Financial Markets and Economy
Stocks, dollar rebound but Yellen rattles markets (Reuters)
Global stocks and the dollar rebounded on Friday, buoyed at first by U.S. and Chinese data, but Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen later rattled investors when she said aggressive steps may be needed to address an economy whose potential is slipping.
Oil dips on dollar, rig count rise; focus still on OPEC (Reuters)
Oil prices fell slightly on Friday as traders balanced a stronger dollar and another increase in the U.S. oil rig count against expectations that more OPEC talk of output cuts will keep crude above $50 per barrel.
Oil From $50 Billion Kashagan Field Starts Flowing to Export (Bloomberg)
Kashagan, a vast oil field in the Caspian Sea, sent its first crude for export after about 16 years in development and more than $50 billion of investments.
The venture loaded 26,500 metric tons of crude for export into the country’s pipelines, Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry said in an e-mailed statement Friday. Of that, 7,700 tons was sent to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.
China producer prices rise for first time in nearly five years, may ease debt woes (Reuters)
China's producer prices unexpectedly rose in September for the first time in nearly five years thanks to higher commodity prices, welcome news for the government as it struggles to whittle down a growing mountain of corporate debt.
Goldman’s Online Consumer-Lending Platform Goes Live (The Wall Street Journal)
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s online consumer-lending platform, known as Marcus, went live Thursday, allowing regular Americans for the first time to borrow from the Wall Street powerhouse.
New Rules Make It Harder for Companies to Manage Their Cash (The Wall Street Journal)
Simon Gore has had a relatively simple job over the past several years. As treasurer of budget carrier Spirit Airlines Inc., he has taken tens of millions of dollars of company cash and parked it in money-market funds.
Saudi Arabia, SoftBank aim to be world's No. 1 tech investor with $100 billion fund (Reuters)
Saudi Arabia and Japan's SoftBank Group (9984.T) will create a technology investment fund that could grow as large as $100 billion, making it one of the world's largest private equity investors and a potential kingpin in the industry.
Malaysian Fund 1MDB Linked to White House Visit (The Wall Street Journal)
WASHINGTON—Malaysia’s government-fund scandal, one of the world’s biggest alleged white-collar crimes, has been connected to a Hollywood studio, high-end U.S. real estate—and now, a visit to the White House.
British banks keep cyber attacks under wraps to protect image (Reuters)
Britain's banks are not reporting the full extent of cyber attacks to regulators for fear of punishment or bad publicity, bank executives and providers of security systems say.
Reported attacks on financial institutions in Britain have risen from just 5 in 2014 to 75 so far this year, data from Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) show.
Why Isn’t the Fed Raising Rates? It’s Complicated, Chief Says (NY Times)
BOSTON — Janet L. Yellen, the Federal Reserve chairwoman, did not talk on Friday about the Fed’s plans for its benchmark interest rate. Instead, she talked about why those plans have been so hard to make.
Deutsche Bank’s top investor, Qatar, is worried about lender’s outlook (The Wall Street Journal)
Deutsche Bank AG's biggest shareholders, investment vehicles controlled by the Qatari royal family, have recently expressed concern about the threat of legal fines against the lender and whether it is adequately focused on its long-term strategy, according to people familiar with the matter.
Companies
HP Plans Up to 4,000 Job Cuts Over Three Years (Bloomberg)
HP Inc. plans to cut 3,000 to 4,000 jobs over the next three years to help bring costs in line with slumping demand in the market for personal computers and printers.
Hershey begins CEO search as Bilbrey announces retirement (Reuters)
Hershey Co, the U.S. chocolate maker that Oreo cookie-maker Mondelez International Inc tried to acquire earlier this year, said on Friday that Chief Executive John Bilbrey would retire from his post on July 1.
Verizon Puts Yahoo on Notice After Data Breach (The Wall Street Journal)
Verizon Communications Inc. signaled it may demand to renegotiate its $4.8 billion deal for Yahoo Inc. following the internet company’s recent disclosure of a data breach that affected more than 500 million accounts.
Twitter stock tanks as Salesforce backs out of bidding (CNN Money)
Salesforce (CRM, Tech30), the last of the big companies thought to be interested in buyingTwitter (TWTR, Tech30), said Friday that it has backed out of bidding for the social network.
Walmart only got 1 out of 10,000 teen votes for favorite shopping site, while Amazon got 40% (Business Insider)
Amazon is at the top of the mind for the teenage "Generation Z" demographic, who arefamously picky and fickle when it comes to what they shop for.
Volkswagen Agrees to Pay $175 Million to Plaintiffs’ Lawyers in Diesel Case (The Wall Street Journal)
Volkswagen AG has agreed to pay $175 million to plaintiffs’ lawyers representing U.S. drivers in litigation over the auto maker’s diesel-emissions crisis, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Politics
It’s Official: This Election Is Driving Americans Nuts (Bloomberg)
There’s good news for Americans who find themselves waking up in a cold sweat at 3 a.m. to check the latest polls: You are not alone.
More than half of you—on both sides of the aisle—say the 2016 election is a major source of stress, according to a new survey from the American Psychological Association.
The Sept. 11 Lawsuit Bill Is Weaker Than It Appears (Bloomberg)
For 14 years families of Sept. 11 victims have tried unsuccessfully to use the courts to pin responsibility for the terrorist attacks on Saudi Arabia. Legal obstacles have blocked those efforts, but on Sept. 28, Congress passed legislation—overriding a veto by President Obama—advertised as clearing the families’ path.
