Financial Markets and Economy
Dow 20,000: The Strange Psychology Of Market Milestones (Forbes)
After flirting with a new milestone for weeks, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finally crossed 20,000 yesterday, and investors are cheering.
How Did The Dow Get To 20K? Think Goldman, Boeing And IBM (Associated Press)
Dow 20,000 wasn't exactly a team effort. The index climbed to the 20,000 mark from 19,000 largely because of three stocks: financial firm Goldman Sachs, aerospace giant Boeing, and technology and consulting company IBM. Put together, those three companies are responsible for almost half the gain that brought the blue chip index to its latest millennial mark on Wednesday.
Fewer Growth Surprises May Trigger a Correction in Euro Stocks: Deutsche Bank (Bloomberg)
A slowdown in positive economic surprises may set the stage for a pullback in European equities in the coming months, warn analysts at Deutsche Bank AG, citing the close relationship between global stock-market performance and better-than-expected data across major economies since November 2016.
The Day Harvard Stopped Being a Hedge Fund (Bloomberg)
After losing $2 billion last year while markets mostly moved higher, Harvard Management Co. announced big changes in the way it oversees the world’s largest university endowment. Kicking off the new era, it is getting rid of half of its 230 employees and farming out management of most of its money.
Home prices in the Hamptons are collapsing (Business Insider)
At least three brokerage reports showed that home prices in the Hamptons plunged in the fourth quarter of last year.
Trump on Dow 20,000: 'Now we have to go up, up, up' (CNN)
So much for Trump warning of a "big, fat, ugly" bubble. Now that he's in the White House, the new U.S. president is actively cheering on the stock market to go higher — much higher.
Outgoing Goldman Sachs chief operating officer Gary Cohn will pick up an exit package worth at least $100 million (£79.8 million) as he moves to work for the Trump administration.
The 5 Biggest Solar Manufacturers in 2016 (Fool.com)
Very few solar companies have been able to differentiate themselves on technology because the industry's rapid advancement over the last decade has been driven by the commodification of solar panels.
Wyoming Proposal Would Require Utilities To Use Fossil Fuels (Associated Press)
A group of Wyoming lawmakers is bucking the U.S. trend of supporting renewable energy with a plan to do the opposite: Fine utilities if they provide energy produced by wind or the sun.
For the last seven years we have tracked both the DJIA and SPX with very similar bull markets in both 1929 and its copy 1987 {made famous by Paul Tudor Jones using very similar technology for arguably one of the greatest trades of all time}.
Nevada Climbs From Last Place to First in Job Creation (Gallup)
Nevada led the way as the U.S. showed strong job growth in 2016, scoring highest among all states in Gallup's 2016 Job Creation Index.
How Retailers Should Think About Online Versus In-Store Pricing (Harvard Business Review)
One of the biggest questions faced by brick-and-mortar retailers today is whether prices should be the same online and in stores. Gaining clarity on this issue is critical for traditional retailers to successfully compete in both environments.
US stocks are now the most overpriced since the 2000 crash. (Sovereign Man)
On March 30, 1999, the Wall Street Journal’s front page headline blasted the good news across the world:
“Dow Industrials Top 10,000."
Executives and Salespeople Are Misaligned — and the Effects Are Costly (Harvard Business Review)
U.S. companies spend over $900 billion on their sales forces, which is three times more than they spend on all ad media. Sales is, by far, the most expensive part of strategy execution for most firms.
Growing Deficit A Risk for U.S. Triple-A Status, Says Moody’s (Barron's)
Moody’s Investors Service gives the U.S. a triple-A credit rating. But that didn’t stop it from raising concerns about how a growing deficit could hurt the U.S. credit rating in a January 24 report.
Deutsche Warns Global Economy About To Roll Over, Says "Sell" (Zero Hedge)
When Trump unexpectedly won the election, and futures staged one of their most dramatic rebounds in history, surging from limit down to solidly in the green, Wall Street promptly goalseeked their economic assumptions "chasing the price", quickly going from bearish to bullish, and nobody did it faster or more conclusively than Deutsche Bank, which seemingly overnight flipped from one of the biggest bearers of gloom on the outlook for the US economy, to one of its biggest cheerleaders.
