Financial Markets and Economy
Pound Climbs a Second Day as Report Shows Resilient Labor Market (Bloomberg)
The pound rose for a second day as a report showed the U.K.’s jobless rate held at an 11-year low, highlighting the resilience of the economy following Britain’s vote to exit the European Union.
Dollar slips though move reduced after better-than-expected China data (Market Watch)
The dollar slipped against major rivals Wednesday, although its decline was lessened after China’s economic data reduced growth worries about the world’s second-largest economy.
Don't Expect Russia to Cut Oil Production Voluntarily (Baker Institute)
Russian oil producers—and certainly, the Russian government—would clearly prefer higher oil prices. But the key question at present is “whose system can withstand more prolonged oil price pain, Saudi Arabia or Russia?” Several structural factors increasingly suggest that it’s Russia who enjoys higher pain tolerance, and that Saudi Arabia will need to lead any production cuts that occur.
Washington is taking a hard look at China's aggressive investment into US entertainment (Business Insider)
Chinese tycoon Wang Jianlin is wrapping up his latest Hollywood acquisition while Washington recently made a decision to review foreign investment that was inspired by his aggressive moves.
Billionaire Bond King Says Rates Going Higher (Forbes)
Yesterday, billionaire bond investor Jeffrey Gundlach said he thinks the days of negative interest rates are numbered. He was referring to market rates on the benchmark ten-year government bond yields, specifically in Germany and Japan. If he’s right, that means the top is in for bonds.
Global stocks gain on corporate results, rising commodities (Reuters)
A gauge of global equity markets climbed to a one-week high on Tuesday, lifted by rising commodity prices and a strong bounce in Europe, while solid corporate earnings helped drive share prices higher.
The Dying Business of Picking Stocks (The Wall Street Journal)
Pension funds, endowments, 401(k) retirement plans and retail investors are flooding into passive investment funds, which run on autopilot by tracking an index. Stock pickers, archetypes of 20th century Wall Street, are being pushed to the margins.
BAML’s the Latest to Turn Bullish on Europe’s Banks (The Wall Street Journal)
This post is from WSJ City, which you can download for iPhone here or Android here. You’ll need to be on your mobile device to do this. And you can sign up to receive our morning and Brexit briefing newsletters direct to your inbox here.
Carney Steels for Inflation Test as Prices Jump Most Since 2014 (Bloomberg)
Mark Carney’s tolerance for faster inflation could be tested sooner rather than later.
Americans Work 25% More Than Europeans, Study Finds (Bloomberg)
Americans are addicted to their jobs. U.S. workers not only put in more hours than workers do almost anywhere else. They’re also increasingly retiring later and taking fewer vacation days.
Goldman Sachs’s Asia Pacific Chairman to Retire (NY Times)
SAN FRANCISCO — One of Goldman Sachs’s top bankers in Asia is planning on retiring after nearly three decades at the firm.
Silicon Valley Asks What Happens If Tourist Investors Flee? (Bloomberg)
Private companies have witnessed a surge of investment over the past few years, but virtually all of the new money has come from “tourist investors” led by hedge funds and mutual funds, according to data compiled by PitchBook Data Inc. While venture capital firms have continued writing checks at a relatively stable rate, these tourists have been ramping up their investing, adding to existing investor worries that a bubble may be forming.
Investment Management vs. Financial Advice (A Wealth Of Common Sense)
There’s never been a better time to be an investor.
Expenses are coming down. It’s cheaper than ever to trade. Strategies that were once reserved for large institutional funds at exorbitant fees are now available to every investor through low-cost mutual funds and ETFs.
Look Who’s Driving the U.S. Housing Market (Bloomberg)
Not very long ago, it was fashionable to ask if millennials would ever crawl out of their parents’ basements and into a realtor’s office. Enthusiasm for that view, which had gained wide exposure by 2012, lost steam as mortgages got easier to come by and millennials kept insisting that no, actually, they do want to own a home.
Digital Marketing Tips From Singapore's Hottest Muslimah Fashion Brand (Forbes)
According to the 2015-2016 State of the Global Islamic Economy Report, Muslim consumers spend an estimated $230 billion on clothing. That figure is projected to grow to $327 billion by 2019, surpassing the current combined clothing markets of the UK ($107 billion), Germany ($99 billion) and India ($96 billion).
Here's What's Lifting Sales for the World's Second-Biggest Retailer (Reuters)
“This was a good third quarter,” said the company’s finance chief.
Strong sales in Brazil and an improving performance in its biggest market, France, lifted third-quarter sales at the world’s second-biggest retailer Carrefour, as its turnaround strategy gained traction.
Companies
Wells Fargo's ex-CEO quits Target, Chevron boards (CNN Money)
Wells Fargo's embattled former CEO John Stumpf stepped down on Tuesday from the boards of two corporate giants: Target and Chevron.
Leaked email shows Salesforce once had Adobe on its target acquisition list (Business Insider)
A leaked Colin Powell email from May shows Salesforce had 14 public companies on its acquisition target list, including Adobe, which now has a bigger market cap than Salesforce itself, according to The Wall Street Journal's Rachel King.
The Company Taking Over Breakfast in America (Bloomberg)
JAB Holding Co., the European investment firm that has quietly acquired many of the best-known U.S. coffee and food brands, is beginning to put the pieces together in its bid to build a caffeine empire.
UnitedHealth Jumps on Outlook as It Puts Obamacare Woes in Past (Bloomberg)
UnitedHealth Group Inc. jumped the most in more than three years after raising its full-year profit forecast, signaling the health insurer is turning a corner after losses related to Obamacare markets weighed down results this year.
