Financial Markets and Economy
Stock market’s most unloved shares send worrying signal (Market Watch)
If you’re the pessimistic type looking for an excuse to sell stocks, it may be lurking in short interest numbers, according to Bespoke Investing Group.
The price of food in the UK is going up and it shows how Brexit will make all Brits poorer (Business Insider)
It's all to do with inflation. For the last year or so, the UK has had very little consumer price inflation (CPI). That means any extra pay earned was kept by workers at its full value.
Kuwait Stocks Extend Advance as Banks Weigh on U.A.E. Markets (Bloomberg)
Kuwait’s main stock gauge, the Middle East’s best performer this year, rose for an eighth day, while shares in the United Arab Emirates fell as investors bet banks will boost provisions for bad loans.
Stocks need earnings to be flawless to keep Trump rally going (Market Watch)
An optimistic earnings season may run into the buzz saw of a self-fulfilling “sell the inauguration” prophecy if quarterly results are not near flawless in the coming week.
Oil’s Painful Cost-Squeeze Generates Output Dividend for Norway (Bloomberg)
Thanks to improvements from cheaper, faster drilling to greater regularity in the operation of production platforms, producers pumped 85,000 barrels a day more crude than expected during the past two years, or 6 percent above forecast, according to industry regulator, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.
Cutting Cash Would Be a Boon for the World’s Poor, Rogoff Says (Bloomberg)
The world’s poor stand to be among the “biggest beneficiaries” of the changes that would follow should cash become almost obsolete, according to Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard economy professor and the author of “The Curse of Cash.”
House price growth in once down-at-heel areas of London such as Hackney and Peckham has outpaced posh neighbourhoods such as Mayfair and Kensington since the financial crisis.
To Win Back Customers, Fashion House Fendi Thinks Small (The Wall Street Journal)
Fendi, the Italian fashion house that shot to fame and fortune on the Baguette bag only to be laid low by mismanagement, is hot again. And it is thanks to pompoms and shoulder straps.
Egypt Boosts Overseas Bond Sale Plan to As Much As $11 Billion (Bloomberg)
Egypt may issue international bonds worth as much as $11 billion within a year, almost double the previous target, as the government seeks to reduce its cost of funding and narrow the budget deficit.
Companies
Teen Retailer Wet Seal Explores Next Steps (The Wall Street Journal)
Less than two years after being sold out of bankruptcy, teen retailer Wet Seal LLC is exploring a liquidation or going-concern sale, among other options, according to people familiar with the matter.
Samsung Heir Meets Prosecutors: 22 Hours of Questioning and a $5 Lunch (The Wall Street Journal)
The heir to South Korea’s biggest business empire emerged from a marathon grilling by prosecutors Friday morning after 22 hours of questioning that included a $5 lunch box and a bowl of noodles.
Giorgio Armani 2016 Net Revenues Down Five Percent (Fortune)
Net revenues for Italian fashion group Giorgio Armani were down 5% last year and 2017 will continue to be "complicated" for the company, its founder Armani said on Saturday.
Technology
Twelve things you need to know about driverless cars (The Guardian)
From forecourt to scrapyard, a new car in the UK lasts an average of 13.9 years, which is why if you got one today, it might very well be the last car you buy.
Vegas Puts First Self-Driving Bus to Work on U.S. Public Street (Fortune)
A small autonomous bus called an Arma is running a short route along Las Vegas’ Fremont Street, marking, according to transit operator Keolis, the first time a self-driving bus has moved passengers on an American public road.
Windows 10 is about to get a high-performance Game Mode (Engadget)
Microsoft made a big fuss out of the Windows 10 Creators Update's gaming features, and it's nearly ready to start delivering on them… including some that have remained mysterious.
Amazon’s Echo seems great, but what does it hear? (The Guardian)
A few weeks ago, I bought Amazon’s latest gizmo – the Echo. It’s a voice-activated, networked device equipped with a seven-piece microphone array, which means that it can pick up one’s voice from anywhere in its vicinity with impressive accuracy.
