Financial Markets and Economy
Oil, metals, developed equities best performers of 2016; emerging markets struggle (Reuters)
Oil was the world's best-performing asset class in 2016, after being the worst in each of the two previous years.
Brent crude LCOc1 was on track for a gain of around 50 percent, following a 35 percent tumble in 2015.
Euro Jumps 1.6 Percent in Minutes as Algo Orders Surprise Market (Bloomberg)
The sudden move started under $1.05 and algorithmic orders snowballed above that level, causing what little liquidity there was on the year’s last trading day to vanish, according to foreign-exchange traders.
Chinese IPOs Post Record 392% Gains as Rest of Market Languishes (Bloomberg)
It’s been a tough year for China’s stock traders — apart from those who conquered 1-in-2,500 odds to get a slice of an initial public offering.
Oil in 2017 seen capped below $60/barrel by strong dollar, U.S. shale: Reuters poll (Reuters)
Oil prices will gradually rise toward $60 per barrel by the end of 2017, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday, with further upside capped by a strong dollar, a likely recovery in U.S. oil output and possible non-compliance by OPEC with agreed cuts.
China to Abandon 6.5% Economic Growth Goal by 2018, SocGen Says (Bloomberg)
China is poised to abandon its 6.5 percent growth target sometime in the next two years as leaders push to contain asset bubbles and financial leverage, according to Societe Generale SA.
Income inequality is off the charts: Can local policies make a difference? (In These Times)
The income gap between the classes is growing at a startling rate in the United States. In 1980, the top 1 percent earned on average 27 times more than workers in the bottom 50 percent. Today, they earn 81 times more.
Wall Street Treads Water as Bank Stocks Fall (Reuters)
U.S. equities have stalled in recent days after rallying in the wake of Donald Trump's Nov. 8 election as U.S. president. Investors are betting on benefits from Trump's plans to cut taxes and regulations and introduce fresh economic stimulus.
China’s Yuan Is Set to Have Its Biggest Annual Loss Since 1994 (Fortune)
China's yuan firmed against the dollar on Friday after the central bank fixed a much stronger midpoint, but the currency is on course to be the worst performing major Asian currency this year and have its biggest annual loss since 1994.
Gold Lures Investors Worried About Trade Wars and Trump Tweets (Bloomberg)
While the precious metal has always been hoarded in times of trouble, a bevy of political and economic surprises in 2016 sparked a surge in buying that sent bullion to the first annual gain in four years. Prices may rally 12 percent in 2017, according to a Bloomberg survey of 26 analysts.
Still can’t shake the wage gap: Income inequality is a major economic measure that hasn’t gotten betterThe U.S stock market may be at record highs and U.S. unemployment at its lowest level since the Great Recession, but income inequality remains stubbornly high.
U.S. Steel to Restart Idled Plant, Call Back 202 Employees (Bloomberg)
U.S. Steel Corp. said it will restart production at an idled plant and call back employees following an agreement to supply iron-ore pellets to third-party customers.
Saudi Non-Oil Economy Suffered as Kingdom Cuts Spending: Chart (Bloomberg)
Saudi Arabia’s austerity drive to counter the impact of low oil prices came at a cost. Domestic demand has been hurt by lower spending on infrastructure projects and cuts in public servants’ bonuses, leaving economic growth dependent on the oil sector.
China’s Film Fever Cools (The Wall Street Journal)
BEIJING—China’s highflying box office got a reality check in 2016, as cutbacks in discounted tickets and a crackdown on “ghost screenings” led to a sharp decline in cinema-revenue growth.
Easing China’s Housing Bubble Has Unintended Side Effects (Bloomberg)
In China’s two-speed property market, prescriptions for deflating big-city bubbles are having unintended side-effects in smaller towns.
How Not to Build a Supermall: $5 Billion, 5 Governors, 3 Developers, and 15 Years (Bloomberg)
Don Ghermezian wants to pitch us on the American Dream, but he has a few conditions. First, we’re not allowed to record his eight-minute presentation. Second, we can ask him only a few questions, at the end. Third, if they’re about his family, he won’t say much
China Builds Out the Air as Frustrations Mount Below (NY Times)
BEIJING — An angry mob ransacks a terminal. A frustrated passenger tries to leave the plane while it taxis. A pilot, who has had it up to here, advises fliers to leave the plane and mill about the tarmac — and they do.
India aims to revive oil, gas output in pursuit of energy security (S&P Global Platts)
India is making a concerted effort to lower its reliance on imported crudes with the government focused on boosting domestic production, promoting renewables and improving the refining process, at a time of increasing demand.
A Tale of Two Housing Markets: Hot and Not So Hot (Of Two Minds)
Though housing statistics such as average sales price are typically lumped into one national number, this is extremely misleading: there are two completely different housing markets in the U.S. One is hot, one is not so hot.
India's money mess could get worse (Associated Press)
Fifty days ago, India yanked most of its currency from circulation without warning, jolting the economy and leaving most citizens scrambling for cash.
Here are the most traded currencies in 2016 (Visual Capitalist)
Have you ever wondered which currencies receive the most trading action? The data for the following chart comes from a survey done every three years by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS).
How Higher Interest Rates Can Cause a Stock Market Crash (Money Morning)
The news surrounding the Fed this month had many investors wondering how higher interest rates can cause a stock market crash.
Stagnation: M2 Money Velocity Continues Falling To All-Time Lows! (Confounded Interest)
M2 Money Velocity is the frequency at which one unit of currency is used to purchase domestically- produced goods and services within a given time period. It is measured by looking at the change in nominal GDP compared to the change in M2 money stock.
Dollar Flash Crashes On Last Trading Day Of 2016 (Zero Hedge)
It is oddly appropriate that in a year everyone finally admitted markets are manipulated by central banks and broken by HFT algos, that on the last trading day of 2016, the dollar flash crashed with for no reason whatsoever.
