Financial Markets and Economy
The John Bogle Expected Return Formula (A Wealth of Common Sense)
I caught Vangaurd’s John Bogle on a recent Bloomberg interview discussing his simple formula for estimating future stock market returns:
Famous Economist Paul Romer Says Macroeconomics Is All Bullshit (Mother Jones)
Macroeconomics is the study of big stuff: interest rates, recessions, unemployment, inflation, long-term economic growth, etc. It didn't exactly bowl anyone over with its predictive success during the Great Recession, and ever since economists have been locked in an epic existential struggle.
MBA: "Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest Weekly Survey" (Calculated Risk)
Mortgage applications increased 4.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending September 9, 2016. This week’s results included an adjustment for the Labor Day holiday.
Stumpf, Mr. Clean of Banking, Finds Himself Mired in Scandal (Bloomberg)
Lloyd Blankfein had his Abacus. Jamie Dimon had his Whale. Now John Stumpf, the Mr. Clean of American banking, is getting a scandal of his own.
A Rebounding Economy Remains Fragile for Many (NY Times)
WASHINGTON — The eye-popping improvement in economic fortunes last year raises the question: If incomes are up and poverty is down, why is Donald J. Trump’s message of economic decay resonating so broadly?
Stocks Slump To 'Rosengren Lows' As Crude Carnage & China Credit Crunch Continues (Zero Hedge)
Very quietly – away from the mainstream media cheerleaders – Chinese money markets are turmoiling…
Why Pakistan's Market Beats China's And India's (Forbes)
Pakistan’s equity market has been outperforming China’s and India’s markets by a big margin in recent years. In the last twelve months, Global X MSCI MSCI +% Pakistan ETF was up 20%, beating India’s and China’s comparable ETF’s by almost two to one – see table.
New tax on Chicago residents will fund pension shortfall (CNN Money)
Chicago residents and businesses will face a new tax on their water and sewage usage next year to help shore up a pension fund for municipal employees.
How to View a Richer Year for the Poor and Middle Class (NY Times)
The income and poverty report released on Tuesday by the Census Bureau was such a blockbuster that you’d think the bureau had just issued Beyoncé’s next secret album the night before.
Asian stocks waver as policy uncertainty, weaker oil sap confidence (Reuters)
Asian stocks wavered on Thursday as investors grappled with the seemingly diminishing ability of major central banks to stimulate growth, while a tumble in crude oil inflamed already heightened risk aversion.
As Vancouver Luxury Home Sales Plunge 65%, Chinese Buyers Move To Toronto (Zero Hedge)
If there was any doubt about the Vancouver housing bubble bursting, and there really should not have been after our latest update, when we showed 2 weeks ago that the average price of detached Vancouver properties crashed, dropping 17% on the month, and 0.6% on the year, to C$1.47 million ($1.13 million) in August, the lowest price since September 2015…
Companies
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Salesforce adds to its $4 billion spending spree by quietly buying another company (Business Insider)
Salesforce just bought another company, its 3rd this month, after spending $4 billion on acquisitions over the past year.
Behind Bayer-Monsanto, an Odd Couple Out to Rule the World (Bloomberg)
After just 10 days on the job, Bayer CEO Werner Baumann made a bid for Monsanto Co., an audacious move that would transform his 153-year-old company overnight. It’s a lot easier to bet the farm when you’ve got a trusted — and powerful — friend at your back.
Chipotle to hire 5,000 workers in one-day spree (CNN Money)
The company, which has struggled in recent months with an E. coli outbreak and a lawsuit accusing it of mistreating workers, plans to offer jobs to 5,000 people across the country on Sept. 28.
Entrepreneurs Question Everything. They Should Also Question The Need To Be In Silicon Valley (Forbes)
Location, location, location. Not only is it the number one rule of real estate, but it’s also a de facto rule for where to build startups. And the number one location, unquestionably, is Silicon Valley.
Wells Fargo Subpoenaed in Sham Account Case (NY TImes)
Wells Fargo has received subpoenas from three different United States attorneys’ offices in the last week, escalating an investigation into how thousands of bank employees came to secretly issue more than a million sham accounts without customers’ consent.
iPhone optimism blasts Apple stock to 2016 high (Reuters)
Apple's (AAPL.O) stock hit a 2016 high on Wednesday, with its market value peaking above $600 billion for the first time since April as Wall Street bet the technology company's newest iPhone would help shore up falling sales.
Hanjin Creditors Seek to Keep Ships Anchored in U.S. Waters (The Wall Street Journal)
Creditors of Hanjin Shipping Co., fearful of having their collateral disappear over the horizon, have asked a U.S. bankruptcy judge to reconsider a ruling preventing them from seizing several of the South Korean carrier’s ships.
