Financial Markets and Economy
New Subscription Economy Index Shows Subscription Businesses Growing 9X Faster Than S&P 500 Ones (Forbes)
Over the past few years, there’s been a lot of talk about subscription companies. Today, Zuora, a company that powers subscription-based businesses, which we wrote about in the magazine last year, launched an index to track what its CEO Tien Tzuo calls ‘the subscription economy.’
Stocks Edge Higher on Oil, Bonds Recover Slightly (The Wall Street Journal)
Rising oil prices helped support European markets and U.S. stock futures on Tuesday, leaving the Dow Jones Industrial Average narrowly on track to surpass its record high.
Russia’s Economy Minister Is Detained on Bribery Charges (NY Times)
MOSCOW — Russia’s economy minister was detained overnight on charges of soliciting a $2 million bribe in connection with a huge oil deal, the country’s Investigative Committee announced on Tuesday.
Ahead of Trump Presidency, Global Investors Sell Bonds and Grab Stocks (DealBook, NY Times)
Global investors have rendered their verdict on Donald J. Trump as president: Sell government bonds and pile into stocks that will benefit the most from a resurgent United States economy.
Too much risk taking a potential threat to euro zone banks: ECB (Reuters)
Euro zone banks may be more resilient than before Europe's debt crisis but poor profitability raises the threat that lenders take on too much risk in search for profit, European Central Bank supervisor Sabine Lautenschlaeger said on Tuesday.
As TPP falters, Malaysia looks to China trade pact to bolster trade (Reuters)
Malaysia said on Tuesday it would focus efforts on wrapping up a multi-nation trade pact led by China, as the Southeast Asian country braces for the possible collapse of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), spearheaded by the United States.
'Temporary factors' behind Australia's recent economic growth spurt, IMF says (The Guardian)
The Australian economy could expect a stronger performance if the recent improvement in the terms of trade boosts business confidence and unlocks investment, the International Monetary Fund said.
Faced with bond defaults, affluent Singapore investors join forces to seek better terms (Reuters)
When troubled Malaysian oil and gas services provider Perisai Petroleum Teknology asked bondholders for more time to pay them back, one investor from Singapore said she thought the bonds' coupons had something to do with free parking.
There's a bright side to rising interest rates (A Wealth Of Common Sense)
The Wall Street Journal has a useful interactive tool that can show investors how sensitive their government bond holdings are to changes in interest rates.
Why the Dow's record high could be masking trouble on the horizon for the market (The Fiscal Times)
It's fitting that the market response to President-elect Donald J. Trump — a brash nationalist with an "America first" credo — was a new record high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average to cap the best week on Wall Street in five years.
Four Investment Strategies You’re Afraid to Admit You Don’t Understand (WF Conversations)
Diversity is a good thing — especially in a time of volatility. Knowledgeable investors may want to explore alternative routes to traditional equity and bond choices as one way to help manage the potential risk to their portfolio of market corrections.
German economy slows in third quarter (DW Made For Minds)
The German economy has picked up only moderately in the third quarter, the statistics office has reported. Private consumption was the main driver of GDP expansion, while exports suffered from a global trade slump.
Singapore Home Sales Climb to Highest in More Than a Year (Bloomberg)
Singapore home sales rose to the highest in more than a year in October as developers marketed more projects on pent-up demand from homebuyers.
China's Shenzhen city steps up curbs on home purchases (Reuters)
China's Shenzhen city on Tuesday stepped up measures to rein in a red-hot housing market with fresh curbs on borrowings, extending nationwide efforts by policy makers to cool prices and reduce the risk of a market crash.
Demographics: The Boomers Have Already Been Overtaken by the Millennials (Financial Sense)
Demographics is a key driver of economic growth. Most people focus on the aging of the Boomer generation. But the working-age population in the US has been growing almost as fast as the retirement of Boomers. Millennials are now the largest living generation and will be in the working-age population until well past 2050.
Companies
Why Estee Lauder Is Buying This Cosmetics Brand for $1.45 Billion (Reuters)
Cosmetics maker Estee Lauder Cos EL -0.97% agreed to buy makeup brand Too Faced for about $1.45 billion in its biggest-ever deal, adding products such as Better than Sex mascara and Melted Matte lipsticks that are popular among millennials.
AMZN Stock: Will Trump Victory Send Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) Stock To $600 A Share? (Amigo Bulls)
Amazon.com Inc. has begun its descent. Blame it on whomsoever you want. Some use Trump or sector rotation. However, I believe that this market forecasting has gotten out of hand. You need to see what is actually happening in the chart rather than guessing what may or may not happen.
Technology
Major Linux security hole gapes open (ZD Net)
The security hole this time is with how Debian and Ubuntu, and almost certainly other Linux distributions, implement Linux Unified Key Setup-on-disk-format (LUKS). LUKS is the standard mechanism for implementing Linux hard disk encryption. LUKS is often put into action with Cryptsetup. It's in Cryptsetup default configuration file that the problem lies and it's a nasty one.
Fully autonomous AI driving company AImotive expands to the U.S. (Tech Crunch)
Level 5 self-driving tech is the highest variety, which aims for fully autonomous vehicles with no need of human steering mechanisms. AdasWorks, a Budapest-based startup launched in 2015, is charing its name to AImotive and expanding to a new U.S.-based Mountain View office to further its efforts in making Level 5 autonomy a lived reality for people and cars.
Alphabet Inc: This Could Hammer Google Stock (Investors Buz)
Buz Investors Could Hammer Google Stock (NASDAQ: GOOG) stock dropped two percent on Monday as many investors continue to worry about President-elect Donald Trump’s effect on tech giant stocks, with one popular investor going as far as calling them “a bubble.”
