Financial Markets and Economy
Stocks Almost Always Rise Before an Election. Not This Year (Bloomberg)
The 2016 election has confounded pundits, upended precedent and now it’s spurring unusual patterns in the U.S. equity market. To wit: stocks almost always rise in the days before the country picks a president. This year, they’re falling.
India Opts for Less-Than-Perfect Tax That’s Still a Game-Changer (Bloomberg)
India has backed a multi-tier national tax regime that even in its not-so-perfect form will be a game-changer for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is trying to revive manufacturing and boost foreign investment in the world’s fastest growing major economy.
Asian Stocks Extend Pre-Vote Slide as Crude Oil Trades Below $45 (Bloomberg)
A global stocks selloff extended into Asian trading as crude oil held near a one-month low and investors shunned riskier assets ahead of next week’s U.S. presidential election.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell to a seven-week low after an eighth day of losses for the S&P 500 Index, the U.S. benchmark’s longest losing streak since 2008.
Stocks just did something they haven't done since the financial crisis (Business Insider)
The S&P 500 closed down for the eighth straight day on Thursday.
That hasn't happened since October 2008, during the financial crisis, according to Charlie Bilello, the director of research at Pension Partners.
Vocal Hedge Funds Shake Up Singapore's Staid Corporate Landscape (Bloomberg)
In Singapore, where activist investing was virtually unheard of until now, two companies have found themselves in the crosshairs in the past month alone. Quarz Capital Management Ltd. urged retailer Metro Holdings Ltd. to return excess cash to investors and Dektos Investment Corp. pushed Geo Energy Resources Ltd. to change its debt structure, saying the coal-miner’s shares are undervalued by as much as 60 percent.
Estimated Taxes Made Easy (Forbes)
As Benjamin Franklin famously said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” And if you own your own business or earn income from a partnership, those taxes can be a bit more complicated. The IRS makes you pay taxes as you earn, rather than waiting until April 15th each year.
Companies
Wells Fargo's Sales Scandal Just Got Bigger (Reuters)
Wells Fargo WFC 0.22% fired hundreds of brokerage employees for improper sales practices, three U.S. senators said on Thursday, widening the scope of a scandal which the fourth-largest U.S. bank has so far characterized as a retail banking problem.
Starbucks Profit Tops Analysts’ Estimates as U.S. Sales Gain (Bloomberg)
Starbucks Corp. posted earnings that topped analysts’ estimates as new food items and digital efforts like mobile ordering helped its U.S. business defy a restaurant-industry slowdown.
Cisco's former head of engineering is getting a $5.5 million goodbye package (Business Insider)
Cisco's executive shuffle continues, as the company's massive 25,000-person engineering team undergoes another reorg.
Singapore Air Reiterates Weak Outlook as Profit Slumps 70% (Bloomberg)
Singapore Airlines Ltd. said it will be vigilant on costs as it warned yet again that the weak operating outlook is likely to persist amid excess capacity and aggressive pricing by competitors.
Technology
Mark Zuckerberg's Fortune Tumbles by $3 Billion as Facebook Growth Set to Slow: Chart (Bloomberg)
Mark Zuckerberg lost $3 billion on Thursday, more than anyone else on Earth, after executives suggested Facebook Inc. probably won’t be able to keep up with its explosive pace of growth much longer.
Should you buy Google Home or the Amazon Echo? (Business Insider)
After years of hype from the tech industry, we finally have a smart home product that actually makes sense.
WiFi speakers like Amazon's Echo and the new Google Home are brand-new types of computers, letting you do many of the same tasks you're used to on a smartphone with just your voice.
GoPro stock dives 20% on dismal earnings results (CNN Money)
The action camera maker reported sales of $240.6 million for the third quarter, down nearly 40% from the same period a year earlier and well below Wall Street's estimates.
Uber Settles Lawsuit Over Driver Sexual Assault Claims (Bloomberg)
Uber Technologies Inc. settled a lawsuit filed by two women who sought to hold the company responsible for alleged sexual assaults by drivers.
Google starts offering Android developer previews in Firebase Test Lab (Venture Beat)
Google today announced a new way for developers to test their applications on upcoming versions of Android. In addition to simply running tests on an app after installing an Android developer preview on a currently supported device or testing through Android Studio’s Android Emulator, now it’s possible to test apps out on virtual devices through Google’s Firebase Test Lab service.
The latest DDoS attack is knocking this country offline (Mashable Asia)
Both attacks used readily available Mirai malware. The malware allows users to hack into poorly-secured internet of things devices (such as smart cameras or refrigerators). From there, the hacker is able to direct data from those devices to one source, clogging its servers and often rendering it inaccessible to everyday users.
