Financial Markets and Economy
Obama and Xi Formally Commit U.S. and China to Paris Climate Accord (NY Times)
HANGZHOU, China — President Obama and President Xi Jinping of China formally committed the world’s two largest economies to the Paris climate agreement here on Saturday, cementing their partnership on climate change and offering a rare display of harmony in a relationship that has become …
Iran’s Ready to Pump More as OPEC Faces ‘Prisoner’s Dilemma’ (Bloomberg)
As speculation swirls over whether oil producers will reach a deal to coordinate output and aid a recovery in prices, Iran says it’s ready to pump more.
Investors brace for busy September with central bank meetings and re-evaluations (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Investors are bracing for a turbulent September flush with central bank meetings, saying the high level of complacency that has crept into the market is setting it up for a pullback.
Bank of Japan’s New Unease With Negative Rates (The Wall Street Journal)
Two weeks before a much-anticipated monetary-policy meeting, BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda acknowledged that subzero policy rates have had an adverse impact on the profitability of Japanese financial institutions—and, more important, said the BOJ should consider these effects when conducting policy.
Is It Time to Invest in the Houston Real Estate Market? (Medium)
When thinking about starting real estate investing, it is only logical to consider one of the largest cities in the nation. Thus, in this article we look at the Houston real estate market and whether it’s a good idea to invest in it or not.
Pound soars to seven-week high after UK services sector posts biggest rebound in 20 years (The Telegraph)
The UK services sector rebounded sharply in August suggesting an imminent recession will be "avoided", data showed this morning.
EU seeks to coordinate consumer action against Volkswagen over Dieselgate (Reuters)
The European Commission will meet consumer groups this week to make sure they are doing enough to seek compensation for European drivers affected by Volkswagen's (VOWG_p.DE) cheating of diesel emissions tests.
G20 recognise need for fairer investment (Sky News)
Malcolm Turnbull says a new anti-corruption plan and commitments to open trade and investment endorsed by the G20 will drive jobs and growth and help balance budgets.
Iran Is Ready to Raise Oil Output to Pre-Sanctions Levels (Reuters)
But it will look to market demand, an official said.
Iran is ready to raise its oil production to 4 million barrels per day (bpd) in the next two to three months depending on market demand, a senior official from the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said on Monday.
Monetary Experiment Creating Mother Of All Crises: “Negative Rates Phenomenally Good for Gold and Silver” (SHTF Plan)
The longer that central banks force negative interest rates – and wipe out the value of savings, pensions, and insurance accounts by denying them return on investment – the more attractive gold and other commodities become as a safe haven for maintaining flexibility.
Rents are down in 10 of the top 12 US markets (Wolf Street)
The construction boom of apartment and condo buildings around the US, especially in high-priced metro areas on the East Coast and the West Coast, is now colliding with the reality of squeezed household incomes and soaring rents.
How Uber Drivers Decide How Long to Work (NY Times)
The ride-hailing company Uber is best known for upending the taxi industry. Now it may be making waves in the economics profession as well. For nearly 20 years, economists have been debating how cabdrivers decide when to call it a day.
Elon Musk Wants to Cut Tesla Spending, “At Least for the Next 4.5 Weeks” (Fortune)
A lean Q3 would be “awesome” for fundraising.
Bloomberg has acquired an internal email from Tesla CEO Elon Musk to employees, in which Musk encourages cost-cutting and a productivity push for the remainder of the current quarter.
Italian Bank Rescue That Mustn’t Fail Hangs Over Como Party (Bloomberg)
Italy’s business elite concluded an annual summer lakeside retreat dogged by the enduring shadow cast by Europe’s unhealthiest big bank.
A study reveals a disturbing trend about Walmart locations across the US (Business Insider)
The worst Walmarts are located in low-income, minority communities.
That's according to a study published in May by Contexts, a quarterly publication of the American Sociological Association.
The week ahead in business and finance (The Telegraph)
A pick up in pricing or activity is unlikely when Hunting publishes its interim results on Monday. The oil-directed US onshore rig count has rallied some 30pc from its nadir, pushing shares in Hunting 60pc higher so far this year.
EU will not release more bailout money for Greece this month: paper (Reuters)
The euro zone will not release additional bailout money for Greece at a meeting in Bratislava this month, Germany's Handelsblatt Global reported on Sunday, citing European Union diplomats.
