Financial Markets and Economy
Gulf Stocks Advance as Investors Await Outcome of OPEC Gathering (Bloomberg)
Most Gulf stocks rose as investors weighed the prospect of a deal between oil producers to cut supply, potentially shoring up prices of the region’s biggest export.
Leaving the European Union exposes the Scotch whisky industry to international trade tariffs and uncertainty over exports, according to research by investment bank Macquarie.
A $430 Billion Mortgage-Bond Market Shrugs Off the Trump Effect (Bloomberg)
Donald Trump may have frightened off global bond investors, but the world’s largest mortgage-backed covered-bond market is shrugging off the specter of a real estate mogul with big spending plans running the U.S.
Hedge Funds Stop Shorting Danish Cement Firm Hit by Trump Flurry (Bloomberg)
FLSmidth & Co. A/S was among Europe’s most-shorted stocks last year. Now, hedge funds are abandoning their bets against the company as Donald Trump’s surprise election win has investors bracing for a construction boom that could revive an industry battered by years of hardship.
Europe's biggest bank by assets, HSBC thinks that it is highly unlikely Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will resign his post, regardless of the outcome of next week's much-anticipated Italian referendum on constitutional reforms.
China Issuing ‘Strict Controls’ on Overseas Investment (The Wall Street Journal)
BEIJING—China plans to clamp tighter controls on Chinese companies seeking to invest overseas, intensifying efforts to slow a surge in capital fleeing offshore amid tepid growth and an uncertain economic outlook.
Even If OPEC Gets a Deal, It Risks Reviving Battered Oil Rivals (Bloomberg)
Three days from a crucial meeting, OPEC’s deal to curb oil production and end years of global oversupply hangs in the balance. But even if ministers hash out a meaningful accord on Wednesday, there are dangers for the oil-exporter club.
What Fidel Castro’s death could mean for investors (Market Watch)
For years, analysts have awaited the passing of Fidel Castro as the watershed moment that would launch a new era in U.S.-Cuban trade relations and open the island to investors.
Germany Braces for Trump’s Trade Policies (The Wall Street Journal)
FRANKFURT—Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, after a campaign attacking free trade, has companies in Europe’s biggest exporting nation scrambling to tally up the impact.
Bank of England to reveal stress test results for UK's biggest banks (The Guardian)
The Bank of England is due to provide a snapshot of the strength of Britain’s biggest lenders after assessing their resilience to a dramatic economic downturn and sharp fall in house prices.
Oil Industry Anticipates Day of Reckoning (The Wall Street Journal)
This month, European oil company MOL Group delivered a stark message to investors: Demand for fuel in its key markets is bound to fall.
So-called peak oil demand is a mind-bending scenario that global producers such as Royal Dutch Shell PLC and state-owned Saudi Aramco are beginning to quietly anticipate.
Trading Market Flows by Sustaining the Flow State (Trader Feed)
The flow state is one in which we become highly absorbed in our activities, losing a sense of time and experiencing deep pleasure. A great example of flow comes from the drumming movie mentioned in the previous post.
Companies
Silicon Valley Bank is thinking about removing names from résumés to prevent unconscious bias against job candidates (Business Insider)
Silicon Valley Bank, a bank that offers a range of financial services tailored towards technology and life science businesses, is considering whether to remove names from job candidates' résumés in a bid to prevent unconscious bias from its recruiters.
Technology
Could Amazon Be Nearing Global Domination With Souq.com Acquisition? (Digital Trends)
Now that it’s selling just about everything in the world (from Fiat Chryslers to its own fashion brand), it wants to be everywhere in the world, too. As per a new report from Bloomberg, Amazon is in negotiations to acquired Souq.com FZ, a Dubai-based ecommerce giant.
Google's New Feature May Drive Customers Away 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?
1 – Google’s new feature may be a problem for bars and restaurants.
Chinese Tech Giant Huawei’s Latest Smartphone Faces Frosty U.S. Reception (The Wall Street Journal)
A Chinese technology giant, whose telecom networking equipment is shut out of the U.S. due to security concerns, is bringing its high-end smartphone to American consumers for the first time.
Bioprinting Is One Step Closer to Making a Human Kidney (Singularity Hub)
Bioprinting has been all over the news in the past several years with headline-worthy breakthroughs like printed human skin, synthetic bones, and even a fully functional mouse thyroid gland.
Oh, What A Tangled Web: Uni Matrix Will Solve All Your Charging And Organizational Needs (Digital Trends)
By 2020, it’s expected that the average person will have at least four connected devices. And that means (in addition to a lot of distraction), a whole lot of cords. And if the thought of tangled wires tangles your heartstrings, don’t worry — Uni Matrix is here to help.
Can tech save the rhino? (CNet)
Look closer, and the numbers become even more disheartening. The western black rhino was officially declared extinct in 2011. Three of the five remaining species aren't far behind: Just 58 to 61 Javan rhinos and fewer than 100 Sumatran rhinos now live in the wild. Armed guards in Kenya constantly protect the last three northern white rhinos on the planet.
