Financial Markets and Economy
Banks Miss Out on Vietnamese Stock Rally Amid Credit Crunch Risk (Bloomberg)
Vietnam’s banks are missing out on the rally that’s propelled the benchmark share index to an eight-year high as a lack of capital and a lingering bad debt problem keep investors on the sidelines.
U.S. stock market’s ‘complacency’ is about to end (Market Watch)
I am the father of two boys, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned as a parent, it’s to be on my guard when children are too quiet. When there’s no noise, some kind of trouble is in the offing.
Bank of Russia Hawks Claim Victory as Curve Inversion Shrinks (Bloomberg)
The Bank of Russia’s hawkish message last month may have been quickly drowned out by the U.S. Federal Reserve and OPEC, but there are signs Governor Elvira Nabiullina’s words got through.
Pound Rally Didn’t Last Long as Brexit Concern Sparks Selling (Bloomberg)
The pound resumed its decline as concern the U.K. is headed for a deal that would deny it unfettered access to the European Union’s single market prompted investors to keep selling.
European stocks in the red as airline shares slump (Market Watch)
European stocks hunted for firm direction Thursday, as airline shares fell after a profit warning from EasyJet PLC, and bank shares held higher ground.
Berlin pursues Deutsche Bank talks discreetly with US officials (CNBC)
The German government is pursuing discreet talks with U.S. authorities to help Deutsche Bank secure a swift settlement over the sale of toxic mortgage bonds, according to sources in Berlin.
U.K. Stocks Are Little Changed; EasyJet Slides on Profit Decline (Bloomberg)
U.K. stocks were little changed, after snapping a two-day advance, as a slump in EasyJet Plc offset an advance in banks.
EasyJet slid 7.4 percent after posting its first annual profit drop since 2009, as a weaker pound post-Brexit inflated foreign-currency costs and a spate of terror attacks lowered demand.
OPEC deal carries oil back above $50 (CNN Money)
Prices for the vitally-important commodity have surged 12% since OPEC surprised the world last week in Algeria by reaching an understanding to cut output for the first time in eight years. The framework deal could still collapse and awaits formal approval at OPEC's regular meeting in November, but it represents a reversal from the cartel's recent strategy of flooding the world with oil.
German Two-Year Yields Are Below U.S. Peers by Most in a Decade (Bloomberg)
For all the talk of the European Central Bank tapering its monetary stimulus, shorter-maturity German government bonds are signaling the accommodative policy will continue.
U.S. Jobless Claims Down 5,000 in Latest Week (The Wall Street Journal)
WASHINGTON—The number of Americans applying for first-time unemployment benefits fell back toward a four-decade low last week, a sign employers are holding on to workers and the labor market continues to add jobs.
The Art of Estimating China’s Economic Growth (The Wall Street Journal)
Don’t bet against the Chinese government when it comes to annual growth targets. As a wash of government spending coursed through the world’s second-largest economy after a wobbly start to the year, economists have scrambled to raise their forecasts in line with Beijing’s 6.5% to 7% annual growth target. boosted its 2016 forecast to 6.5%.
Companies
Santander has added another alternative finance platform to its list of partners (BI Intelligence)
Santander UK has created a £200,000 ($255,000) fund, called the Changemaker Fund, which will be used to invest in small businesses via a new partnership with equity crowdfunding platform Crowdfunder.
Theranos cutting hundreds of jobs as it shutters labs (CNN Money)
In an open letter to stakeholders, CEO Elizabeth Holmes said the startup is closing its clinical labs and Theranos Wellness Centers. She said the closures would affect 340 employees in Arizona, California and Pennsylvania.
AirBnB tax chaos: Sharing economy boom to push fines for late tax returns above 1 million (The Telegraph)
A boom in sharing economy businesses is expected to result in chaos for UK taxpayers, as accountants warn that mass confusion will send number of late tax returns above 1 million for the first time this year.
Politics
Trump, Once A Data Skeptic, Spending Millions On Data (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump once called data "overrated" in politics. But with Election Day swiftly approaching, the Republican presidential nominee is spending millions of dollars on data and digital services in an effort to land donations and win over voters.
A modest proposal to replace Trump with Pence — with or without Trump’s consent (Vox)
Sober Republicans understand that Donald Trump is unfit to wield the awesome power of the presidency, power that in his unsteady hands could imperil the republic and perhaps — given his cavalier discussion of nuclear weapons and generally reckless approach to foreign relations— doom the planet.
Bill Clinton Shoots Down Republicans: ‘I Strongly Supported’ Obamacare (The Huffington Post)
Clinton shot down their giddiness on Wednesday, insisting that, “I strongly supported that bill.” As The Huffington Post’s Jeff Young points out, it’s clear that he had been referring to some of the legislation’s shortcomings, not the law in its entirety.
