Financial Markets and Economy
Saudi Stocks Spurred by Record Bond Sale Lead Gains Across Gulf (Bloomberg)
Saudi Arabian stocks led gains across most Gulf equities, rising for a third day on optimism the kingdom will repay companies after it raised a record $17.5 billion from its debut international bond sale.
Economists never imagined negative interest rates — now they're rewriting textbooks (Business Insider)
If you’re a bank, the idea sounds crazy. Why pay someone to hold your cash?
In 1983, when Frederic Mishkin started writing "The Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Markets," his seminal textbook on macroeconomics, he never thought he'd devote much space to the idea of negative interest rates.
This chart shows where all of the Bank of England's most important staff stand on monetary policy (Business Insider)
When the Bank of England cut interest rates to a new record low and unleashed a substantial package of quantitative easing on August 4, the bank said that the majority of its Monetary Policy Committee expected to "support a further cut in Bank Rate to its effective lower bound."
Why sterling's collapse is not good for the UK economy (The Guardian)
The most dramatic economic effect of the UK’s Brexit vote has been the collapse of sterling. Since June, the pound has fallen by 16% against a basket of currencies. Mervyn King, the previous governor of the Bank of England, hailed the lower exchange rate as a “welcome change”. Indeed, with Britain’s current-account deficit running above 7% of GDP – by far the largest since data started being collected in 1955 – depreciation could be regarded as a boon. But is it?
Navigating The Make-Or-Break Years As You Create Hockey Stick Growth (Forbes)
Think “hockey stick growth” is impossible because your company isn’t a high-tech start-up? Think again, says the author of a new book on navigating high-growth success.
Finland’s Millionaire Premier Freezes Pay in Bid to Save Economy (Bloomberg)
The Nordic region’s only euro member is still struggling with austerity.
After being stripped of its top AAA credit grade at all three major ratings companies, the government is asking Finns to tighten their belts to keep up with the Germans and the Swedes, who are more productive exporters. Failure to do so will jeopardize Finland’s path away from economic limbo and growing indebtedness, the government warns.
China’s Insanely Leveraged Housing Market Will Enter Its Secular Bear Market In 2017 (Naked Capitalism)
Before Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, the nobles in Pompeii carried on their extravagant lives without a care in the world. Humans have very narrow visions, oftentimes can only see people around them fiddling away the good times, and have no idea that their landmarks-such as Mount Vesuvius to Pompeian, can evolve into such a deadly force of mass-destruction.
UK economy is braced for interesting times as Brexit phoney war ends (The Guardian)
The four months since the Brexit vote have been something of a phoney war. Life for most has trundled on just as before. The shops have been full. Employment has continued to rise. Britain is still the low pay, low productivity country it always was. If someone had left in early June and returned today without access to the news, they would never know there had been a referendum.
UK to avoid recession in 2016 despite growth slump, data set to show (The Guardian)
Britain’s economic growth more than halved in the third quarter, but fears of a post-referendum recession in the second half of the year will prove unfounded, figures this week are expected to show.
Bank Of England Confirms: Debt Issuance Levels Tripled Since Quantitative Easing (Zero Hedge)
‘The problem with Quantitative Easing is that it works in practice but it doesn’t work in theory’, dixit Ben Bernanke, previous chairman of the Federal Reserve. And he isn’t wrong because these special ‘tricks’ generally don't have the desired effect without creating negative consequences.
Companies
New York Governor Signs Bill Authorizing Fines for Airbnb Rentals (The Wall Street Journal)
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday signed into law one of the nation’s toughest measures targeting short-term apartment rentals, a blow to fast-growing startup Airbnb Inc. in a crucial market.
Technology
Russian Hacker Suspected of LinkedIn Attack Indicted in U.S. (The Wall Street Journal)
SAN FRANCISCO—A federal grand jury in Oakland has indicted a 29-year-old Russian man suspected of hacking into three Bay Area technology companies: LinkedIn Corp., Dropbox Inc. and Formspring Inc., a now-defunct social-networking company.
Microsoft Can Now Talk Better Than Humans And Other Small Business Tech News This Week (Forbes)
Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?