Obama decries 'wild west' media landscape (Yahoo News)
Pittsburgh (AFP) – President Barack Obama on Thursday decried America's "wild, wild west" media environment for allowing conspiracy theorists a broad platform and destroying a common basis for debate.
The Trump tightrope: Republicans weigh response with eye toward future (Reuters)
With Donald Trump’s U.S. election prospects dimming and controversy swirling around him, future Republican presidential hopefuls may be weighing whether standing by their man is the savvy move.
Donald Trump goes on vicious tirade in attempt to discredit all the women accusing him of sexual misconduct (Business Insider)
Donald Trump went off the rails during a Friday rally in North Carolina, launching into a vicious tirade in an attempt to discredit the growing list of women accusing him of unwanted sexual advances.
An 'Arrested Development' fan made a hilarious mashup to fact-check Donald Trump (Business Insider)
Now even "Arrested Development" has jumped into the media circus surrounding Donald Trump and the impending presidential election.
British Billionaire Richard Branson Endorses Clinton, Saying 'Trump Presidency Would Be A Disaster' (Forbes)
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s billionaire endorsers extend not only across the aisle, but also across the ocean.
On Friday, British billionaire Richard Branson endorsed Clinton in a blog post on Virgin’s website. Branson said he had been following the election closely because it will have “major implications” all over the world.
Obama unleashes blistering attack on Trump (Politico)
CLEVELAND — President Barack Obama ripped Donald Trump here Friday as a man who’s embraced an attack on the “global elite” only after failing to be accepted as a member of the global elite himself, attacking the Republican nominee for running an anti-American campaign with paper-thin support that’s all about InfoWars.com conspiracy theories.
Technology
Carmakers forced back to bigger engines in new emissions era (Reuters)
Tougher European car emissions tests being introduced in the wake of the Volkswagen scandal are about to bring surprising consequences: bigger engines.
Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 has been banned on US flights (Business Insider)
The US government has banned Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 on domestic flights, the Department of Transportation announced.
The ban takes effect on October 15 at noon Eastern.
Bots will soon help project managers make more accurate plans (Venture Beat)
Artificial intelligence (A.I.) has taken the media by storm, with new groundbreaking accomplishments by global companies. Google’s DeepMindrecently beat a world champion of Go, which is said to be the most advanced board game on this planet.
Not Everyone Agrees On the Future of Uber Drivers When Self-Driving Cars Arrive (Fortune)
As Uber continues to push forward with its plans to develop self-driving cars, what about its millions of drivers?
Whether they should be worried or assured about their jobs depends on whom you ask.
See a sweating robot do push-ups like it's Schwarzenegger (CNet)
Wasn't it Thomas Edison who said genius is 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration? Here's a new development that leans heavily on both. The University of Tokyo has developed Kengoro, a musculoskeletal humanoid robot that cools its motors by sweating.
Tencent to debut live-streaming WeChat drone at end of month (Engadget)
Tencent, the Chinese tech giant that owns League of Legends, Supercell Games and WeChat, the most popular messaging app in China, announced on Friday that it will release a consumer quadcopter by the end of October.
Samsung introduces a gilded, more powerful Galaxy TabPro S (Engadget)
While your smartphone is headed back to meet its maker, Samsung is rolling out a flashier Gold Edition of its already svelte Galaxy TabPro S tablet. It's been less than a year since the PC replacement debuted, and Samsung is already jumping on the gold finish trend and bumping up the specs with 8GB of RAM, a 256GB solid state hard drive and a battery that should be good for 10.5 hours of video playback.
Life on the Home Planet
Islamic State crushes rebellion plot in Mosul as army closes in (Reuters)
Islamic State has crushed a rebellion plot in Mosul, led by one of the group's commanders who aimed to switch sides and help deliver the caliphate's Iraqi capital to government forces, residents and Iraqi security officials said.
3 Held in Bomb Plot Against Somalis in Kansas (NY Times)
Three militia members plotted to detonate a bomb at a housing complex in western Kansas where Somali immigrants lived and worshiped, federal investigators said Friday.
How to file an insurance claim if your home was damaged by a storm (Market Watch)
As the response to Hurricane Matthew shifts from preparation and rescue to recovery, tallying up the insurance damage — and who will pay for it — is a concern for many homeowners.
Libya coup attempt as Tripoli militias seek to topple UN-backed government (The Guardian)
Tripoli militias have staged an attempted coup against Libya’s United Nations-backed government, seizing key state buildings and a TV station and pledging they are ready to fight to take power.
Scenes From The Apocalypse – Mass Immigration Ruins The Streets Of France (Zero Hedge)
The Paris you know or remember from adverts or brochures no longer exists. While no part of Paris looks like the romantic Cliches in Hollywood movies, some districts now resemble post-apocalyptic scenes of a dystopian thriller.
Cholera Deepens Haiti’s Misery After Hurricane (NY Times)
RENDEL, Haiti — There is a plague on this town.
Even before the winds and rain toppled nearly everything standing, cholera was already here. It came down from the mountains, washing into the lives of the thousands who once lived above the river.
Strange signals from 234 stars could be ET – or human error (New Scientist)
It’s a bold claim. Two astronomers think they have spotted messages from not just one extraterrestrial civilisation, but 234 of them. The news has sparked a lively debate in the field as other astronomers think the claim is premature and are working fast to get to the bottom of the signals.
People ate each other in this cave – and we still don’t know why (Science Alert)
Of all the taboos humans hold onto, cannibalism is by far the most significant. But in the rest of the animal kingdom, it’s a surprisingly common practice. Mothers eat their babies, babies eat their mothers, babies eat each other, and we all know what happens to male mantises midway through sex.
