Financial Markets and Economy
Japan Households See Economy Weak and Inflation Hitting 2% (Bloomberg)
Japanese households’ inflation expectations remain unchanged from three months ago while their negative view of the economy has eased somewhat, according to a quarterly survey by the Bank of Japan.
Joseph Stiglitz on ECB, Fed and U.S. Economy (Bloomberg)
Joseph Stiglitz, a Columbia University economics professor, discusses Fed and ECB monetary policies, the U.S. economy and the 2016 elections. He speaks with Bloomberg's Vonnie Quinn on "Bloomberg Markets."
Oil traders increase risky lending even as some deals go bad (Reuters)
Trading houses' lending to distressed producers and refiners is booming and cheaper than ever even though many are owed hundreds of millions of dollars after the collapse of some risky pre-financing deals.
Investor pessimism pummels banking shares as U.S. stocks falter (Bloomberg)
Undeterred by forecasts that project lenders growing third-quarter profits the most among S&P 500 Index industries, retail investors extended withdrawals from an exchange-traded fund tracking the group to the longest stretch of the bull market, while options traders have pushed the cost of protecting against declines in the fund to the highest level since April 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Investors could get burned by betting on fiscal stimulus (Market Watch)
Investors are behaving as if a big jump in government spending on infrastructure is a sure thing, regardless of who emerges victorious from the train wreck that is this year’s U.S. presidential election. However, investors might be getting ahead of themselves.
America's infrastructure has some serious problems — here's how to fix it (Mauldin Economics)
Infrastructure. Most people think of roads and bridges when they hear the term. But we really should think of infrastructure as the things that allow us to move food, energy, water, products, people, and information.
A critical idea in valuing stocks is being made obsolete by low rates (Bloomberg)
Years of ultra-low borrowing costs means that many governments – and even corporates – are no longer paying much for time, throwing into jeopardy what Sanford C. Bernstein considers to be the “heart” of financial analysis.
The World's Most Stable Currency Is Backed By Carbon (Popular Science)
Even casual viewers of Fox News have seen commercials for companies like Goldline.com. You send them money. They send you gold. It’s a smart pitch to the network’s core daytime audience of people who worry that currency has no intrinsic value.
What regulation crowdfunding in the JOBS Act means to entrepreneurs and startups (Tech Crunch)
The JOBS Act was signed into law by President Obama in 2012, allowing companies to acquire funding through online portals from non-accredited investors, which roughly accounts for 97 percent of the population in the United States. On May 16, 2016, Title III of the JOBS Act, also known as regulation crowdfunding, or equity crowdfunding, was the last section to be implemented by the SEC.
Saudi Arabia, Where Even Milk Depends on Oil, Struggles to Remake Its Economy (NY Times)
AL KHARJ, Saudi Arabia — This is what it takes to run a mega-dairy in the scorching desert here: 180,000 Holstein cows, precisely cooled cowsheds, water pumped from deep underground, feed from Argentina and a state-of-the-art refrigeration system.
The rich aren't getting richer these days (Business Insider)
Thanks to falling commodity prices, the stronger dollar, and the dilution of wealth in growing families, total billionaire wealth dropped by $300 billion to $5.1 trillion last year, according to a new report by UBS and PwC. On average, their collective wealth fell to $3.7 billion from $4 billion.
Bespoke’s Sector Snapshot — 10/13/16 (Bespoke)
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Clinton-Trump 3.0, ECB Rates, China GDP: Week Ahead Oct. 15-22 (Bloomberg)
U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump hold their final debate in Las Vegas. The moderator is Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace, who will pose questions to each nominee. Follow the TOPLive blog for real-time coverage here.
30% Junk Rally Gives Traders Heartburn (Bloomberg)
It's becoming difficult to see how the lowest-rated U.S. junk bonds can continue to rally.
They've posted their best performance since 2009, with more than a 30 percent return so far this year.
The Type Of House You Should Never Buy (The Huffington Post)
The massive, gaudy houses lining the streets of America’s upscale suburbs began to look like the epitome of bad taste and poor judgement once the foreclosure crisis hit. The writer behind the blog “McMansion Hell” tells why they’ll eventually be gone for good.
Singapore Economy Crashes In Q3 (Zero Hedge)
After two quarters of lacklustre nothingness, Singapore's economy finally collapased in Q3. Against expectations of no change, GDP QoQ SAAR crashed 4.1% – the worst quarter since Q3 2012. MAS added that it did not expect GDP growth to pick up "significantly" in 2017.