These are the signs of an economic collapse (New York Post)
What does the beginning of an economic collapse look like?
Do you see grocery stores closing? Do you see other retailers, like clothing stores and department stores, going out of business?
More spend, less thrift (The Economist)
ON AUGUST 24th Germans received news to warm any Teutonic heart. Figures revealed a larger-than-expected budget surplus in the first half of 2016, and put Germany on track for its third year in a row in the black.
Central banks nearing limits of ability to stimulate growth – OECD (Reuters, Yahoo Finance)
HANGZHOU, China (Reuters) – The world's central banks are "pretty close" to the limits of their ability to stimulate economies, Angel Gurria, head of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), said on Saturday.
Politics
9 Campaign Promises Trump Could Actually Pull Off (Well, Almost) (Politico)
Donald Trump prides himself on his ability to persuade a crowd. “I play to people’s fantasies,” he famously wrote in his bestselling book, The Art of the Deal.
2016 Electoral Math — Hillary Slides Back (The Huffington Post)
It’s time to take a look at the presidential horserace once again, using the smartest metric available: Electoral Votes (EV) charted over time. The last of these columns ran two weeks ago, and we’ve had lots of movement to cover since then, as 14 states shifted around on the map.
What Trump vs. Clinton Means for Gun Control (The Huffington Post)
For the first time since 2000, the Presidential election promises to be pivotal for the politics of gun control. Both for supporters of stronger gun laws, and for “gun rights” partisans, the stakes could not be higher.
Technology
You could own this dilapidated 1960s NASA robot (CNet)
The Power-Driven Articulated Dummy is a strange aside in NASA's space race story, and now you can own it. The space suit testing robot is going up for grabs as part of RR Auctions' Remarkable Rarities Auction.
Google to Web: Disable Intrusive Pop-Ups or Suffer SERP Downgrades (Social Media Today)
Google made big news recently when it announced that web sites running “interstitials” (AKA pop-ups) now risk being downranked on mobile SERPs.
No Sailors Needed: Robot Sailboats Scour the Oceans for Data (NY Times)
ALAMEDA, Calif. — Two robotic sailboats trace lawn-mower-style paths across the violent surface of the Bering Sea, off the coast of Alaska. The boats are counting fish — haddock, to be specific — with a fancy version of the fish finder sonar you’d find on a bass fishing boat.
World’s largest electric car fast-charging site opens in Norway (Venture Beat)
Norway has once again proven to be the friendliest place in the world for electric cars.
The country where plug-in cars make up a higher proportion of new-car sales than any other now also boasts the world’s largest single DC fast-charging site.
Why Google Canceled Project Ara (Fortune)
Leadership churn and fundamental challenges conspired against the modular smartphone.
It was uncovered this week by Reuters that Google has discontinued Project Ara, its effort to build a modular smartphone.
Health and Life Sciences
The Storr Lochs Monster Surfaces (Scientific American)
Paleontology is not a first dug, first served science. Research interests, logistical technicalities, and more dictate what fossils are cleaned up, studied, and published on in what order, and while some field finds are so momentous that they jump to the front of the queue, other fossils are on a slow burn.
Guys, we finally found Philae – and it's crammed inside a comet (Science Alert)
Two years after the Philae lander made history by crash-landing on comet 67P, its final resting place has been discovered, and it’s, well, a little disturbing.
These closest-ever images of Jupiter are "like nothing we have seen before", says NASA (Science Alert)
NASA just shared the most detailed images of Jupiter that humanity has ever seen, and no one was prepared for how unique the largest planet in our Solar System would be close-up.
Life on the Home Planet
Labor Day by the numbers: Americans can’t stop, won’t stop working (USA Today)
Americans are taking less vacation and more work home. Some are even working this Labor Day.
The ignore-vacation trend has been more than 15 years in the making, Project Time Off reports. And, when workers do leave the office, they can’t unplug.
Revolution against ‘rich parasites’ at utopian Burning Man Festival as ‘hooligans’ attack luxury camp (The Telegraph)
It is supposed to be a utopian vision of peace and love but this year’s Burning Man Festival has been marred by “hooligans” carrying out a “revolution against rich parasites”.
Flooding of Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Already Begun (NY Times)
Huge vertical rulers are sprouting beside low spots in the streets here, so people can judge if the tidal floods that increasingly inundate their roads are too deep to drive through.
