Financial Markets and Economy
This Is Why Investors Are Suddenly Worrying About Greece Again (Bloomberg)
Greece is once again caught between the interests of its lenders and its own citizens. As part of a 2015 rescue package, Greece must meet strict fiscal targets to unlock more financial aid and keep the International Monetary Fund, an important creditor, involved.
President Donald Trump said that in the next few weeks he would release his plan to reform the US tax system.
"We're going to be announcing something over the next, I would say, two or three weeks that will be phenomenal in terms of tax," Trump said at a meeting with airline executives on Thursday.
Greek Two-Year Bond Yield Crosses 10% Amid Creditor Dispute (Bloomberg)
The selloff in Greek bonds amid the nation’s dispute with its creditors passed another milestone, with the yield on its two-year notes rising above 10 percent.
U.S. jobless claims near 43-year low; wholesale inventories surge (Reuters)
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week to near a 43-year low, amid a further tightening of the labor market that could eventually spur faster wage growth.
Fed's Bullard says rates can remain low through 2017 (Reuters)
U.S. interest rates can likely remain low through at least 2017, with no clear sense yet of whether the Trump administration's policies will spark higher inflation or growth, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said on Thursday.
Germany Gets Its Gold Back Faster With Job Seen Done in 2017 (Bloomberg)
Germany’s Bundesbank is set to unite half of the country’s gold reserves in its Frankfurt vaults by the end of 2017 — three years ahead of schedule.
'The elephant in the courtroom': Federal judge says Cigna sabotaged its own merger that would've created largest US health insurer (ANTM, CI) (Business Insider)
A federal judge has blocked a proposed merger between Cigna and Anthem that would have created the largest health-insurance company in the US based on number of people covered.
The World’s Oldest Bank Is Stuck With Beautiful Tuscan Villas It Can’t Sell (Bloomberg)
The abandoned farmhouse surrounded by acres of prime Tuscan vineyards, known as the Aquilaia estate, stands as a monument to failure—to the tens of billions of euros in bad loans that sank the world’s oldest bank.
Work From Home In 2017: The Top 100 Companies Offering Remote Jobs (Forbes)
Working from home is increasingly the dream of many a harried employee.
But it’s hard to find legitimate work-from-home opportunities that aren’t too-good-to-be-true scams.
Feeling ‘Pressure All the Time’ on Europe’s Treadmill of Temporary Work (NY Times)
After graduating with degrees in accounting and finance from a university in Finland, Ville Markus Kieloniemi thought he would at least find an entry-level job in his field. He studied potential employers, tailoring his applications accordingly.
CVS: We're going to lose more than 40 million prescriptions to our competition in 2017 (Reuters)
Drugstore chain and pharmacy benefits manager CVS Health Corp reported better-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday, helped by strength in its PBM business.
Shares of the No. 2 U.S. drugstore chain by store count were up about 2 percent in premarket trading.
Income share for the bottom 50% of Americans is ‘collapsing,’ new Piketty research finds (Market Watch)
A new research paper from economists including Thomas Piketty finds that the bottom 50%’s share of income in the United States is “collapsing.”
The paper, written by Facundo Alvaredo, Lucas Chancel, Piketty, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, studies global inequality dynamics.
Bitcoin Plunges After Chinese Exchanges Suspend Bitcoin Withdrawals (Zero Hedge)
Yesterday's ominous closed-door meetings between the PBOC and bitcoin exchanges, appears to have had a dramatic effect, and as at least two Chinese bitcoin exchanges, Huobi and OKCoin, reported moments ago, all bitcoin withdrawals are now effectively suspended.
Companies
Yum Brands whiffs on sales as fewer people eat at Pizza Hut (Business Insider, Reuters)
Yum Brands Inc, the owner of KFC and Taco Bell, reported a lower-than-expected rise in quarterly sales at established restaurants worldwide as fewer diners ate at its Pizza Hut chain.
Twitter Rethinks Ad Strategy in Effort to Translate User Growth Into Additional Revenue (The Wall Street Journal)
President Donald Trump has made Twitter Inc. more visible than ever. Now, the company has to find a way to cash in.
Twitter said Thursday it would revamp its advertising strategy, shifting away from older products like promoted tweets in favor of video ads, which executives said tend to attract big brands like car makers.
Ant Debt Sidesteps Valuation Question (Bloomberg)
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s payments affiliate is looking to borrow more than $3 billion through bank loans or bonds, The Information reported Thursday, citing a person it didn't name.
