Financial Markets and Economy
U.K.’s Post-Brexit Economic Strength Deceptive, Item Club Says (Bloomberg)
Signs the U.K. economy has been more resilient than expected since the Brexit vote may be lulling people into a false sense of security, Ernst & Young LLP’s ITEM Club will say in a report on Monday.
Chinese property owners are going to have have a rude awakening (Economy and Markets)
No question about it. China definitely takes the cake when it comes to bubble creation. The government encouraged everyday people to speculate in stocks in late 2014 and 2015 to help offset the slowdown in its gargantuan real estate bubble. The stock market bubbled 160% in one year and then crashed 50% (and you can be sure there’ll be more losses to come after a year of propping up a market that has merely gone sideways…)
Clinton’s Goldman Speeches; $13 Billion India Bet: Saturday Wrap (Bloomberg)
Here are highlights of Saturday’s top breaking stories from around the world:
WikiLeaks released what were purported to be complete transcripts of three Hillary Clinton speeches to Goldman Sachs, the ones she has fought releasing through numerous campaign attacks by Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump alleging she’s too cozy with Wall Street.
Italy’s Renzi Pushes Tax Cut, Investments as Referendum Looms (Bloomberg)
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s cabinet passed a budget law that includes a corporate tax cut and measures to boost investments in an effort to revive political support and economic prospects ahead of a key constitutional referendum in early December.
Fire In The Hole! Atlanta Fed Downgrades Q3 GDP To 1.9% (Confounded Interest)
The Atlanta Fed has just downgraded Q3 US GDP growth to under 2% at 1.9%.
Deutsche Bank’s Largest Shareholder Wants Some Assurance Deutsche Bank Won’t Run Itself Into The Ground (Deal Breaker)
Don’t get Sheik Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani wrong: He’s thrilled to have been given the opportunity to lose €1 billion of his and his family’s money on Deutsche Bank over the last couple of years. Hell, give him the opportunity (and Deutsche Bank might just have to, since they’ve nowhere else to go), and he might just boost his already 10% stake in the bank.
Business Interests Hold Sway on Cities’ Homeless Policies (The Wall Street Journal)
As U.S. cities struggle to address rising homelessness, they increasingly are turning to policies pushed by commercial-property owners that ban people from sitting or sleeping on sidewalks and begging for money.
Snookered! Real Gross Provate Domestic Investment Falls -2.93% YOY In Q2 (Confounded Interest)
In ordinary times, a sagging economy would spell doom for the incumbent political party (in this case, the Democrats). But these are not ordinary times, my friends.
September Global Auto Sales Hit Record High Thanks To China's New Car Bubble (Zero Hedge)
In recent months the US auto industry has been bombarded with a barrage of bad news: starting with Ford's disastrous August sales when the company admitted "sales have reached a plateau", continuing to the surge in delinquent subprime auto borrowers hitting nearly a 7 year high as the marginal creditworthy car buyers disappears, then noting the record $4,000 in industry-wide new car incentives in September as preventing a plunge in last month's auto sales.
The "World's Most Bearish Hedge Fund" Reveals Its Next Big Short (Zero Hedge)
We have previously dubbed Shannon McConaghy's Horseman Global the world's most bearish hedge fund for one reason: as recently as a few months ago the fun had taken its net equity short position to an unprecedented -100%. At the end of September, it had modestly trimmed this short to a more modest -87.5%.
Companies
Thrillist CEO Ben Lerer explains why Discovery just invested $100 million and made him a new media mogul (Tech Insider)
On Thursday, Discovery Communications poured $100 million into a new holding company called Group Nine Media, which ties together four media brands: Thrillist, NowThis, The Dodo, and Seeker (Discovery's digital network).
This Company Is Trying to Raise the World's Largest Private Equity Fund (Fortune)
The largest private equity fund ever raised was by The Blackstone Group in 2006, with $21.7 billion in capital commitments. Until last night, when SoftBank announced that it is in the process of raising a $100 billion fund focused on the global technology sector.
Politics
Donald Trump's 'rigged' election claim targets the media (CNN Money)
Republicans have complained about media bias for decades. But Donald Trump, whose attacks on the press are escalating, is staking out a position much more extreme than his predecessors.
Another Trump accuser alleges: 'He took my hand, and grabbed me, and went for the lips' (Business Insider)
Another woman has come forward and accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct by alleging that the Republican nominee kissed her without her consent about 20 years ago.
Clinton: If we were China, Pacific would be “American Sea” (Macro Business)
US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has said the US could claim the Pacific Ocean as an “American Sea” if China claims all of the South China Sea, according to excerpts of her speech contained in hacked emails revealed by WikiLeaks.
