio.
France, India play down security risk of leaked submarine data (Reuters)
France and India on Thursday played down the security risk posed by leaked data on French-designed submarines that a source told Reuters was probably stolen by a French former employee and that has raised concerns over a $38 billion contract with Australia.
