Financial Markets and Economy
Quiet Summer Ends With Stocks and Bonds Tumbling Together (Bloomberg)
Tranquility that has enveloped global markets for more than two months was upended as central banks start to question the benefits of further monetary easing, sending government debt, stocks and emerging-market assets to the biggest declines since June. The dollar jumped.
Wells Fargo Opened a Couple Million Fake Accounts (Matt Levine, Bloomberg)
Two basic principles of management, and regulation, and life, are:
- You get what you measure.
- The thing that you measure will get gamed.
Really that's just one principle: You get what you measure, but only exactly what you measure. There's no guarantee that you'll get the more general good thing that you thought you were approximately measuring.
BANK OF AMERICA: There's a 20%-50% chance we're inside the matrix and reality is just a simulation (Myles Udland, Business Insider)
In a note to clients out Tuesday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said there's a 20%-50% chance that we're living in the matrix — meaning that the world we experience as "real" is actually just a simulation.
The firm cites comments from Elon Musk, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Nick Bostrom's seminal paper on the issue as the basis for its 20%-50% view.
BAML
Congo’s Copper-Export Route Re-Opened After 24-Hour Shutdown (Bloomberg)
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s border with Zambia, the main export route for the country’s copper, re-opened this morning after a 24-hour shutdown prompted by clashes between residents and security forces.
Dakota Pipeline’s Fate May Hinge on Next President After Setback (Bloomberg)
The Obama administration halted work on a stretch of land where Energy Transfer Partners LP is building its controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline, a move that could threaten to thrust the fate of the project into the hands of the next president.
Mexico 2017 Budget Cuts to Push Pemex Output to 36-Year Low (Bloomberg)
Petroleos Mexicanos’s oil and natural gas production is poised to fall to its lowest level since 1980 after lawmakers approve an 86-billion-peso ($4.6 billion) budget cut proposed by the Finance Ministry.
After Selloff, Bond Investors Await Inflation Data for ECB Clues (Bloomberg)
European government bonds have scope to recoup some of their losses next week, with inflation data forecast to confirm that the central bank’s monetary stimulus has yet to translate into the real economy.
Bank rally on shaky legs as traders assess rate hike odds (Reuters)
A rare run of outperformance by U.S. bank shares appears to have hit a wall as a spate of soft readings on the economy have tempered bets that the Federal Reserve might raise rates soon.
The S&P 500's bank index is up nearly 9 percent so far in the third quarter, broadly outpacing the wider S&P's 1.4 percent advance
EU Stresses Importance of U.S. Investment Following Apple Ruling (The Wall Street Journal)
The European Union’s ruling that Ireland should recoup €13 billion ($14.5 billion) in allegedly unpaid taxes from Apple Inc. wasn’t an attack against the U.S. or American companies, the bloc’s taxation chief Pierre Moscovici said Saturday.
Business this week (The Economist)
A federal investigation began into the explosion of a SpaceX rocket as it was undergoing tests on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral. Led by Elon Musk, SpaceX is a pioneer in private-sector space transport.
Deutsche Bank: The US May Now Be In A Recession (Zero Hedge)
Three months ago, we presented an analysis which showed something disturbing: according to Deutsche, the "current business cycle is already the fourth longest in the post- WWII period, and the corporate debt-to-GDP ratio suggests that imbalances are building", and that worse, as a result of soaring corporate debt and rolling-over profit margins, "a recession could hit as soon as the second half."
France Calls for Joint European Funding for Defense, Security (Bloomberg)
French Finance Minister Michel Sapin called for a common European Union defense fund for providing internal and external security as the bloc mulls how it will strengthen cohesion among its remaining 27 nations as the U.K. prepares to exit.
U.K. Business Has Become Too Lazy to Export, Trade Minister Says (Bloomberg)
The U.K. isn’t ready to take advantage of export markets after it leaves the European Union because corporate executives are lazy, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said in comments reported by The Times and described by the government as a private view.
Hammond Said to Decide Against Osborne’s 15% Corporate Tax Rate (Bloomberg)
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond told European Union finance ministers that the U.K. government won’t lower its corporate tax rate below 17 percent, according to three people with knowledge of the talks.