Cellular Reprogramming Rejuvenates Old Mice and Boosts Lifespans 30% (Singularity Hub)
Using a process designed to “reprogram” normal adult cells into pluripotent stem cells—cells that can transform into many different kinds of cells—researchers have managed to boost the life spans of mice by up to 30% and rejuvenate some of their tissues.
Tech Found In Your Cellphone Could Cure Motion-Sickness And Save Lives (Popular Science)
On rough seas, a boat’s rocking can be more than uncomfortable—as “Deadliest Catch” participant Johnathan Hillstrand told the Seattle Times after a close call, “man overboard” is something you never want to hear.
Mini fire extinguishers inside lithium batteries may stop blazes (New Scientist)
How do you stop your smartphone from bursting into flames? Implant a tiny fire extinguisher inside the battery.
Lithium-ion batteries are used in phones, laptops and other portable devices because they are lightweight and highly efficient. However, they also carry a fire risk due to their flammable liquid components.
Technology can’t replace the human touch (Tech Crunch)
Everywhere you turn these days, there’s talk of automation replacing people. Technology is surely advancing at a rapid rate, and in today’s click-driven media environment, sensationalism sells, but just because tech can replace a human worker doesn’t mean we’re always going to want that.
Politics
Some of President-elect Donald Trump's picks for high-level positions in his administration this week split with him on key issues like trade, torture, and the US relationship with Iran and Russia.
Trump aides deny summit with Putin planned (Reuters)
Two top aides to President-elect Donald Trump denied a published report on Saturday that he is planning to hold a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin weeks after taking office.
Michael Gove secures first post-election UK interview with Trump (The Guardian)
Michael Gove, the former justice secretary and prominent leave campaigner, appears to have held a personal meeting with the US president-elect, Donald Trump, and written about it for the Times.
Marco Rubio’s vote is key for Secretary of State nominee (Market Watch)
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio has become the central figure in the Senate confirmation drama over President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the State Department, emerging as the key vote on confirming Rex Tillerson to the nation’s top diplomatic post.
Trump's Agenda Depends On His Relationships With Congress (The Conversion)
Will a Republican Congress grant President Donald Trump a path to easily confirming his nominees and turning his campaign promises into law? Not necessarily.
Trump slow to vet ultra-rich ambassador candidates (Politico)
Republican bundlers have been aggressively lobbying Donald Trump’s transition team for plum diplomatic posts in Western Europe — but so far have been met with almost no vetting, according to transition sources and top donors, despite the past business troubles of some contenders.
Writing in a new briefing this week, Gabriel Sterne and Melanie Rama of research house Oxford Economics argued that: "There is now sufficiently widespread backing for global populism that at least one further victory in a major economy is very likely in the next year or so, our analysis of populist policies and support in 20 large economies shows."
Peter Thiel considering bid for California governor (Politico)
Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire and outspoken Donald Trump supporter, is considering a 2018 bid for California governor, according to three Republicans familiar with his thinking.
Life on the Home Planet
Iraqi forces advance at Mosul University, take areas along Tigris: officials (Reuters)
Iraqi special forces drove back Islamic State militants in the Mosul University campus on Saturday, while elite police units took over large areas along the east bank of the Tigris river, military officials said.
Prison Riot in Brazil Leaves at Least 10 Inmates Dead (NY Times)
At least 10 prisoners have been killed in a prison riot in northeastern Brazil, the latest in a wave of fatal uprisings in the country’s overcrowded prisons that have killed nearly 100 this year — with many of the victims decapitated and mutilated.
SpaceX resumes rocket launches by lofting cluster of iridium satellites (Market Watch)
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. blasted a rocket with 10 commercial satellites into space Saturday, rebounding from a catastrophic accident more than four months ago that stunned the aerospace industry, grounded the company’s rockets and raised doubts about its reliability as a launch provider.
In parts of Mosul, a semblance of normality despite war (Reuters)
In some parts of Mosul, you can almost forget that a war is being waged over the city between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants who still control more than half of it – at least momentarily.