Companies
Amazon reportedly planning to build a series of physical stores selling groceries (The Guardian)
Amazon’s next step in its global domination of commerce could be much closer to home. The internet retailer, which has grown into a $397bn company in the 22 years since its founding, is reportedly planning to build a series of bricks and mortar corner stores selling milk, meat, orange juice and newspapers to further cement its recent expansion into the grocery market.
Why the Wells Fargo Scandal Really Matters (Hint: It’s Not Just the Fraud) (TIME)
I always thought John Stumpf, the now former CEO of Wells Fargo, would eventually step down amid revelations that bank employees opened millions of credit-card accounts customers hadn’t approved in order to hit profit targets. Let me be clear: I didn’t think he’d resign because the behavior under his watch was egregious — that hasn’t stopped any number of other financial executives from staying in their posts.
Hyperloop One Raises $50 Million in Fresh Funding, Hires Senior Finance Executive (The Wall Street Journal)
Hyperloop One Inc. has hired a senior financial executive and raised $50 million in new financing to keep its development on track after an acrimonious lawsuit with the transportation startup’s co-founder.
China’s Twitter Is Doing Just Fine as Stock Soars 171% (Bloomberg)
At first blush, Twitter Inc. and Weibo Corp. have a lot in common.
The micro-blogging social networks earn most of their revenue from advertising, have added flexibility around their 140-character limits and have been the subject of intense takeover speculation.
Elon Musk Biographer Calls Wall Street Cynicism ‘Depressing And Ignorant’ (The Huffington Post)
When Elon Musk announced his bid to merge his two publicly traded companies into one, Wall Street recoiled.
On the face of it, the billionaire Silicon Valley titan wanted to marry Tesla Motors’ battery storage technology with SolarCity’s solar panels and software, creating a vertically integrated clean energy juggernaut.
Elizabeth Warren Blasts Wells Fargo CEO’s MultiMillion Dollar Retirement (The Huffington Post)
Elizabeth Warren is not done with Wells Fargo or its now-former chief executive John Stumpf.
Facing a public outcry over widespread fraud allegations, the bank announced on Wednesday that the 63-year-old Stumpf was retiring. But that’s just the first step, according to the Democratic Massachusetts senator, who ripped Stumpf apart at a Senate hearing in September for his role in the scam.
Politics
Google News introduces fact check feature – just in time for US election (The Guardian)
In the midst of a highly charged presidential election, where fact and fiction have frequently become confused, Google News has introduced a new fact check feature in search results for news stories.
Two Women Say Donald Trump Touched Them Inappropriately (NY Times)
Donald J. Trump was emphatic in the second presidential debate: Yes, he had boasted about kissing women without permission and grabbing their genitals. But he had never actually done those things, he said.
“No,” he declared under questioning on Sunday evening, “I have not.
Four Women Accuse Trump of Inappropriately Touching Them Years Apart: Reports (NBC News)
Four women accused Donald Trump in articles published Wednesday of having touched them in an inappropriate manner, adding to the growing list of women who say Trump has insensitively treated them as objects over several decades.
Four Decades Of Sexual Misconduct Allegations Against Trump (Talking Points Memo)
Donald Trump faces a mounting list of sexual misconduct allegations after several women accused the GOP nominee of inappropriately touching them in a series of reports published Wednesday night.
U.S. Satisfaction Remains Low Leading Up to Election (Gallup)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the presidential election less than a month away, 28% of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. This continues the low satisfaction levels that started near the end of the George W. Bush administration and have persisted under President Barack Obama.
President Obama: We'll be debating unconditional free money 'over the next 10 or 20 years' (Business Insider)
Speaking with Wired editor-in-chief Scott Dadich and MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito in a recent interview, President Barack Obama reaffirmed his belief that universal basic income would be harder to ignore in the coming decades.
New York Times to Donald Trump: We won't retract (CNN Money)
The New York Times' general counsel has just informed Donald Trump's lawyer, in scathing terms, that it will not retract its story about two women who claim that Trump touched them inappropriately.
Donald Trump’s paid apologists have been working overtime since The Washington Post published leaked audio last Friday of the Republican presidential nominee boasting about his habit of groping women. They still can’t catch a break.
24 hours illustrating why Trump is a threat to press freedom (Think Progress)
In the hours since a number of women stepped forward to accuse Donald Trump of sexual assault on Wednesday, Trump has vowed to sue the New York Times for reporting two of the women’s stories and smeared journalists at a rally.
Don't Fear Trump's Lawsuits. He'll Keep Losing. (Bloomberg)
Awash in allegations that he sexually assaulted several women, Donald Trump is reaching into his old playbook and threatening to sue the media for reporting the claims, which he says are false.