US Army's 'Phaser' could fry entire drone swarms in a volley (Engadget)
While the US military has enjoyed several decades of aerial dominance with few enemy fighter planes to shoot down, the emergence of ISIS drones presents a new threat to American ground troops.
Google announces RAISR, a method of upscaling images with machine learning (Android Police)
You probably know as well as I do that the internet is littered with low-resolution images, either a limitation of a device's camera or purposely-downgraded for faster loading on slow connections. Unfortunately, enlarging an image many times over while still preserving detail is something only possible in episodes of CSI.
Google And Facebook Crack Down On Scammers Using Ads On Fake News Sites (Digital Trends)
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was even accused in recent days of allowing fake news stories on his site to influence the presidential election, though the Zuck dismissed the notion as “crazy.”
Why Mobile Data Use Is Booming (Fortune)
Mobile data traffic is exploding by almost any measure as people increasingly use their phones to watch NFL games, listen to Beyonce tracks and post Snapchat stories. The average North American smartphone subscriber used just over 5 GB of data per month, a 40% increase from last year, according to a report from telecom gear maker Ericsson on Tuesday.
Lyft aims to amp your ride with… 'Amp' (CNet)
When Lyft first launched its ride-hailing service in San Francisco in 2012, it gave drivers big, pink, hairy mustaches to drape over their cars' grilles. The idea was to make it easy for passengers to identify Lyft drivers. That fad, however, did not last.
WhatsApp finally launches video calling (Engadget)
WhatsApp has introduced a number of new features in recent months but perhaps the most eagerly awaited has been video calling. Some users briefly flirted with video calls back in May but it took until October before a wider set of Android device owners could get involved.
Expedia’s hotel search engine Trivago kicks off IPO with SEC filing, plans to list on NASDAQ (Venture Beat)
Accommodation search engine Trivago has kickstarted its plans for a proposed initial public offering (IPO) after filing a Form F-1 with the securities and exchange commission (SEC) in the U.S.
Politics
Commander-In-Chief Donald Trump Will Have Terrifying Powers. Thanks, Obama. (The Intercept)
When Donald Trump becomes commander in chief in January, he will take on presidential powers that have never been more expansive and unchecked.
Two West Virginia officials face backlash over racist post about Michelle Obama (LA Times)
The Facebook pages of Taylor and Whaling couldn't be found Monday. A call to the Clay County Development Corp. went unanswered and Whaling didn't immediately return a telephone message.
Israel’s Right, Cheering Donald Trump’s Win, Renews Calls to Abandon 2-State Solution (NY Times)
JERUSALEM — Emboldened by the Republican sweep of last week’s American elections, right-wing members of the Israeli government have called anew for the abandonment of a two-state solution to the conflict with the Palestinians.
LAPD Takes A Stand Against Trump Immigration Enforcement (The Huffington Post)
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Monday that the force would not change its stance on immigration enforcement, the Los Angeles Times reported. The move is an apparent act of defiance against the president-elect’s promise to deport or imprison up to 3 million undocumented immigrants after his inauguration.
Mexico Weighs Grim Prospect Of Deportation Wave Under Trump (Associated Press)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico is starting to seriously contemplate the possibility that millions of its migrants could be deported, and the picture is not pretty.
Under proposals put forward by President-elect Donald Trump, Mexico could see millions of people streaming back with no jobs available; the country might lose some of the billions of dollars in remittances sent home annually; and some jobless deportees could swell the ranks of drug cartels, sparking more violence.
Trump’s first ambassador: Barack Obama (Politico)
ATHENS — There was a time, a week ago, when the Obama White House was focused on questions like who would take over tending to the first lady's vegetable garden.
Health and Biotech
Hospital Stocks Tenet Healthcare Corp. and Community Health Systems Are Surging — Here's Why (Fool.com)
Shares of some of the nation's largest hospital operators, including Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC)and Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH), are surging. Shares of Tenet were up as much as 14% during Monday's trading session, while Community Health Systems spiked higher by as much as 11%.
Superagers with amazing memories have Alzheimer’s brain plaques (New Scientist)
Having an agile mind in your 90s might sound like wishful thinking, but some people manage to retain youthful memories until their dying days. Now post mortems have revealed that these “superagers” manage to do this even when their brains have the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s diseases.
Blood from human teens rejuvenates body and brains of old mice (New Scientist)
Blood plasma from young people has been found to rejuvenate old mice, improving their memory, cognition, and physical activity. The method has the potential to be developed into a treatment for people, says Sakura Minami of Alkahest, the company behind the work.
Life on the Home Planet
Air strike hits third Syrian hospital in 24 hours: monitor (Reuters)
An air strike hit a hospital in the rebel-held Syrian village of Awaijel, west of Aleppo killing at least one person in the early hours of Tuesday, a day after attacks on two other hospitals in the region, a war monitor said.
Iraq says Islamic State dislodged from a third of eastern Mosul (Reuters)
Iraqi forces have dislodged Islamic State from one third of the eastern side of Mosul, an interior ministry spokesman said on Tuesday, four weeks into the U.S-backed campaign to take back the city.
Outcry as China executes symbol of injustice Jia Jinglong (The Guardian)
Chinese authorities faced a bitter outcry after executing a villager who became a symbol of injustices endured by the country’s disenfranchised masses.
Fragments of a suspected Chinese rocket have crash-landed next to a village in Myanmar (Science Alert)
A huge metal cylinder that looks like it could be part of a Chinese rocket has crash-landed next to a village in Myanmar, luckily not injuring or killing anyone in its path.