Companies
Alphabet’s bets beyond search are starting to pay off (Tech Crunch)
Google reported mixed earnings for its fourth quarter today — but we’re starting to see some flashes of improvement in its “other bets” category, which is where it stuffs pretty much everything that lives outside of Google proper.
Elon Musk Has Trump’s Ear, and Wall Street Takes Note (NY Times)
The election of Donald Trump and the accompanying rehabilitation of fossil fuels should have been, by all rights, devastating for Tesla Motors.
Uber Takes Majority of Ground Transport Market for U.S. Business Travelers (Bloomberg)
When Uber is winning, taxis aren’t the only ones losing. The ride-hailing startup increased its popularity among business travelers last year while use of rental cars and other traditional ground transportation options declined, according to Certify, the second-largest travel and expense management software provider in North America.
Starbucks Wants You to Pay $35 for a Fancy Way to Pay for Your Coffee (Inc.)
You realize that Starbucks is having some work done, don't you?
It's aged a little. It's not, well, cool. And the highlights are looking a touch dowdy.
Technology
Artificial intelligence can now identify skin cancer as accurately as experts (Science Alert)
A new artificial intelligence system can spot the tell-tale signs of skin cancer just as accurately as human doctors, say researchers, and the next step is to get the tech on a smartphone, so anyone can run a self-diagnosis.
The cloud and Office keep Microsoft afloat during PC slump (Engadget)
It's been clear for a while that a big part of Microsoft's future is ensconced in the cloud, and its latest (Q2 2017) earnings report just drives that point home.
Trump Revives Auto Efficiency Debate With Pledge to Slash Rules (Bloomberg)
President Donald Trump’s pledge to ease environmental regulations hands automakers a second chance to amend the U.S. vehicle efficiency standards that the Obama administration sought to finalize in its final days.
Politics
NYC Mayor: 'We will go to court immediately' if funding halted over 'sanctuary city' executive order (CNN)
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said his city will use the courts to fight President Donald Trump's executive order to block federal funding going to "sanctuary cities," following executive action Trump announced Wednesday.
Samantha Bee mocks President Donald Trump’s lackluster inaugural weekend (Salon)
Samantha Bee looked at President Trump’s inauguration on Wednesday night, and let’s just say she was unimpressed with the festivities.
The Latest: Administration Pulls Back On Healthcare Gov Ads (Associated Press)
The Trump administration says it is pulling back advertising to promote insurance sign-ups in the closing days of HealthCare.gov's 2017 open enrollment season.
Trump To Launch Probe Into Unproven Voter Fraud Claim (Associated Press)
President Donald Trump will sign an executive action to commission an investigation into widespread voter fraud, a spokesman said, raising the prospect of a federal government probe into a widely debunked claim and sparking alarm among experts and Democrats.
GOP airs old grievances in private Pence meeting (Politico)
Congressional Republicans used a private audience with Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday to rehash years-old political controversies — even suggesting Pence fire the IRS commissioner, according to sources in the room.
Obama draws neck-and-neck with Reagan in poll of greatest modern president (The Washington Post)
Two years ago, Barack Obama was a damaged-goods, lame-duck president who had just endured his second consecutive midterm drubbing — thanks in large part to Republican efforts to tie Democrats to him and his eponymous health-care law.
Why it’s so terrifying that team Trump is unhinged from verifiable scientific fact (Think Progress)
On his first weekend in office, President Donald Trump made a brazen attack on easily verifiable facts to the CIA, the press, and the public. At the same time, his team launched a quieter attack on science itself, especially the science we need to preserve a livable climate for our children.
Trump’s order to ban refugees and immigrants triggers fears across the globe (The Washington Post)
President Trump’s executive order to tighten the vetting of potential immigrants and visitors to the United States, as well as to ban some refugees seeking to resettle in the country, will shatter countless dreams and divide families, would-be immigrants and human rights activists warned.