Coca-Cola forecasts drop in 2017 profit amid refranchising (Reuters)
Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) forecast a surprise drop in full-year profit as costs related to refranchising its U.S. bottling operations are expected to be higher than previously anticipated.
The world's largest beverage maker's shares fell 3.1 percent to $40.73 in morning trading on Thursday.
Technology
Snap Committed to Spend $1 Billion on Web Services With Amazon (Bloomberg)
Snap Inc. has a deal to pay Amazon.com Inc. at least $1 billion for internet services over the next five years, adding to a $2 billion agreement it already has with Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
Google Just Found the One Question It Can’t Yet Answer (Bloomberg)
When our robot overlords arrive, will they decide to kill us or cooperate with us?
New research from DeepMind, Alphabet Inc.’s London-based artificial intelligence unit, could ultimately shed light on this fundamental question.
Politics
'Deals lost and second thoughts': Jeff Sessions has the legal-marijuana industry looking over its shoulderThe prospect of Senator Jeff Sessions as U.S. attorney general has cast uncertainty over the country's nascent legalized marijuana industry, souring deals and disrupting share prices since the longtime critic of the drug was nominated.
Trump’s lies all make America look worse (The Washington Post)
President Trump does not tell lies randomly. Watch him long enough and you will see a pattern: America is rotten, and the press is lying to cover it up. During the campaign, one might have written this off as an effort to discredit the results of the Obama presidency, for which Hillary Clinton was effectively seeking a third term.
Lindsey Graham: Silencing Elizabeth Warren Was ‘Long Overdue’ (The Huffington Post)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) joined the chorus of Republicans backing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for cutting off Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) during a speech criticizing Attorney General Jeff Sessions this week.
Daily Kos Elections' presidential results by congressional district for the 2016 and 2012 elections (Daily Kos)
Below is our chart of presidential election results for both the 2016 and 2012 elections according to the congressional district lines used in the 2016 elections. We will be adding new data on a rolling basis as we are able to calculate it.
Samantha Bee dispels “dystopian hell pits of lawlessness” myth of so-called sanctuary cities (Salon)
Now that President Trump has aimed his fury at sanctuary cities, questions regarding the merit of these cities, and the fate of the undocumented that live in them, have abound. Samantha Bee attempted to answer these questions Wednesday night.
How Democratic Socialists Are Building on Bernie's Momentum (Rolling Stone)
"Has anybody been angry before about capitalism?" Hannah Allison, a 29-year-old organizer with the Democratic Socialists of America, asks from the stage of a recent meeting in Los Angeles.
“Go buy Ivanka’s stuff!” Trump’s White House shills Ivanka Trump merchandise, picks fights over Nordstrom snubPresident Trump is setting aside the more important work of his presidency to focus on a spat that raises serious conflict of interest questions — namely, the fact that his daughter’s fashion brand was dumped by Nordstrom’s.
U.S.-Chinese Relations Speed Towards Rupture (Daily Reckoning)
The process of connecting the dots between the political, economic, and social forces buffeting China is complicated. By using technical analysis and information I’ve gathered on the ground in a recent visit to China, I’m able to cut through the haze of political rhetoric and propaganda coming from Washington and Beijing.
Donald Trump: a man so obnoxious that karma may see him reincarnated as himself (The Guardian)
America has gone from the Obama Years to the Trump Years, like going from the West Wing to a sitcom where the incidental music involves a tuba. I actually think Donald Trump is going to prove a lot of people wrong, but sadly not George Orwell, Margaret Atwood, or whoever wrote the Book of Revelation.
Health and Biotech
How the Anti-Vaxxers Are Winning (NY Times)
It’s looking as if 2017 could become the year when the anti-vaccination movement gains ascendancy in the United States and we begin to see a reversal of several decades in steady public health gains. The first blow will be measles outbreaks in America.
Life on the Home Planet
Explosion On Paris Metro – Dozens Of Passengers Evacuated From Station (Blacklisted News)
A huge explosion was reported on the Paris metro this evening
The incident happened close to the the Place d'Italie subway stop at around 9.30pm local time, according to reports. Eight people are said to have been injured in the apparent blast, although this has yet to be confirmed by officials.
Explosion Hits EDF’s Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant in Northern France (The Wall Street Journal)
A fire and explosion forced French state-controlled utility Electricité de France SA, or EDF, to shut down one of the reactors of its Flamanville nuclear power plant Thursday morning, the company said.
El Niño has an uncle that could send global warming into overdrive (Science Alert)
You might also know that climate change is likely to intensify drought conditions, which is one of the reasons climate scientists keep talking about the desperate need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the damaging consequences if we don't.