The Ruling Class’s Hatred of Trump is Different Than Yours (Counter Punch)
Much, maybe most, of the nation’s corporate, financial, and imperial establishment loathes Donald Trump. When’s the last time one of the corporate media’s presidential debate moderators actually argue with one of the two major party presidential contenders, as did the wealthy ABC News reporter Martha Raddatz (enraged by Trump’s lack of enthusiasm for a United States military confrontation with Russia in Syria) last Sunday?
Hillary Clinton Builds $150 Million War Chest, Doubling Donald Trump (NY Times)
Donald J. Trump entered the homestretch of the campaign at a pronounced financial disadvantage to Hillary Clinton, according to figures Mr. Trump’s team released on Saturday, and far below the self-funding goal he set for himself earlier in the race.
A Look at the Hacked Emails from Hillary Clinton Campaign Chair John Podesta (Associated Press, TIME)
(WASHINGTON) — Hacked emails released in daily dispatches this past week by the WikiLeaks group exposed the inner workings of Hillary Clinton’s campaign leading up to her 2015 announcement that she would seek the presidency, and through this year’s primary.
Trump Campaign Cuts Ties With Ohio GOP Chairman (The Huffington Post)
With just few weeks until Election Day, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is cutting off his campaign’s relationship with the head of the Ohio Republican Party, Matt Borges.
Technology
This iPhone 7 case has one of the coolest features I’ve ever seen (Insider Picks)
Most of the time, when you pick a phone case, you have to pick between style, size, and safety.
Because I have a bigger phone, I end up going for a slim case, leaving my phone vulnerable.
The 808 CANZ XL Is Bigger Than The Original, But Is It Better? (Digital Trends)
As technology improves, we typically think of things getting smaller, slimmer, and more compact, as companies squeeze more performance out of less space. But you can only cheat the laws of physics so far. That’s why 808 Audio super-sized its successful Canz speaker with the recently released Canz XL.
VHS Tapes Were Awesome, But Were They Bad? An Investigation (Gizmodo)
I have to take issue with the title of this video, VHS tapes were not “bad.” They were great. They were incredible little movie-playing contraptions that snapped, rolled and clunked, and they smelled weird. But yes, it is worth putting their image quality to the test, so let this video walk you through it in the hi-def era.
Virgin America sneakers feature Wi-Fi and working video display (Mashable Asia)
With about 15 percent more style points than Steph Curry's infamous hospital shoes and all the swag of an earthbound astronaut, a new, on-of-a-kind shoe debuted this week called the Virgin America First Class Shoe.
Health and Biotech
Scientists believe a certain diet can help your splitting migraines (Quartz)
Migraines are a painful and widespread problem. They afflict an estimated 1 billion people worldwide, including about 38 million in the US alone. There are all sorts of purported remedies for them, but a team of scientists in Italy has identified what it believes could be a simple way to avoid the debilitating headaches.
Life on the Home Planet
US Detects What It Says Is Failed N. Korean Missile Launch (Bloomberg)
Washington (AP) – The U.S. military said Saturday it's detected what's being described as a failed missile launch by North Korea.
The launch occurred near the northwestern city of Kusong and the missile is presumed to be a Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile, according to a Defense Department statement.
US denies seeking wider role in Yemen war a day after firing missiles (The Guardian)
The US has insisted it wants no direct military involvement in the bruising war in Yemen a day after launching its first strikes on territory controlled by the Houthi rebel movement.
US Goes to War with Houthis in Yemen (Openly) (Informed Comment)
The US Navy in the Red Sea fired Tomahawk missiles into Yemen early Thursday morning, taking out three radar stations. Those facilities had allowed the Houthi rebels who control North Yemen to target US destroyers in the Red Sea on several occasions in recent days (they missed each time).
Russia went to Syria to fight terrorists. We are succeeding (The Guardian)
The novel way of diplomacy proposed by foreign secretary Boris Johnsonhas so far materialised in a lone gentleman with a poster outside our embassy – not something I would describe as a big diplomatic victory. But the very fact of having to resort to (non-existent) campaigners to make a point is, in my opinion, a sign of the state of Britain’s Syria policy.
Stampede in India kills more than 20 at religious ceremony (The Guardian)
At least 24 people have been killed and 20 others injured in a stampede on a crowded bridge to reach a Hindu religious ceremony in northern India on Saturday, police said.
Police drug warning as teenager dies after taking ‘Purple Ninja Turtle’ ecstasy tablets (The Telegraph)
Police in Scotland have issued a warning about a new type of ecstasy tablet known as ‘Purple Ninja Turtle’ after a teenager died during a house party.
