Financial Markets and Economy
Japan Shares Drop as More Than Half the Topix Trades Ex-Dividend (Bloomberg)
Japanese shares fell as more than half the companies on the benchmark Topix index traded without the right to the next dividend payment.
The Story of Post-Brexit Britain, In Charts (Bloomberg)
The surprise vote in favor of the U.K. leaving the European Union on June 23 unleashed shockwaves across the global economy, wiping trillions off the value of global assets. The referendum reshaped the British political landscape, and generated fears that the West, more generally, is marching away from globalization, in favor of trade protectionism and stricter controls on immigration.
Sales Estimates Aren’t Suggesting An Acceleration In US Growth (Value Walk)
Sales estimates have been relatively flat so far in 2016. At the beginning of the year, the median sales estimate for the next 12 months for US companies was 4.6%. Estimates fell as the market fell in February and eventually bottomed at 3.28%.
Bank of Japan Confesses: Even We Don’t Trust the Bank of Japan (The Wall Street Journal)
If a central bank without credibility makes a credible promise to run a non-credible policy, do the double negatives cancel out and create credibility?
U.S. Consumer Confidence Rose in September (The Wall Street Journal)
WASHINGTON—A gauge of consumer confidence rose in September to its highest level in nine years, a sign that American households are emerging from the recession’s long shadow and could continue to support U.S. economic growth.
Robert Shiller: Housing Prices Are Boring Now (Value Walk)
Robert Shiller, Yale University professor of economics and finance, discusses U.S. home price data for July according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller report and looks at the potential impact of an interest rate hike on the housing market.
China Bid to End Steel Glut Failing as Rally Revives Mills (Bloomberg)
China can’t seem to avoid producing more steel than the world needs.
After the government said in February it would cut production capacity by as much as 13 percent, a rebound in prices from the lowest in more than 12 years proved too much of a temptation in a country that supplies half of the world’s steel.
Fed to Tighten Over Wall Street’s Commodity Holdings (Econ Matters)
After the Federal Reserve’s decision to leave its target interest at a rate of 0.25% to 0.50% – while suggesting a possible hike later this year – we have now received another report that the Fed will tighten the regulations around commodity holdings and related investments.
Why a banking crisis in China seems unavoidable (Vox)
China’s debt – in particular its corporate debt – is large by historical and international standards. This column argues that of greater concern is the sharp increase in recent years, and that the vulnerability is heightened by the concentration of this debt in old industries that suffer from overcapacity and weak competitiveness.
U.S. Faults Foot-Dragging Banks Amid Deutsche Bank Talks (Bloomberg)
The Justice Department, locked in settlement talks with Deutsche Bank AG, said that several lenders caught up in long-running mortgage securities investigations had dragged out the government’s work by failing to cooperate and have only themselves to blame for the “cloud of uncertainty” that hung over them.
ECB's Lane: No Signs of Economic Reversal in Ireland (Bloomberg)
European Central Bank Governing Council member and Central Bank of Ireland Governor Philip Lane discusses how Brexit is impacting Ireland's economy with Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal, Scarlet Fu and Tracy Alloway on "What'd You Miss?"
Chesapeake shares are crashing after one of Carl Icahn's guys resigned from the company's board (Business Insider)
Chesapeake Energy Corp. shares are crashing after one of Carl Icahn's reps resigned from the board.
The energy company was down by 8.7% at $6.045 a share as of 10:47 a.m. ET.
IMF Says Markets Losing Faith in Central Banks’ Ability to Hit Inflation Targets (WSJ Pro Central Banking)
Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook warns that rich economies are at risk of falling into deflation traps.
Americans are addicted to oil: Gasoline consumption is higher than ever before (The Conversation, Salon)
August was the biggest month ever for U.S. gasoline consumption. Americans used a staggering 9.7 million barrels per day. That’s more than a gallon per day for every U.S. man, woman and child.
Fed’s Kaplan Would Have Supported Increase in Rates Last Week (Bloomberg)
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan said he would have backed an interest-rate increase at the U.S. central bank’s meeting last week, when his colleagues voted to leave policy on hold.
Vancouver tops list of world's biggest housing bubbles, per @UBS (Matt Phillips)
Richmond Fed Disappoints: Employee Head Count Crashes To 7-Year Lows (Zero Hedge)
It would appear the people who The Conference Board were asking about their 'confidence' were not from the Richmond fed region.
Companies
AppLovin, a 115 employee, profitable startup that never raised money from VCs, sold itself for $1.4 billion (Business Insider)
A hot mobile ad startup based in Palo Alto called AppLovin has confirmed that it sold a majority interest in itself to a Chinese private equity firm, Orient Hontai Capital, for $1.4 billion.
RBS CEO Mulls ‘Uncharted Territory’ of Failure to Sell Unit (Bloomberg)
Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc Chief Executive Officer Ross McEwan indicated he may fail in his plan to sell the bank’s Williams & Glyn consumer and commercial division to a rival lender before the end of this year.