Where Are All The World's Billionaires? (Zero Hedge)
Billionaires are the richest of the rich. Many young entrepreneurs hope to one-day reach this ultimate financial milestone. But before these entrepreneurs are allowed to join this group, they first must ask how did billionaires acquire their wealth in the first place?
Technology
Uber Slayer: How China’s Didi Beat the Ride-Hailing Superpower (Bloomberg)
At the Beijing offices of the ride-hailing startup Didi, many employees refer to Cheng Wei, the founder and chief executive officer, as laoda, or “big boss.” Others use his English nickname, Will.
An iPhone’s Journey, From the Factory Floor to the Retail Store (NY Times)
The iPhone is Apple’s most profitable and best-selling product. More than a billion have been sold since the first one was released.
It looks like next year’s Galaxy S8 won’t even be as powerful as this year’s iPhone 7 (BGR)
Next year’s top smartphones are supposed to ship with a brand new generation of processors — if all goes well — which should make them significantly faster than any smartphone or tablet launched in 2016.
CRISPR ‘Off Switch’ Discovered, Could Make Powerful Gene-Editing Tool More Precise (International Business Times)
One of the key hurdles in using CRISPR-Cas9 as a genetic engineering tool is its lack of precision. Every now and then, CRISPR-Cas9, which evolved in bacteria as part of their defense mechanism against invading viruses, can cause unintended changes that result in unforeseen side-effects in the targeted cells.
Why Energy May Soon Be Free Thanks To Solar, Wind, Storage And Big Data (Core Spirit)
Google and Apple both have licences to trade energy while Microsoft has been busy developing new technology. Paying for energy could soon become a thing of the past if analysts at Citi, a global investment bank, are to be believed.
Samsung’s new curved monitor coming to CES is somewhat tailored for gamers (Tech Crunch)
Right before the New Year begins — and with it, CES — tech companies tend to out many of their upcoming wares before the show even starts. Take Samsung for example, with their new CH711 quantum dot curved monitor.
This Year Microsoft, Not Apple, Built The Hardware We Didn't Know We Wanted (Digital Trends)
Microsoft’s Surface Studio introduction video has blown well past 10 million views on YouTube. That’s an impressive achievement for what’s essentially an advertisement for a very expensive, very niche PC.
Nikon and Verily team up to fight diabetes-related eye disease (Engadget)
Verily, Google's former Life Sciences division, teamed up with a French pharmaceutical company to help treat diabetes just a few months ago. Now, it has joined forces with Nikon to enhance the screening process for diabetic retinopathy and macular edema — diabetes-related eye diseases and two of the leading causes of blindness in adults.
Politics
New York's incredibly expensive new subway explains why we can't have nice things (Business Insider)
As President-elect Donald Trump is about to take office having promised a burst of infrastructure spending, it's worth taking a look at the newest, shiniest piece of infrastructure in Manhattan and what it says about why it's so hard to get anything big built in major American cities.
GOP Readies Swift Obamacare Repeal With No Replacement Ready (Bloomberg)
The first major act of the unified Republican government in 2017 will be a vote in Congress to begin tearing down Obamacare.
Most powerful photographs of 2016 (Politico)
What’s changed since this time last year? Britain is leaving the European Union, and no one is quite sure what comes next. U.S. President Barack Obama is leaving the White House, clearing a path for Donald Trump. Refugees continue to flee war zones, risking life and limb for a future that is at best uncertain.
Trump deportation plan could be ‘impossible’ (Politico)
Donald Trump is pledging to deport two to three million gang members, drug dealers and other criminals who are in the U.S. illegally. But people who’ve actually run the nation’s immigration enforcement agencies say it can’t be done — at least not without spending billions and taking years.
Donald Trump’s Political Supporters Need to Hold Him to Account (The Huffington Post)
The unexpected outcome of last month’s election loosed the horrors of the liberal imagination. The America that we all “knew” to exist doesn’t. “They” are coming to round up all of society’s victims.
Health and Biotech
Everything You Need to Know About Gene Therapy’s Most Promising Year (MIT Technology Review)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it’s any treatment in which a replacement gene is added to a person’s body or a disease-causing one is inactivated. That’s usually done by adding new instructions to cells via billions of viruses stuffed with correct DNA strands.
Do humans actually need milk and dairy products in adulthood? (Science Alert)
A lot of people will have already made up their mind about whether humans need dairy in their diet and will be thinking that the answer is obviously "yes" or obviously "no". But nutrition is based on science not opinion – so, here’s the latest research on the matter.
Life on the Home Planet
'Air Rage' Forces Delta Flight to Land as Cases Soar (NBC News)
Two passengers on a plane flying from Minneapolis to Los Angeles Thursday created such a powerful ruckus that they forced the pilot to turn around — serving as a reminder of the soaring cases of "air rage."
Canada Named Best Travel Destination In 2017 By Lonely Planet (Forbes)
It seems that every election season American interest in Canada spikes and this year is no different. But our northern neighbor can offer more than just political refuge.
Five Years of Drought (Adventures In Mapping)
This method has been used more recently to map the past six months of drought afflicting the southeastern United States.
A rare comet is zooming past Earth right now, and you should be able to see it with binoculars (Science Alert)
Forget the New Year's Eve fireworks, NASA has announced that a comet currently zooming through the inner Solar System will be so bright over the next week that we should be able to see it in the night sky with binoculars.
Iraqi forces face Islamic State car bombs, fierce resistance in south Mosul (Reuters)
Iraqi forces faced car bombs and fierce resistance from Islamic State militants in southern Mosul on Friday, the second day of a renewed push to take back the city after fighting stalled for several weeks.