Politics
French Republicans Have Eight Candidates in Presidential Primary (Bloomberg)
Eight candidates registered to seek the 2017 presidential nomination of France’s Republican party, including former President Nicolas Sarkozy and former Prime Minister Alain Juppe, the authority running the contest said on its website.
Donald Trump Says Hillary Clinton Wouldn’t Be Prosecuted Even if She Shot Someone (NY Times)
Donald J. Trump, in escalating attacks against Hillary Clinton, suggested on Friday that his opponent was so immune to prosecution that she could shoot someone in front of thousands of witnesses and not be prosecuted.
Hillary Clinton pegs half of Donald Trump's supporters as a 'basket of deplorables' (Business Insider)
Hillary Clinton received mixed reactions on Friday night over some remarks she made at a campaign event in New York City.
Reliably Red Ohio County Finds Both Trump and Clinton Hard to Stomach (NY Times)
Donald J. Trump is not popular in this prospering county north of Columbus. The Republican nominee’s dystopian language does not resonate here. Signs that read “Now Hiring” outnumber “Trump” campaign placards.
One of the government's most senior ministers called British businesses 'lazy and fat' (Business Insider)
Liam Fox, the Secretary for International Trade says that British businesses are "too fat and lazy" and that they are relying on the success of previous generations for prosperity.
Trump closes in on Clinton's projected electoral lead: Reuters/Ipsos Poll (Reuters)
Republican Donald Trump appears to have carved out a wider path to the White House as a number of states including Florida and Ohio are no longer considered likely wins for Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project released on Saturday.
Technology
Nissan adds 50% more power to the Sentra, creating the SR Turbo (Mashable Asia)
Nissan just bolted an 188-horsepower turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine to the Sentra. Why? Because it can.
This Cute Robot Just Wants to Play With Pooh Bear (Singularity Hub)
People are often surprised to learn that many of the most capable and high-tech robots are kept in cages away from humans. This isn't because the machines are out to get us. Many machines are dangerous because they simply lack self-awareness and the ability to understand their surroundings.
Apple Is Said to Be Rethinking Strategy on Self-Driving Cars (NY Times)
Apple is rethinking what it plans to do about self-driving cars, just as other big tech companies appear ready to plow ahead with competing efforts.
Health and Life Sciences
Newly Discovered Flatworm is Named After Obama (Popular Science)
A new species of blood fluke was found infecting the lungs of turtles in Malaysia. This parasitic flatworm has been dubbed Baracktrema obamai, in honor of the President of the United States (who is the fifth cousin twice removed of one of the discovering scientists).
Myth busted: dumped pills aren’t main source of drugs in sewage (New Scientist)
Waste water tests show the pharmaceuticals they contain are mainly excreted, suggesting that more expensive treatment may be needed to deal with them.
Life on the Home Planet
North Korea Will Have the Skills to Make a Nuclear Warhead by 2020, Experts Say (NY Times)
North Korea’s fifth nuclear test is ominous not only because the country is slowly mastering atomic weaponry, but because it is making headway in developing missiles that could hurl nuclear warheads halfway around the globe, threatening Washington and New York City.
No One Wants to See the U.S. Open Women’s Final Without Serena (Bloomberg)
Serena Williams’s upset loss in the U.S. Open semifinals has driven the ticket resale market into a tailspin.
Nigeria’s Borno Faces World’s Worst Food Crisis, Unicef Says (Bloomberg)
The food crisis unfolding in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state is probably the worst in the world at the moment, with 4.5 million people in need of assistance out of which one million are in danger of extreme malnutrition, according to the UN children’s agency, Unicef.
U.S.-Russian Syria peace deal raises rebel doubts as fighting rages (Reuters)
The United States and Russia hailed a breakthrough deal early on Saturday to put Syria's peace process back on track, though the war-torn country's rebels said they doubted it would hold and violence raged on in Aleppo.
Explosion and Fire at Bangladesh Factory Kill 23 (Associated Press, TIME)
A boiler exploded and triggered a fire at a packaging factory near Bangladesh’s capital on Saturday, killing at least 23 workers and injuring dozens, officials said.
‘Wars Have Been Fought for Much Less’ (NY Times)
Here are the top 10 comments of the week on our digital platforms, as selected by our readers and the journalists who moderate nearly every comment.
