Financial Markets and Economy
To Be a Great Investor, Worry More About Being Wrong Than Right (The Wall Street Journal)
If all you learn from the stunning surprises of 2016 is that the unexpected will happen, you haven’t learned nearly enough. Great investors like practice trying to disprove their investing assumptions to determine whether they are correct.
Retail pay drops sharply in 2016 (The Guardian)
Advertised salaries fell 2.7% in the year to November, with the biggest drop in wages hitting workers in the retail sector, according to a new report.
European Stocks Power Into New Year on Strength of Manufacturers (Bloomberg)
European stocks advanced in the first trading day of 2017, carrying forward their surge from December as Italy’s better-than-expected economic data added to evidence of stronger manufacturing in the region.
State Bank of India cuts lending rate by 90 bps across maturities (Reuters)
State Bank of India, the country's biggest lender by assets, said on Sunday it had cut its lending rates by 90 basis points for maturities ranging from overnight to three-year tenures, after experiencing a surge in deposits.
Where the Next Crisis Will Come From (Bloomberg)
Next year ends in a 7. If you’re superstitious or a little loose with statistics, that makes us due for another financial crisis. The biggest one-day stock drop in Wall Street history happened in 1987.
Swiss Are Frank About Their Love of Cash (The Wall Street Journal)
ZURICH—Not long ago, Tom O’Hara walked into a used car dealership in Ponte Tresa, Switzerland, and forked over the equivalent of nearly $13,000 in cash for a 1999 Porsche Boxster. It was just one of three cars that Mr. O’Hara, a onetime American and current Swiss citizen, paid for in cash in 2015.
They’re Not Jamie Dimon: Few CEOs Bought Their Own Stock in ’16 (Bloomberg)
Insiders at a majority of S&P 500 Index companies didn’t purchase any of their firm’s shares in the open market this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, a far cry from the $26.6 million Dimon shelled out for JPMorgan Chase & Co. equity.
Oil prices should be a lot lower than where they are now (OilPrice.com)
Oil prices continue to edge up as 2016 comes to a close, a dramatic turnaround for the industry compared to the start of the year.
Italy Might Leave Euro Says Leading German Economist – Probably It Should Too (Forbes)
One of the leading German economists has suggested that Italy might leave the euro. The point being made by Clemens Fuest, of the Institute for Economic Research, is that the constraints of the euro have meant that Italian living standards have not risen since 2000.
Italy's December manufacturing PMI rises to six-month high (Reuters)
Jan 2 Italian manufacturing activity grew in December at its fastest rate since June, a survey showed on Monday, signaling an acceleration in economic growth at the end of the year.
Climate change is going to be very bad for the global economy (MIT Technology Review)
Extreme heat, it turns out, is very bad for the economy. Crops fail. People work less, and are less productive when they do work.
Chinese Airlines Are Flooding the World With Super-Cheap Airfares (Bloomberg)
Killing four empty hours at Guangzhou airport waiting for a China Southern connection to Sydney may not be everyone’s idea of fun. For Gina Capella, it was a no-brainer.
Second Avenue Subway’s Arrival Brings Fear That Rents Will Soar (NY Times)
Few cities in the world are as closely linked to their subways as New York City — the vast network helped shape the city and now carries nearly six million people a day.
Here are Barron's top ideas for income investors in 2017 (Seeking Alpha)
Depressed European stocks: "Valuations have gotten more reasonable and dividend yields are ample, especially relative to ultralow or even negative yields on European government bonds."
Where to Find Yield (Barron's Asia)
Income-oriented investors have plenty of choices going into 2017, following the selloff in the bond market and rate-sensitive areas of the stock market during the second half of 2016.
Don’t Overlook the Small Brands You Already Own (Harvard Business Review)
In our most recent Breakthrough Innovation Report, Taddy Hall and I cite that 49 percent of the growth in U.S. food and beverage over the last four years is coming from twenty thousand companies below the top one hundred largest companies.