Some of Clinton's pledges sound great. Until you remember who's president (The Guardian)
The puzzle that is currently frustrating the pundit minds of America is this: why is Hillary Clinton not simply clobbering Donald Trump? How is this ranting, seething buffoon still competitive with her? Trump has now stumbled through a series of the kind of blunders that break ordinary political campaigns – the sort of deadly hypocrisies that always kill the demagogue in old movies – and yet this particular demagogue keeps on trucking.
Loretta Sanchez Did The Dab In The California Senate Debate, For Some Reason (The Huffington Post)
At the one-and-only California Senate debate on Wednesday night, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Ca.) did the dab ? a pose popularized by Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.
Technology
What Note 7 crisis? Samsung stock hits new high (CNN Money)
Samsung (SSNLF) shares trading in Seoul jumped 4.5% on Thursday after an activist hedge fund called for an overhaul of the South Korean company's complicated structure and a special $27 billion payout to shareholders.
PlayStation VR review – there's magic, but the mainstream is a way off (The Guardian)
Since the phenomenally successful crowd-funding campaign for Oculus Rift in 2012, the idea of an affordable – and functional – virtual reality headset has obsessed the consumer technology industry.
10 things in tech you need to know today (Business Insider)
Good morning! Here's the tech news you need to know this Thursday.
After Stumbles, Oculus Tries to Regain Its Footing in Virtual Reality (The Wall Street Journal)
Six months after the highly anticipated launch of its virtual-reality goggles, Facebook Inc.’s Oculus unit is facing a reality check.
Oculus, reuniting its developers this week for the first time since the launch of the Rift, is coping with competition from HTC Corp and Sony Corp. and a string of disappointing gaffes.
Print stuff on the go with just your phone and a pen (New Scientist)
YOU know the feeling: you look around and the one thing you urgently need seems to have vanished. Maybe it’s a key, or an earring back, or a specific spanner.
Whatever it is, a new project aims to help. With a mobile app and a pocket-sized 3D printer, this personal fabrication kit lets you quickly print what you need on the go.
Faraday Future Shows Off It's Formula E Electric Race Car (Digital Trends)
Faraday Future still hasn’t revealed anything about its planned production electric car, but it did slap its name on a Formula E race car. Faraday Future Dragon Racing debuted its final livery design today ahead of the Formula E season opener in Hong Kong.
Rinspeed's latest CES concept is a wacky R2 droid with wheels (Roadshow)
Earlier this year, Swiss firm Rinspeed brought a heavily modified, drone-toting BMW i8 to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Its concept for next year eschews any connection to current vehicles in favor of some proper pie-in-the-sky thinking.
Xbox exclusive 'ReCore' gets a 30-minute demo (Engadget)
When ReCore was first announced, it looked fresh and exciting. An agile explorer flanked by cute, adorable robots in a sprawling desert. Oh, andMega Man legend Keiji Inafune was attached to the project. The concept was intriguing, at the very least.
Oculus Wants Us to Pay How Much For Its Overdue Touch Controllers? (Gizmodo)
Amazon UK, and other UK retailers, just leaked the possible price of the long delayed Oculus Touch controllers, and they’re expensive. The leak suggests that the Touch controllers will ship in the UK on November 23 and they’ll retail for ?190.
Health and Biotech
DEA reconsidering its ban on the herbal supplement kratom (Stat News)
After announcing that the herbal supplement kratom would be made as illegal as heroin, the Drug Enforcement Administration is now reconsidering its decision, a US official familiar with the process told STAT on Wednesday morning.
Life on the Home Planet
Hurricane Matthew ready to bear down on Florida, southern East Coast (Market Watch)
Hurricane Matthew churned its way toward Florida on Wednesday, as the southeastern U.S. braced for expected strong winds and surge-related flooding.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch contains even more trash than we thought (Science Alert)
Researchers say there's more plastic waste in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch than was previously estimated, meaning it's more urgent than ever that we do something about this massive trash flotilla.
Isis and al-Qaida turf wars in Africa may push fragile states to breaking point (The Guardian)
It pits the Islamic State (Isis), the Iraq and Syria-based group that has expanded deep into Africa since surging to international attention in 2014, against al-Qaida, the veteran extremist group, which has maintained a significant presence in much of the continent in recent years.
Why Referendums Have Been Backfiring (TIME)
Colombian voters shocked outsiders on Oct. 2 by voting down a measure, backed by their President, that would have formally ended the government’s half-century war with FARC rebels. Given similarly surprising referendum results elsewhere, it’s natural to wonder why voters are increasingly choosing no when political leaders are asking for yes.
Scientists just figured out where a massive chunk of Earth's crust disappeared to (Science Alert)
Some 60 million years ago, what's thought to be the largest continental collision in Earth's history occurred, when the landmass of India ran into the Eurasian tectonic plate.
Hurricane Matthew death toll rises to 65 in Haiti, total toll 69 (Reuters)
Hurricane Matthew has killed at least 69 people, the death toll in struggling Haiti alone rising to 65, local officials said, as the storm headed northward on Thursday battering the Bahamas en route to Florida.