Wells Fargo executives forfeit millions, CEO to forgo salary amid investigation (The Guardian)
Wells Fargo executives will forfeit millions of dollars in the wake of revelations that the bank’s sales quotas led to the creation of more than 2m unauthorized accounts.
Politics
The Trump Campaign Tried to Make a Serious Economic Argument. It Is a Very, Very Stupid Rabbit Hole (Slate)
On Monday, two of Donald Trump's better-known advisers delivered what may well be the most detailed description and defense of the candidate's economic vision yet.
While you were busy watching the Trump circus, Congress stopped showing up to work (The Washington Post)
This was supposed to be the year that members of Congress finally started acting like grown-ups.
Instead, while most of the United States has been distracted by the circus of the presidential campaign, Congress has regressed further into childishness, proving itself lazier, more incompetent and more obstructionist then even its fiercest critics could have imagined.
Watch CNN's Corey Lewandowski Get Shut Down As He Tries To Blame Lester Holt For Trump's Terrible Debate (Media Matters)
COREY LEWANDOWSKI: What this debate was not about was an FBI investigation. Not once was the word "Clinton Foundation" mentioned in the 90 minute debate. Not once was the moderator bringing up the issue of emails.
Trump Hotels Covered Up A Massive Credit Card Theft. Then They Let It Happen Again (The Huffington Post)
WASHINGTON – Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s luxury hotel company agreed Friday to pay a $50,000 settlement and beef up its security systems after investigators found that Trump’s hotels failed to notify customers that a hacker had stolen their credit card numbers and personal information from Trump Hotel computers.
How Clinton Beat Trump in Their First Debate, By the Numbers (Bloomberg)
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton took a page out of Republican Donald Trump’s playbook in their Monday night debate to beat him at his own game.
Technology
Millennials would rather delete their main calling app than Snapchat (Business Insider)
Millennials hate calling on the phone so much that they'd rather delete their main phone app altogether than lose Snapchat.
Apple will fix iOS 10's easier-to-crack device backups (Engadget)
Apple has been big on strong encryption lately, but it's not immune to making missteps. Security researchers at Elcomsoft have discovered that iOS 10's local encrypted backups (that is, the ones you create in iTunes) use an older password protection algorithm that's much easier to crack than the one used in iOS 9 — about 2,500 times easier, according to the team.
BMW Recycles Used Electric Vehicle Batteries As Backup Power Storage (Digital Trends)
So what happens to all the electric car batteries when they wear out? BMW recently demonstrated one way to repurpose depleted electric vehicle batteries — combine a sufficient quantity to create power storage that can be used as a secondary power source for other applications, according to MIT Technology Review and Electrek.
This is the $1.6 million armored Mercedes-Maybach limo you can't have (Business Insider)
Over the past decade, the Maybach name has become synonymous with style, power, and over-the-top luxury. After a brief hiatus, Mercedes brought the brand back as the range-topping version of its iconic S-Class sedan.
A 'safe' Note7 exploded and destroyed this guy's MacBook Pro with it (Mashable Asia)
Stop me if you heard this one before: A Samsung Galaxy Note7 exploded.
Hui Renjie, 25, who purchased a Note7 in China that was deemed "safe" with a non-defective battery, claims his phone blew up Monday and burned two of his fingers and damaged his MacBook Pro in the process, according to Bloomberg
Health and Biotech
First 'three person baby' born using new method (BBC News)
The five-month-old boy has the usual DNA from his mum and dad, plus a tiny bit of genetic code from a donor.
US doctors took the unprecedented step to ensure the baby boy would be free of a genetic condition that his Jordanian mother carries in her genes.
Life on the Home Planet
Big Earthquakes May Be More Likely During New and Full Moons (Scientific American)
When the sun, moon and Earth are aligned, high tidal stress may increase the chances that an earthquake will grow bigger than it otherwise might have been.
The battle to save the Earth from Scalia’s ghost (Think Progress)
Last February, on the final Tuesday of Scalia’s life, the Supreme Court handed down a 5–4 decision suspending the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. It was a surprising development a lower court panel that included a conservative Republican judge previously denied a request to stay this plan and a chilling development for anyone who cares about the planet.
More Than 9 in 10 People Breathe Bad Air, W.H.O. Study Says (NY Times)
HONG KONG — The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that 92 percent of people breathe what it classifies as unhealthy air, in another sign that atmospheric pollution is a significant threat to global public health.
Typhoon Megi Moves On to China After Killing Four in Taiwan (Bloomberg)
Typhoon Megi churned into southern China on Wednesday after leaving four dead in Taiwan and knocking out power to millions.
NY blast kills highest ranking firefighter since Sept. 11 attacks (Reuters)
An explosion at a home in the New York City borough of the Bronx on Tuesday killed a battalion chief, the city's highest ranking fire official to die in the line of duty since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, officials said.