Politics
You Want a Real Email Scandal? Take a Look Back at the Bush-Cheney White House. (Mother Jones)
I bookmarked this a couple of days ago, but haven't gotten around to posting about it yet. Here is Nina Burleigh on how President Bush "lost" 22 million emails:
Dear Trump and Clinton: Here's what swing voters want (CNN Money)
These voices are based on interviews with American voters from swing states. It's part of a special report titled "Your money, your vote," that will air on CNN on October 15.
How the Trump Organization's Foreign Business Ties Could Upend U.S National Security (Newsweek)
If Donald Trump is elected president, will he and his family permanently sever all connections to the Trump Organization, a sprawling business empire that has spread a secretive financial web across the world?
Sowing Doubt Is Seen as Prime Danger in Hacking Voting System (NY Times)
WASHINGTON — Russian hackers would not be able to change the outcome of the United States presidential election, the nation’s most senior intelligence and law enforcement officials have assured Congress and the White House in recent weeks.
Clinton fires off tweetstorm after report on Trump Organization scandal (Business Insider)
The Hillary Clinton campaign demanded answers from Trump about the Trump Organization Wednesday after a Newsweek report detailed the organization's controversial business ties with foreign governments.
Republicans, Proudly Serving the 1% Since the Gilded Age (Truth-out)
On Wednesday night, Donald Trump did something that sounded downright progressive.
At an event outside of Philadelphia, he proposed a national child care plan under which child care expenses would be tax deductible and all American mothers would get six weeks of paid maternity leave.
Technology
Sony will have an Ultra HD Blu-ray player — next year (Engadget)
The PS4 Pro is launching with 4K streaming and only a standard 1080p Blu-ray disc player, but Sony is ready to announce its first Ultra HD Blu-ray device.
Tesla could get steamrolled by the next big thing in transportation (Business Insider)
Tesla is in the news so much, and CEO Elon Musk is so good at keeping Tesla cool and sexy, that it's easy to forget that the automaker has been around for a decade.
Ford Announces Plan To Shift All Small-Car Production To Mexico (Zero Hedge)
Earlier today Ford announced that it expects operating income to decline in 2017 as the automaker increases investment in electric and autonomous vehicles, before rising again in 2018.
Your Favorite Affordable Mirrorless Camera: Sony Alpha a6000 (Gear Life Hacker)
Dozens of shutterbugs chimed in this week to help us find the best affordable mirrorless camera, but after tallying up all the stars, we’re calling it for the Sony Alpha a6000.
Mobile webpage visitors are growing impatient (BI Intelligence)
Fifty-three percent of mobile website visitors will leave a webpage if it doesn’t load within three seconds, according to a new study by Google titled “The Need for Mobile Speed.”
Autopilot Cited in Death of Chinese Tesla Driver (NY Times)
The company says it has not confirmed whether the automated driver assist feature was engaged during the crash, which occurred in January.
Health and Biotech
Researchers creating antibiotic gel to tackle ear infections (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Parents know the frustration of trying to get that gunky pink antibiotic into a tot screaming from an ear infection. A one-time squirt of special ear drops one day might replace that ordeal.
Doctors ‘nudged’ into prescribing far fewer antibiotics (New Scientist)
Family doctors in the UK have been nudged into handing out tens of thousands fewer prescriptions for antibiotics.
Prostate Cancer Study Details Value of Treatments (NY Times)
A new study offers important information to men who are facing difficult decisions about how to treat prostate cancer in its early stages, or whether to treat it at all.
Life on the Home Planet
Aligned with Russia in Syria, Pentagon awkwardly treads on new terrain (Reuters)
For Pentagon officers who cut their teeth during the Cold War, the prospect of U.S. battlefield cooperation with Russia in Syria is not only uncomfortable. It's also unprecedented.
Scientists reveal most accurate depiction of a dinosaur ever created (The Guardian)
Forty researchers elbow their way to the front of the room. They whip out their cameras and mobile phones like palaeontological-paparazzi, and start snapping. Others hang back, hands on chins, to take in the animal standing on the table-top from different angles.
The most detailed map of the Milky Way ever shows it's even bigger than we thought (Science Alert)
The European Space Agency (ESA) has just released the most accurate and detailed map of the Milky Way ever, charting the position in space of more than 1.1 billion stars in our galaxy.
Arrest made in arson fire at Florida mosque where gunman prayed (Reuters)
A Florida man who investigators say posted anti-Islamic material on social media was arrested on Wednesday on charges of setting fire to a mosque attended by the gunman who committed the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, police said.
Typhoon Meranti Makes Landfall in China After Sweeping Taiwan (TIME)
The strongest storm of 2016, Typhoon Meranti, slammed the coast of China Thursday morning after sweeping Taiwan.
The storm, weakened on its way to the mainland, made landfall around 3 a.m. local time near Xiamen in southeast Fujian Province, CNN reports.