Sunday Humor – 2017 Wall Street Year End Price Targets (Zero Hedge)
A couple years ago I noticed a strange phenomenon that occurs around the end of each year – and the beginning of each new year.
3 Recommendations for Fund Companies Not Named Vanguard (Morning Star)
Earlier this week, I was asked to give my 2017 outlook for the fund industry. My reply: "It will be like 2016, but more so." Just as 2016 was 2015 writ large, and 2015 expanded on 2014.
How Hedge Funds Closed Out 2016, And Why Hopes For A 2017 Rebound May Disappoint (Zero Hedge)
2016 was a year most hedge funds would be happy to forget. And while the same goes for 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010, in fact virtually every year since the financial crisis in which the vast majority of the two and twenty crowd have failed to generate alpha, in 2016 – a year many said would mark a renaissance for active managers – the "flash hedge fund return" according to a report by BofA's Paul Ciana from Friday was a paltry 3.34%, which as BofA conveniently calculated meant they "underperforming the S&P500 index by 6.2%" at which point your average underperforming hedge fund manager complains that they shouldn't be benchmarked against the S&P, even as the redemption notices flood in and the AUM gets ever smaller.
Companies
Nifty snaps four-day rally; bank stocks hit (Reuters)
Nifty ended lower on Monday in the first trading session of 2017, snapping a four-session winning streak as banks fell on worries their profitability would be hit after reducing lending rates.
Technology
Toyota's hydrogen-powered car wants to be the alternative to plug-ins, but there's one major drawback (Business Insider)
Right now, if you want an alternative-fuel vehicle, you have to pick from offerings that either require gasoline or an electrical outlet. The gas-electric hybrid and the battery-powered car — your Toyota Priuses, Chevy Volts, and Teslas — are staples in this space. There are drawbacks for drivers of both types.
Apple in 2017: What’s next for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch & Apple TV this year (9To5Mac)
It’s officially 2017 and we’re already looking forward to what Apple has in store over the next twelve months. This year will mark the 10th anniversary of the iPhone, and the grand opening of Apple’s ‘Spaceship’ Campus 2 headquarters in Cupertino where it will host events at a new 1000 seat auditorium, and that’s before we even get to actual products.
5 major technologies killed by Silicon Valley in 2016 (MIT Technology Review)
At MIT Technology Review we try to keep you informed as new technologies and products emerge. But just as important as the new things that are born are the old things that die. And in 2016, we saw several high-profile tech ideas die in Silicon Valley.
France gives workers 'right to disconnect' from office email (CNN)
A new labor law that took effect on Sunday gives employees the "right to disconnect" from email, smartphones and other electronic leashes once their working day has ended.
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Samsung could finally reveal what caused the Galaxy Note7 to catch fire (Mashable Asia)
Samsung plans to share the results of an investigation into what caused the Galaxy Note7 smartphone to catch fire, according to South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo. The much anticipated results will be made public sometime this month, the report adds.
Pics or it didn't happen: welcome to the post-reality world in 2017 (Wired)
Post-reality saved me the other day when I was getting a new phone at the Apple Store. The primary account holder, my father, needed to be there in person (it's standard store policy), so I FaceTimed him – and it worked.
The Year in Technology: 2016 in Charts (Bloomberg)
For the first time this year, technology companies at times held each of the top five spots of the world's most valuable public companies.
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Brain activity is too complicated for humans to decipher. Machines can decode it for us. (Vox)
In 2011, the lab showed it was possible to recreate movie clips just from observing the brain activity of people watching movies. Using a computer to regenerate the images of a film just by scanning the brain of a person watching one is, in a sense, mind reading.
Systematic 'Fake News' Planted By Britain's Intelligence Services (True Publica)
The media are overwhelming owned and controlled by billionaires and gargantuan corporations, who depend on the support of other corporations for ad revenue, and employ journalists from a narrow, privileged class whose careers depend on maintaining access to elite sources.
