Financial Markets and Economy
Fed officials see quick economic boost from Trump, risks to follow (Reuters)
Federal Reserve officials cautioned on Thursday that the fiscal and tax plans sketched out by the incoming Trump administration could trade a short-term economic boost for longer-run inflation and debt problems they might have to counteract.
Dow 20000, Maybe Never (The Wall Street Journal)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has been on the cusp of breaking 20000 for so long that whoever owns the cusp should be charging rent.
Hints of Fear in Bank Stock Options Ahead of Earnings (The Wall Street Journal)
As earnings season kicks off this week, the options market is signaling that a pause may be looming for the euphoric rally in bank stocks.
Here's Why 2017 Could Be The Best Year In Wall Street History (Forbes)
Bank stocks have surged nearly 30% since Election Day as investors position for a mix of higher interest rates, stronger growth, and a rollback of some crisis-era regulations under President-elect Donald Trump.
FTSE 100 extends historic record run and pound regains momentum as markets digest retail bonanza (The Telegraph)
US President-elect Donald Trump continued to drive market sentiment for a second consecutive trading session, propelling gold miners highers while pharma stocks sank to new depths.
Gold Is Cheap, Just Look At These Charts (Forbes)
Over the last year, gold has dropped in price and stocks have rallied in price. Consider what this may mean in terms of their relationship shown on this first chart.
Bitcoin is charging higher (Business Insider)
Early selling pushed bitcoin down nearly 5% to $752.46 per coin. But buyers emerged at one-month lows early on in US trade, and have been in control throughout the session.
Goldman Sachs says millennials didn't inherit a spending habit companies have capitalized on for years (Business Insider)
Millennials tend to do a lot of things differently than their parents. They'd rather pay for an Uber than a new outfit. They're cutting cable. And, apparently, they hate napkins.
9 of the world’s largest megaprojects that are under construction (Visual Capitalist)
There is no blueprint or shortcut for building a world-changing megaproject. In fact, each one must be designed and built from the ground up, often amidst considerable amounts of red tape and criticism.
Banks: Do You Remember the Drill? (Market Chess)
A slew of bank earnings tomorrow morning, namely BAC JPM WFC, should set the one for markets into the three-day weekend.
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Here are the home improvements with the best payoff (Curbed)
We love stunning renovations and exquisite remodels as much as anyone, but even Chip and Joanna would know that money put into a reno isn’t a 1:1 investment in your home’s future price tag. Every year, researchers with Remodeling magazine study the most popular home improvement projects, polling contractors and realtors to find out which renovations produce the greatest impact on a home’s market value.
How the Most Successful Leaders Will Thrive in an Exponential World (Singularity Hub)
We live in challenging times. Geopolitical turmoil, local and national social unrest, cycles of deadly natural disasters, cyber hacks, rising distrust of media and tech companies—many recent disruptive events have taken us by surprise.
IWM & SPY in Precarious Near-Term Technical Positions (Slope Of Hope)
Both iShares Russell 2000 (IWM) and SPY (lower chart) are in tenuous technical positions right now.
In the past few weeks Mexico has witnessed an unprecedented spike in social violence caused by gasoline shortages and a 14 to 24-percent rise in prices.
VIX-Crushing, Panic-Buying Bounce Saves Stocks From Worst Day In 3 Months (Zero Hedge)
Small Caps (and briefly The Dow) sunk into the red for 2017… (NOTE: the moment Trannies and The Dow tagged unchanged for 2017 a miracle bid appeared).
Are Oil Speculators About To Get Lit Up Again? (Zero Hedge)
Speculators in crude oil futures are back near their “obscene” record net-long position set just prior to the 2014 collapse in oil prices.
Companies
Exxon ordered to turn over 40 years of climate change research (CNN Money)
ExxonMobil has lost a key battle in an investigation into whether the oil giant misled the public about the dangers of climate change. A Massachusetts judge ordered Exxon on Wednesday to hand over more than four decades of the company’s climate change research.
Exxon Knew Everything There Was to Know About Climate Change by the Mid-1980s—and Denied It (The Nation)
A few weeks before the last great international climate conference—2009, in Copenhagen—the e-mail accounts of a few climate scientists were hacked and reviewed for incriminating evidence suggesting that global warming was a charade.
Takata to pay $1 billion to settle U.S. air bag probe: sources (Reuters)
Japan's Takata Corp (7312.T) is expected to plead guilty to criminal wrongdoing as early as Friday as part of a $1 billion settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over its handling of air bag ruptures linked to 16 deaths worldwide, sources said.
Technology
He Helped Create the ‘Google Brain.’ Here’s What He Thinks About AI Now (TIME)
Trucks that can drive themselves along delivery routes. Computers capable of defeating world champions in a notoriously complex game. Apps that can translate sentences with near human-like accuracy.
New Smartphone Can 'See' Inside Objects (Forbes)
Manufactured by Chinese company Changhong, the “H2” is fitted with a dedicated molecular sensor which can discover, without physical contact, information such as the sugar content of fruit, the active ingredients in medicines or the contents of a drink.
Apple Sets Its Sights on Hollywood With Plans for Original Content (The Wall Street Journal)
Apple Inc. is planning to build a significant new business in original television shows and movies, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that could make it a bigger player in Hollywood and offset slowing sales of iPhones and iPads.