Relax, artificial intelligence isn’t coming for your job (Tech Crunch)
There is a pervasive underlying fear from generations raised on dystopian science fiction that artificial intelligence and robotics will be the undoing of humankind.
Malware uses Facebook and LinkedIn images to hijack your PC (Engadget)
Malware doesn't always have to attack your computer through browser- or OS-based exploits. Sometimes, it's the social networks themselves that can be the problem. Researchers at Check Point have discovered that a variant of known ransomware, Locky, is taking advantage of flaws in the way Facebook and LinkedIn (among others) handle images in its bid to infect your PC.
Politics
Danish Government Set to Expand Into Coalition of Three Parties (Bloomberg)
Denmark’s minority government is set to expand into a three-party coalition as Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen seeks a broader base from which to create policy.
The Liberal Alliance is planning to join a coalition led by Rasmussen’s Liberal Party, spokeswoman Inger Schroll-Fleischer said by phone on Sunday.
‘A recipe for scandal’: Trump conflicts of interest point to constitutional crisis (The Guardian)
Constitutional lawyers and White House ethics counsellors from Democratic and Republican administrations have warned Donald Trump his presidency might be blocked by the electoral college if he does not give up ownership of at least some of his business empire.
Donald Trump Seethes at Jill Stein's Recount Effort: 'Nothing Will Change' (Fortune)
He also took aim at Democrats
Donald Trump continued to criticize the election recount effort by Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein via Twitter on Sunday.
Even Obama Slams Stein's Recounts: The Results "Accurately Reflect The Will Of The American People" (Zero Hedge)
Jill Stein's credibility seems to be sinking fast as both the Obama administration and the Clinton campaign have released statements this morning indicating they've failed to uncover a single shred of election hacking evidence.
Falwell says Trump Offered Him Education Secretary Job (Associated Press)
But he declined due to his family life, duties at Liberty University.
Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. says President elect-Donald Trump offered him the job of education secretary, but that he turned it down for personal reasons.
Trump to scrap Nasa climate research in crackdown on ‘politicized science’ (The Guardian)
Donald Trump is poised to eliminate all climate change research conducted by Nasa as part of a crackdown on “politicized science”, his senior adviser on issues relating to the space agency has said.
The US government is already quietly backing out of its promise to phase out private prisons (Quartz)
Critics have long denounced private prisons in the US as unsafe, inefficient and at times, inhumane. Those critics, who include inmates and activists, seemed to find a powerful ally earlier this year when the Department of Justice announced it would phase out its use of private prisons for federal prisoners.
Trump adviser warns him not to pick Romney for Secretary of State (Reuters)
An internal dispute among Donald Trump's advisers broke out into the open on Sunday when his campaign manager warned that the president-elect could face an intense backlash from supporters if he chose Mitt Romney to be his secretary of state.
We Weren’t Living in a Fool’s Paradise. America Has Changed. (The Huffington Post)
In some ways, this election does reveal something that had been hidden. “Who knew…?” A kind of darkness has been gathering for a while that Trump’s campaign and now his election have made more visible.
Donald Trump Slams Hillary Clinton’s ‘Sad’ Recount In Series Of Tweets (The Huffington Post)
In typical Trump fashion, he posted a series of tweets early Sunday morning that painted Clinton as a hypocrite because she’d previously criticized Trump’s stunning admission that he may not accept the results of the election.
Health and Biotech
Sugar And Your Health: How The Sugar Industry Influenced Scientific Research (International Business Times)
In the summer of 1969, Dr. Richard Greulich, the scientific director of the National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR), stood in front of the Sugar Industry Research Foundation (SIRF) sponsored symposium to discuss how to eliminate tooth decay and assured his audience it wouldn’t have anything to do with reducing sugar consumption.
Life on the Home Planet
Israeli air strike kills four Islamic State-linked gunmen on Golan (Reuters)
Israeli aircraft killed four Islamic State-linked gunmen on Sunday after they fired mortars and shot at troops patrolling along the occupied Golan Heights, the military said.
Qatar Will Arm Syrian Rebels Regardless Of Trump's Policies (Newsweek)
Qatar will continue to arm Syrian rebels even if Donald Trump ends U.S. backing for the multinational effort, Doha's foreign minister said in an interview, signaling its determination to pursue a policy the U.S. President-elect may abandon.
Why airplanes have tiny holes in the windows (Business Insider)
If you've ever sat in the window seat on a flight, you've probably noticed the tiny hole at the bottom of the window. We asked the FAA why it's there, and they assured us it's totally safe. Here's why there are tiny holes in airplane windows.
Hundreds displaced in east Aleppo as Syrian army advances (Reuters)
Hundreds of residents of rebel-held eastern Aleppo fled shifting frontlines, sources said on Sunday, after an advance by the Syrian army and allied forces that rebels fear could split their most important urban stronghold in two.
Iraqi forces grind on in east Mosul as political rift opens over Shi'ite militias (Reuters)
Iraq's sectarian political leaders have plunged back into a dispute over the status of Shi'ite armed groups, undermining efforts to reunite the country as its troops press on with the assault of Mosul, Islamic State's biggest stronghold.