Why the iRobot Roomba 980 is a great lesson on the state of AI (Venture Beat)
You could start with the original iRobot Roomba vacuum cleaner, which came out in 2002. It went on a search and destroy mission for dirt, often rolling around in a sporadic pattern but eventually cleaning your carpet as you sip on coffee and watch. My own writing career happens to coincide with this debut (my career started in full force in early 2002), along with the first Apple iPod.
Newly fashionable hardware controls aim to speed up Lightroom (CNet)
A group of former Nokia employees thinks it has a better way for you to edit photos: Loupedeck, a hardware console with sliders, knobs and switches dedicated to Adobe Systems' Lightroom software.
Politics
Wealthy Asian, European Investors Bet on Clinton Victory (Bloomberg)
Rich investors in Europe and Asia are betting on stocks that will rise if a particular candidate wins the U.S. election next week, and one firm says more than 80 percent of its customers’ dollars are wagering on Hillary Clinton.
My notes from early Trump event in New Hampshire sound like today's news (CNN Money)
Looking back now at my notes, I'm struck by how little has changed.
That day, he attacked the media, calling out NBC's Katy Tur by name. He picked fights. He made big boasts and even bigger promises. He surprised and thrilled the voters. He even crowed about the crowd size.
U.S. court deals Trump a setback in poll-monitor fight (Reuters)
In a blow to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, a U.S. judge on Thursday upheld a Pennsylvania state law that could make it difficult for his supporters to monitor Election Day activity in Democratic-leaning areas.
The FBI reportedly found more emails related to Hillary Clinton's time as secretary of state (Business Insider)
The FBI says it found new emails related to Hillary Clinton's time as secretary of state, CBS News reported on Thursday.
The US government is launching a massive effort to stop Russia from hacking the election (Business Insider)
The US government is launching a massive effort to stop Russian hackers from interfering with the results of next week's presidential election, according to a major report from NBC News.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in Dead Heat in Georgia: Poll (TIME)
Trump is ahead of Clinton by one point in the red state.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are nearly tied for the support of likely voters in Georgia less than a week before the presidential election, according to a new poll.
James Comey’s Self-Righteous Meddling (NY Times)
There are two possible explanations for James Comey’s decision to announce last week that he was examining emails that “appear to be pertinent” to the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
Clinton’s 30-point lead in Florida Hispanic poll is ‘terrifying’ to GOP nationwide (Politico)
MIAMI — Hillary Clinton is besting Donald Trump by an historic 30-point margin among Florida Hispanics, according to a new bipartisan poll that indicates Latinos could play an outsized role in delivering the White House to a Democrat for the third election in a row.
Hey, Melania Trump, Have You Met Your Husband? (The Huffington Post)
Melania Trump doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to public speaking. Her speech Thursday at a Pennsylvania campaign rally her first solo event of the election cycle didn’t go swimmingly either.
Health and Biotech
More than 250,000 UK babies born through IVF (The Guardian)
The British Fertility Society welcomed the milestone, saying it was great news for patients and their families. The figures show a sharp rise in the number of IVF and other assisted-reproduction treatments over the 25 years since the HFEA was established.
Health anxiety may increase risk of heart disease, research finds (The Guardian)
Fit and healthy people who worry about developing an illness may be increasing their risk of heart disease by unnecessarily fretting over their health, research suggests.
Generic-Drug Firms Face Possible Collusion Charges (The Wall Street Journal)
Federal prosecutors, after a lengthy probe, are nearing possible criminal charges for price-collusion in the generic-drug industry, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Dealmakers Behind Soaring Drug Prices Hit the Jackpot (Bloomberg)
Dealmakers have always flipped companies. Lately, they’ve been flipping something else: aging pharmaceuticals.
Take Actimmune, developed by Genentech Inc. decades ago. By 2012, sales were fizzling. Then rights to the immune-disorder treatment were acquired by a company backed by private equity. The price climbed, 434 percent in two years, and Actimmune was a hot property. Horizon Pharma Plc snapped it up.
Life on the Home Planet
Nuclear Plants Closing Early Leave Decades of Toxic Waste Stranded (Bloomberg)
Midway between San Diego and Los Angeles, the San Onofre Nuclear Plant waits to be dismantled. After more than 40 years of protests, lawsuits and safety scares, its two concrete-encased reactors, jutting from the pristine California coastline, are powered down and its massive steam turbines, once deafening, are quiet.
NASA is trying to keep part of its giant golden telescope a secret (Business Insider)
NASA on Wednesday announced a huge milestone in its $8.7 billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mission: the completion of the observatory's gigantic golden mirror.
Paris climate pact enters into force, focus shifts to action (Reuters)
The global accord to combat climate change agreed in Paris last year officially entered into force Friday, putting pressure on nearly 200 countries to start executing plans to slash their greenhouse gas emissions.
Monitor: Drought Ends in Nearly One-fourth of California (Bloomberg)
San Francisco (AP) — The U.S. Drought Monitor showed nearly one-fourth of California out of drought on Thursday, the best such showing for the parched state in more than three years.