Google Maps’ redesigned ridesharing feature lets you hail an Uber without ever leaving the app (Tech Crunch)
Google today announced a small update to Google Maps that makes it easier to hail a ridesharing service like Uber, Lyft, Gett or Hailo from the app.
Fitness Bracelets May Warn of Serious Illness (Scientific American)
Geneticist Michael Snyder has long been a fan of studying himself. Looking into his own genetics, he realized five years ago that he was at high risk of developing diabetes despite his slim build and running habit.
Unlimited Data? No Overage Fees? Making Sense of Smartphone Plan Madness (The Wall Street Journal)
Raise your hand if you have a better idea where lost laundry socks go than where your cellphone-bill payments go. Raise your other hand if you were promised some super-simple, sharing-is-caring plan would clear everything up.
Why Deep Learning Is Suddenly Changing Your Life (Fortune)
Over the past four years, readers have doubtlessly noticed quantum leaps in the quality of a wide range of everyday technologies.
Fighting online trolls with bots (The Conversation)
The wonder of internet connectivity can turn into a horror show if the people who use online platforms decide that instead of connecting and communicating, they want to mock, insult, abuse, harass and even threaten each other.
She phubbs me, she phubbs me not: Smartphones could be ruining your love life (The Conversation)
The U.S. divorce rate hovers at 40 percent, but that’s not the whole story. Many intact relationships are on life support. According to a survey by the National Opinion Research Center, 60 percent of people in a relationship say they’re not very satisfied. There are some familiar culprits: money problems, bad sex and having kids.
Politics
Comey Letter on Clinton Email Is Subject of Justice Dept. Inquiry (NY Times)
The Justice Department’s inspector general said on Thursday that he would open a broad investigation into how the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, handled the case over Hillary Clinton’s emails, including his decision to discuss it at a news conference and to disclose 11 days before the election that he had new information that could lead him to reopen it.
Here's the 10-step process that the Republicans will use to repeal Obamacare (Business Insider)
Early Thursday morning, Senate Republicans kicked off what is expected to be a long, winding process of repealing the Affordable Care Act, the healthcare law better known as Obamacare.
Senate takes first step toward repealing ObamaCare (The Hill)
The Senate took a first step toward repealing ObamaCare and fulfilling a long-time campaign pledge in the early morning hours Thursday.
Christopher Steele, Ex-Spy Who Compiled Trump Dossier, Goes to Ground (NY Times)
Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence agent who prepared the dossier on Donald J. Trump’s supposed activities in Russia, has gone underground.
Donald Trump’s spectacular collapse: Full political meltdown, a week before taking office (Salon)
We haven’t performed a full search of the transcripts, but this week could very well mark the first time that an incoming president has successfully trampled Godwin’s Law.
PEOTUS Trump’s first presser was a PR stunt, because of course (Columbia Journalism Review)
When Donald Trump emerged from gold-plated elevator doors into a Trump Tower lobby Wednesday morning, so many of the journalists arrayed before him thrust their smartphones upward that us poor souls in the back could hardly catch a real-life glimpse.
Trump’s Defense nominee refuses to say the Israeli capital is Jerusalem (Think Progress)
President-elect Donald Trump’s Defense Secretary nominee, James Mattis, was asked on Thursday what the capital of Israel is. And he didn’t say Jerusalem.
ACA Repeal Would Lavish Medicare Tax Cuts on 400 Highest-Income Households (Center On Budget And Policy Priorities)
Republicans’ planned bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which is expected to be similar to the repeal bill that President Obama vetoed in January 2016, would provide an immediate windfall tax cut to the highest-income Americans while raising taxes significantly on about 7 million low- and moderate-income families.
Jeff Sessions and the Southern white man’s burden: His cluelessness is precisely the problem (Salon)
Even for those who closely follow politics and are used to the claims of victimhood constantly emanating from conservatives, one moment between Jeff Sessions and Sen. Lindsey Graham during Sessions’ confirmation hearing on Wednesday stood out. It came toward the end of 10 minutes of questions, when the two men gabbed like a couple of good ol’ boys sitting on the porch of the general store while a hound dog napped in the corner and flies swirled lazily around their heads.
Life on the Home Planet
Planet Nine could be a rogue planet that got captured by our Solar System (Science Alert)
Scientists are still trying to track down the exact location of the elusive Planet Nine – the hypothesised ninth planet of our Solar System that was proposed by scientists in January last year.
R.I.P. San Diego Chargers, The Move To L.A. Is Official (Forbes)
Rest in peace, San Diego Chargers. After 56 years, you’re about to move to Los Angeles. The announcement was made Thursday morning.
Where Did 'Planet Nine' Come From? (Popular Science)
A year ago, astronomers announced evidence for the existence of an undiscovered planet hiding out in the boonies of our solar system. Nobody's found the mystery world yet, but that hasn't stopped scientists from speculating about how such a planet could have gotten there.
China, Russia agree on more 'countermeasures' against U.S. anti-missile system: Xinhua (Reuters)
China and Russia have agreed to take further unspecified "countermeasures" in response to a U.S. plan to deploy an anti-missile system in South Korea, state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday.
No sign of seasonal dark matter after four years of searching (New Scientist)
Dark matter has just suffered another blow. Only one experiment claims to have seen signs of the mysterious stuff, and now the massive XENON100 experiment has failed to find any evidence for that signal. This may put the controversial signal to rest once and for all – but some say it’s not that simple.