Visa CEO Charles Scharf Is Stepping Down (The Wall Street Journal)
Visa Inc. said Chief Executive Officer Charles Scharf is resigning after advising the board that he can no longer spend enough time in San Francisco “to do the job effectively.”
Technology
How Apple Scaled Back Its Titanic Plan to Take on Detroit (Bloomberg)
Apple Inc. has drastically scaled back its automotive ambitions, leading to hundreds of job cuts and a new direction that, for now, no longer includes building its own car, according to people familiar with the project.
Singapore's self-driving taxi service has its first accident (Engadget)
That didn't take long: One of Singapore's nuTonomy self-driving taxis has already been in an at-fault collision. Less than a month after the service launched, a slow-moving taxi hit a lorry (translation: a truck) while changing lanes, according to a Facebook post from Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA).
Huawei unveils blazing fast Kirin 960 processor (CNet)
Huawei, like Apple, is one of the only phone brands that makes its own processors. And its latest one, the Kirin 960, looks to be a winner.
Announced at a Shanghai press conference earlier today, a phone powered by the Kirin 960 was put to the test against an iPhone 7 and a Samsung Galaxy Note 7, Android Central reports.
Waiting impatiently for Apple to release new Macs? You’ll get them on October 27th (Tech Crunch)
So I’ve been hearing for weeks now that Apple has been waffling a bit on a date for its late-October Mac event. But, according to my sources, a date has been picked: Thursday, October 27th. So those looking for a new MacBook, hold your horses. And if you’re a journo, flights are getting iffy but hotels are pretty cheap still.
Google Search now lets people book a cab with Ola and Uber in India (Mashable Asia)
Next time you want to book a cab in India with Uber and Ola — and also compare their fares — just make a Google search.
Google announced today that it is making it easier for Indians to book a cab on the two ride-hailing services. Users can get a cab to any place by just making a Google search about it with their phone.
Politics
Labor Unions Step Up Presidential-Election Spending (The Wall Street Journal)
PHILADELPHIA—U.S. labor unions are plowing money into the 2016 elections at an unprecedented rate, largely in an effort to help elect Hillary Clinton and give Democrats a majority in the Senate.
Men Are Treating 2016 As A ‘Normal’ Election; Women Aren’t (Five Thirty Eight)
We could be looking at the largest gender gap in a presidential election since at least 1952: Men are favoring the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, in typical numbers, but a historically overwhelming share of women say they will vote for the Democrat, Hillary Clinton.
FBI Documents Show State Department Fought Classification of Clinton Emails (The Wall Street Journal)
A State Department official in 2015 tried to keep the Federal Bureau of Investigation from marking a Hillary Clinton email as classified, according to documents that reveal the extent to which officials sought to reduce the number of messages judged to contain national secrets.
The Clinton campaign reportedly asked for one major change for the final debate — and it's because of Donald Trump (Business Insider)
When Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's family members enter the event hall at Wednesday's final presidential debate in Las Vegas, they will not shake hands as they've done in the past — a change that was reportedly made at the request of the Clinton campaign, The New York Times reported.
Even Donald Trump’s Alma Mater School Newspaper Endorsed Hillary Clinton (The Huffington Post)
Another day, another newspaper endorsing Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump for president. But this time, the paper doing so is The Daily Pennsylvanian, the student-run publication of Trump’s alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania.
Third presidential debate live stream: how to watch Trump vs. Clinton online, TV (Vox)
The two candidates will face off at 9 pm on Wednesday, October 19, at the University of Nevada Las Vegas for 90 minutes — no commercial breaks — in a debate moderated by Fox News anchor Chris Wallace. The debate will cover debt and entitlements, immigration, the economy, the Supreme Court, foreign hot spots, and "fitness to be president" — topics selected by Wallace.
Fox poll shows Clinton with 6-point lead over Trump nationwide (Politico)
Hillary Clinton has a 6-point edge over Donald Trump among likely voters nationwide, according to a new Fox News poll out Tuesday.
Health and Biotech
Scientists say they've identified the physical source of depression in the brain (Science Alert)
The region of the brain that serves as the physical source of feelings of depression has been identified, with new MRI data being the latest evidence to show that depression isn't just a 'frame of mind'.
Life on the Home Planet
Russia Declares Pause in Aleppo Bombing so Rebels, Civilians Can Flee (NBC News)
MOSCOW — Syrian and Russian jets halted bombing in Aleppo on Tuesday, the Kremlin said, preparing the ground for what it said would be a "humanitarian pause" later this week allowing militants and civilians to leave the city.
Iraqi Forces Advance to Edges of ISIS-Held Mosul (The Wall Street Journal)
Kurdish and Iraqi forces captured 17 villages around Mosul on Monday, Iraq’s military said, but Islamic State slowed their advance with heavy mortar fire that signaled a potentially fierce battle for the militant group’s last major stronghold in Iraq.
Syria rebels reject Aleppo withdrawal after Russian statement (Reuters)
Syrian rebels said on Tuesday they rejected any withdrawal of fighters from Aleppo after Russia announced a halt in air raids which it said was designed to allow insurgents to leave and to separate moderate fighters from extremist militants.
Saudi Arabia Executes Royal Family Member for Murder (Bloomberg)
A Saudi prince has been executed after he was convicted of murder, a punishment that’s being seen as an attempt to assure Saudis that all are equal before law at a time of unprecedented change in the conservative kingdom.
For U.S. and Obama, Mosul campaign is calculated risk (Reuters)
Iraq and the United States have launched a crucial battle to liberate the city of Mosul without determining how its volatile region will be governed once Islamic State militants are ejected, U.S. and other officials said.
At least two dead in explosion at German BASF chemical plant (Reuters)
At least two people died and six were severely injured on Monday in an explosion and fire at chemicals maker BASF's biggest production site in Germany, the company said.