The 7 big trends that will dominate CES 2017 (CNet)
Around 200,000 people are about to converge on Las Vegas for the technology industry's biggest showcase of the year. This is the trade show's 50th anniversary, and the show floor will be jam-packed with products and services that would've been dismissed as science fiction back in 1967: everything from self-driving cars to voice-controlled personal assistants to swarms of flying camera drones.
You only have two weeks left to buy a Tesla with free supercharging (Engadget)
A few months ago, Tesla gave its customers the bad news: new buyers will have to pay for their own electricity. It was a small surprise, considering the fact that free use of Tesla's Supercharger network was a big bonus for buying the company's vehicles.
Politics
Donald Trump’s corporate tax amnesia: Repatriation didn’t work in 2004, and it won’t work in 2017 (Salon)
Although not widely discussed, President-elect Donald Trump’s economic plan includes an estimated $2.6 trillion repatriation proposal very similar to the one that was passed by President George W. Bush in 2004 — and which didn’t do what it was supposed to do.
Obama Plans Farewell Speech From Chicago (NY Times)
President Obama will give a farewell address next week from Chicago, his hometown, most likely his last chance to defend his legacy directly to the country before Donald J. Trump is sworn in, the White House announced on Monday.
Dave Barry’s Year in Review: Trump and the ‘hideous monstrosity’ that was 2016 (The Washington Post)
They will have a point. Over the past few decades, we here at the Year in Review have reviewed some pretty disturbing years. For example, there was 2000, when the outcome of a presidential election was decided by a tiny group of deeply confused Florida residents who had apparently attempted to vote by chewing on their ballots.
President-elect Donald Trump says that “no computer is safe” when it comes to keeping information private, expressing new skepticism about the security of online communications his administration is likely to use for everything from day-to-day planning to international relations.
Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Made over $420,000 Selling Access to the President-elect on New Year's Eve (Teen Vogue)
On Friday, Trump's incoming White House press secretary told reporters that the party was "sold out," with over 800 guests expected at the event. That's more than $420,000 made off of dinner, dancing, and access to the incoming President of the United States.
Life on the Home Planet
ISIS Claims Responsibility for Istanbul Nightclub Attack (NY Times)
The Islamic State on Monday issued a rare claim of responsibility for an attack in Turkey after a New Year’s Day shooting at an Istanbul nightclub that killed at least 39 people, describing the gunman who carried out the assault — and who has not been identified or captured — as “a hero soldier of the caliphate.”
Prankster alters LA's landmark sign to read 'Hollyweed' (Reuters)
Residents awoke on Sunday to find "Hollyweed" staring down at them in four-story, white letters from Los Angeles' Mount Lee, where a version of the picture-ready "Hollywood" sign was first erected in 1923.
Becoming Michael Lewis (The Washington Post)
Let me confess that my natural inclination, when asked to write an essay on Michael Lewis, was to dredge up some of the tales of his misbehavior as a kid and reveal what a miscreant he actually is.
I Hereby Resolve … (Bloomberg)
My main New Year’s resolution for 2017 is pretty much the same as always: Stop eating Christmas cookies, cut back on the drinking and get back to the gym. This resolve tends to stick for much of the year — only during the next holiday season does everything invariably fall apart again.
Leave the High Seas to the Fish (Bloomberg)
The high seas — all that deep water beyond 200 nautical miles from a coastline — are this planet’s last frontier. And like all previous frontiers, they’re ripe for plunder. But there may be a surprisingly simple solution to the scourge of overfishing on the high seas: a ban on commercial fishing in international waters.
Titanic sank due to enormous uncontrollable fire, not iceberg, experts claim (Independent)
The sinking of the RMS Titanic may have been caused by an enormous fire on board, not by hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic, experts have claimed, as new evidence has been published to support the theory.