China Overtakes U.S. In Apple App Store Spending (Fortune)
Mobile analytics and research firm App Annie said this week that Chinese consumers spent $1.7 billion on Apple-sanctioned mobile apps in the third quarter, or about 15% higher than the nearly $1.45 billion spent by Americans during the same period.
FinTech v. traditional banking: It’s not a zero-sum game (Venture Beat)
The financial services sector is bracing itself for an unprecedented period of disruption. Innovations such as smartphones, big data analytics, and the blockchain technology that underpins Bitcoin, are forcing banks, insurers, and Wall Street firms to adapt to an unpredictable future where some of the old rules no longer apply.
Inside Microsoft’s quest for a topological quantum computer (Nature)
The race is on build a ‘universal’ quantum computer. Such a device could be programmed to speedily solve problems that classical computers cannot crack, potentially revolutionizing fields from pharmaceuticals to cryptography. Many of the world's major technology firms are taking on the challenge, but Microsoft has opted for a more tortuous route than its rivals.
This Amazing Robotic Glove Lets You Touch the Virtual World (Singularity Hub)
While there may be some truth in the old adage, it forgets a crucial component of how we interact with the world: touch.
Politics
Hillary Clinton's secretary of state stint offers clues about potential presidency (The Guardian)
One of the first major tasks Hillary Clinton performed on becoming secretary of state was managing Washington’s “reset” with Moscow. In March 2009, at a meeting in Zurich with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, she had the idea of symbolising the moment with a gift: a red plastic button set in a yellow box the two diplomats could press together.
Watch Saturday Night Live Take on the Third Presidential Debate (TIME)
Kate McKinnon’s Hillary Clinton and Alec Baldwin’s Donald Trump sparred again in a sketch spoofing the final presidential debate on Saturday Night Live.
Trump will accept election results if it's fair, his son says (Reuters)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will accept the results of the U.S. election if it is fair, his son Eric Trump said on Sunday.
Spain’s Socialist Party Votes to End Political Impasse (Associated Press, TIME)
(MADRID) — Spain’s Socialist party says it will stop blocking the conservative Popular Party from forming a minority government, ending the country’s nearly 10-month political impasse.
Eleventh Woman Accuses Trump of Sexual Misconduct (TIME, Fortune)
Jessica Drake says Trump offered her $10,000 to spend the night with him.
An eleventh woman has come forward to accuse Donald Trump of sexually aggressive behavior, the same day Trump threatened to sue all the women who accuse him of sexual misconduct.
Health and Biotech
Certain STDs Hit All-Time Highs In 2015 After Years Of Decline (International Business Times)
Sexually transmitted diseases in the United States are at an all-time high, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday. There are more than 110 million people infected with an STD, with economic costs exceeding $16 billion.
Life on the Home Planet
Scientists suggest new theory behind the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle (Independent)
For decades, a series of disappearances within the 500,000km square area between Miami, Puerto Rico and Bermuda has remained unexplained and dismissed as coincidental by many.
Yemen war resumes as both sides ignore UN call to extend ceasefire (The Guardian)
The Saudi-led coalition has stepped up airstrikes on Iran-backed rebels in Yemen and clashes rage on the ground as warring parties ignore a UN call to renew a fragile ceasefire.
Police Investigating Deadly Explosions North of Tokyo (NY Times)
TOKYO — A series of explosions rocked a parking lot and nearby park on Sunday morning in Utsunomiya, a city about 80 miles north of Tokyo, killing one man and injuring three other people, the local police said.
Japanese suicide pensioner blows himself up in park, injures three others: NHK (Reuters)
A 72 year-old retired soldier blew himself up in a park in the Japanese city of Utsunomiya, killing himself and injuring three other people in an apparent suicide, state broadcaster NHK reported.
2 Explosions Hit Japanese City, Killing 1; Suicide Suspected (NY Times)
TOKYO — Two apparent explosions hit the Japanese city of Utsunomiya back-to-back Sunday, killing one person and injuring three others in what police are viewing as a possible suicide.