U.S.-Mexico Rift Deepens Over Trade Threat, Canceled Meeting (The Wall Street Journal)
President Donald Trump triggered the biggest diplomatic rift between the U.S. and Mexico in decades, engaging in a sharp-edged Twitter exchange Thursday that led the Mexican president to cancel a visit to Washington next week.
Trump Advisers, Daughter Registered to Vote in 2 States (Associated Press)
President Donald Trump's sweeping preview of his plans to investigate voter fraud in the United States includes those registered in more than one state.
One study says the United States is no longer considered a “full democracy” (Salon)
Before the election, the U.S., along with 19 other countries, shared the honor of being a “full democracy” in an index maintained by The Economist Intelligence Unit. But after global democracy lost some ground in 2016, the U.S. government suffered the consequences, as it has been downgraded to a “flawed democracy,” according to the study.
Donald Trump and Republicans Strain to Set Agenda (The Wall Street Journal)
President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans struggled to understand each other at the party’s retreat here on Thursday, as they fell short of reaching agreement on complex policy issues involving taxes, trade and other pillars of the ambitious legislative agenda they hope to enact this year.
Trump's Wall: A Wasteful, Foolish Boondoggle (Bloomberg)
President Donald Trump’s promised wall has already stopped at least one Mexican from entering the U.S.: President Enrique Peña Nieto, who has canceled his planned trip to Washington next week.
Trump’s “proof” of voter fraud is an anecdote from a golfer who may have committed voter fraud himselfDuring a private reception with congressional leaders on Monday, President Donald Trump repeated his debunked assertion that he would have won the popular vote had it not been for 3 million to 5 million undocumented immigrant voters.
42% Of Trump Voters Think He Should Be Allowed To Use a Private Email Server (Mediaite)
As the author who summed up the results of the poll said, “Maybe cyber security wasn’t such a big issue in last year’s election after all.”
Demonstrators flood the streets of Philadelphia to protest Donald Trump at GOP retreat (Salon)
Donald Trump took his first official trip as president aboard a newly rechristened Air Force One Thursday. When the 45th president landed in Philadelphia, he was greeted by throngs of protesters who took to the streets for the third day of massive protests since Trump’s inauguration six days ago.
Trump Wants to Downplay Global Warming. Louisiana Won’t Let Him (Bloomberg)
On a recent morning in Baton Rouge, a thousand miles from where Senate Democrats were jousting with Donald Trump’s nominee to run the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about whether humans are warming the planet, the future of U.S. climate policy was being crafted in a small room in the east wing of the Louisiana Capitol.
Trump's Suggested Import Tax Would Mean Americans Pay For That Wall (NPR)
The Trump administration is considering alternative ways to pay for the border wall, backtracking on the president's oft-repeated promise that Mexico would foot the bill.
Health and Biotech
2 infants have had their cancers disappear after being treated with genetically engineered T-cells (Science Alert)
Two infants with leukaemia are now in remission, thanks to a world-first treatment that uses genetically engineered T-cells from healthy donors.
Life on the Home Planet
EU Body: Climate Change Poses Increasingly Severe Risks (Associated Press)
The European Environment Agency says the continent is facing rising sea levels and more extreme weather, such as more frequent and more intense heat waves, flooding, droughts and storms because of climate change.
Galaxy-sized lenses confirm it: the Universe is expanding faster than we ever expected (Science Alert)
By measuring the way light bends around distant galaxies, a group of astronomers have verified earlier findings that our Universe is not only getting bigger, but expanding at a rate much faster than previously thought.
A mathematician says he's found a system that could stop tsunamis in their tracks (Science Alert)
The pressure of deep-ocean sound waves could be used to stop tsunamis in their tracks, researchers have found, by dissipating their energy across wider areas and reducing the height and speed of these monster waves before they reach land.
Facing jihadist attack, Syrian rebels join bigger faction (Reuters)
Syrian Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham said on Thursday six other rebel factions had joined its ranks in northwestern Syria in order to fend off a major assault by a powerful jihadist group.