Trump’s many, many threats to sue the press since launching his campaign (Columbia Journalism Review)
DONALD TRUMP’S OUTRIGHT CONTEMPT FOR JOURNALISTS and press freedom is well known—but in the past month he has outdone himself.
France’s Chaotic Election Could Put the Future of Europe at Risk (Bloomberg)
France’s 2017 presidential election is set to be like no other in the modern era.
As supporters of the center-right Republican party prepare to vote in their primary next month, there are at least 12 declared candidates, with President Francois Hollande and his former Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron shaping up to join the fray.
Technology
We’ll Soon Trust AI More Than Doctors to Diagnose Disease (Singularity Hub)
It probably goes without saying, but medicine has improved a lot in modern times. No one would willingly go back to the days of sketchy anesthetics and experimental surgery.
Drones will fly life-saving blood supplies to clinics in Rwanda (New Scientist)
In a warehouse outside of Kigali, Rwanda, 15 drones sit waiting to receive a message. When the text comes in, one loads up and zips off into the sky – on a mission to save a life.
Who's still using Windows Phones? The NYPD. (Engadget)
Microsoft may have all but given up on Windows Phones, but rookies in the New York City Police Department are now getting them with their gun and badge. As CNET reports, the NYPD only started handing out department-issued smartphones and email addresses in 2015, and the official device of the largest police force in the United States are the Lumia 830 and Lumia 640 XL.
Hacker Steals At Least 58 Million Personal Records From Data Management Firm (Digital Trends)
Hardly a day goes by lately when we don’t hear about a massive data breach. Whether it’s a major retail outlet like Home Depot, an electronic auction service like eBay, or an online services company like Yahoo, no matter where your personal data resides it seems wide open to malicious attack.
Uber hits another roadblock (Tech Crunch)
Uber, the ridesharing behemoth that recently began operating driverless cars and exploring self-flying drone taxis, can’t seem to catch a break these days in the legal arena. The New York State Department of Labor has ruled that two Uber drivers, Jakir Hossain and Levon Alesanian, are indeed employees — not contractors — and therefore eligible to receive unemployment benefits, the New York Times reports.
Loki Wi-Fi Meat Thermometer Monitors Your Meal, Tells You When It's Done (Digital Trends)
In an industry that sometimes seems to come up with solutions to problems nobody had, it’s always interesting to hear when a tech gadget is dreamed up to deal with a specific issue its inventor is having.
Health and Biotech
Fasting gives us longer life, but it goes against everything we think of as healthy (Science Alert)
For his breakfast on 11 July 1966, 27-year-old Scotsman Angus Barbieri ate a boiled egg, a slice of bread with butter, and a cup of black coffee. It was the first food he’d eaten in 382 days.
A new antibody therapy appears to have permanently blocked HIV infection in monkeys (Science Alert)
A new type of antibody therapy appears to have completely blocked the primate equivalent of HIV in infected monkeys.
More than two years after the treatment, the monkeys are now drug free, have no symptoms, and there are almost no traces of the virus in their systems.
Life on the Home Planet
Kids and elderly people in these 9 states spend a scary amount of time near fracking (Think Progress)
While the impact of fracking operations on the health of people living nearby was once uncertain, several studies in recent years have found that living near fracking sites—which are known to release carcinogenic compounds, as well as greenhouse gases—heightens the risk of asthma and other respiratory ailments.
World moves to offset airplane emissions in landmark deal (Think Progress)
The aviation industry, long known for eluding emissions standards, will for the first time offset its pollution through carbon credits or funding green projects, the result of a United Nations-sponsored deal approved Thursday.
Ronald McDonald lying low until clown scare blows over (The Washington Post)
For now, McDonald’s is benching its mascot.
In a statement Tuesday, the fast-food chain announced that Ronald McDonald and his signature red and gold garb won’t be seen in public for a while, at least until America stops being so collectively terrified of his kind.
Fewer NFL Viewers Force TV Networks to Give Away Ads (Bloomberg)
TV networks are giving away more commercial time this NFL season than a year ago to make up for one of the worst ratings declines in a decade, a rare sign of weakness for the biggest draw on television.
Historic Shrinking Of Antartic Ice Sheet Linked to CO2 Spike (Popular Science)
Twenty-three million years ago, the Antarctic Ice Sheet began to shrink, going from an expanse larger than today’s to one about half its modern size. Computer models suggested a spike in carbon dioxide levels as the cause, but the evidence was elusive?—?until now.
