Financial Markets and Economy
Markets Need a 30% Stock Drop or 50% Higher U.S. Yields. Or Not. (Bloomberg)
At least, that’s how it usually goes. Yet that hasn’t borne out in the U.S. stock and bond markets. The S&P 500 index is near a record high after gaining about 14 percent since the end of October.
Manhattan retail rents are falling and it's not a good sign (Business Insider)
Net effective retail rents in Manhattan have fallen 20 to 30 percent from their 2014 peak, according to a report from brokerage CBRE.
The estimate accounts for concessions, which have been on the rise across Manhattan as landlords try to keep face rents up.
Slowest Growth in Two Years Confronts Hawkish India Central Bank (Bloomberg)
A surprise slowdown in Indian growth along with record-low inflation has thrown the central bank’s hawkish monetary-policy bias into question, with some economists suggesting an interest rate cut may be back on the table.
Bitcoin, Stocks and the Fear of Missing Out (Bloomberg)
Bitcoin has been on an unbelievable run. The cryptocurrency is up around 124 percent for 2017. And that’s after it gained 125 percent in 2016. In May alone, it’s up more than 60 percent.
Commodities, Becalmed (Bloomberg)
Just before Christmas 2008, WTI crude futures soared almost 18 percent in a day. As recently as last November, the contract was able to climb 9.3 percent on the back of OPEC announcing production cuts. Back in June 2014, soybeans fell 19 percent in one session; three months later, sugar prices jumped 14 percent.
To forecast share returns, count buy-backs as well as dividends (The Economist)
What is the point of buying shares? Ultimately investors must hope that the cash they receive from the company will offer an attractive long-term return.
Chance of a recession by 2022 is 70 percent, according to this major investment firm (The Washington Post)
Investors should be on guard for a recession in the next five years by stockpiling cash for the day when stocks and bonds — as they always do — go on sale.
So says Pacific Management Investment Co., the bond mutual fund giant known as Pimco.
Bitcoin could hit $100,000 in 10 years, says the analyst who… (CNBC)
Early retirement is achievable if you change your lifestyle and habits. From downsizing your apartment to following your expenses, these tips will fast-track you to financial freedom.
Tech Valuations: Nothing Like the 1990s… (Ritholtz)
Technology stocks don’t have the outsize valuations they did when they last dominated world markets in the 1990s, according to Pavilion Global Markets.
How do I safely invest my retirement savings for growth? (CNN)
I have a retired friend who knows he needs growth to ensure his nest egg will last throughout retirement, but at the same time is nervous about the investing in the stock market.
U.S. Slips in Global Competitiveness Ranking as China Shoots Up (Bloomberg)
The U.S. fell out of the top three in a global competitiveness ranking, as executives’ perception of the world’s biggest economy deteriorated after Donald Trump’s election.
S&P 500 Stocks Farthest Above And Below 200-DMAs (Bespoke Investment Group)
The direction of a stock's 200-day moving average (DMA) is a good way to gauge its long-term directional trend. If the 200-day moving average is rising, it's a signal of a long-term uptrend, and vice versa for a downward-sloping 200-DMA.
Japan stocks change tack, gain as other Asian markets hit doldrums (Market Watch)
Global equity markets struggled to find direction as a new month began, though Japan outperformed despite a lack of action with the yen, which often affects the country’s stocks.
MAULDIN: The Next Recession May Be A Complete Reset Of All Asset Valuations (Mauldin Economics)
Sometime this year, world public and private plus unfunded pensions will surpass $300 trillion. That is not even counting the $100 trillion in US government unfunded liabilities. Oops.
Companies
These 197 Tech Companies Are The World's Most Valuable Unicorns (Forbes)
What are the world's most valuable private technology companies?
A new map released by CB Insights identifies the 197 companies globally that are considered "unicorns," meaning that they have a valuation of at least $1 billion.
Bed Bath & Beyond Cuts CEO Pay by 13% After Investor Backlash (Bloomberg)
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. cut Chief Executive Officer Steven Temares’s compensation 13 percent to $16.9 million following years of investor pushback against pay practices at the retailer of household goods.
Activists investigating Ivanka Trump's China shoe factory detained or missing (The Guardian)
A labour activist working undercover investigating abuses at a Chinese factory that makes Ivanka Trump shoes has been detained by police and two others are missing, raising concerns the company’s ties to the US president’s family may have led to harsher treatment.
Uber's finance head leaves; company's quarterly loss narrows (Reuters)
Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] said its head of finance is leaving, and the privately held ride-hailing company also said that its first-quarter loss narrowed substantially from the prior quarter, putting it on a path toward profitability.
Technology
Robots Wielding Water Knives Are the Future of Farming (Wired)
Just after dawn in the Salinas Valley south of San Francisco, a raucous robot rolls through a field spitting clouds of vapor. It’s cutting lettuce heads with water knives—super-high-pressure beams—and gobbling up the produce.
Watch Kitty Hawk’s early test pilots learn to love the flying motorbike (Tech Crunch)
The Kitty Hawk Flyer is a sort of a flying car except it’s not a car at all – it’s much more like a flying ATV, which is probably more legitimately all-terrain than most. Linguistics aside, it’s a very cool piece of tech that’s backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, and it’s already in the ‘working prototype’ phase of development.
Will a robot take your job? This website provides an answer (that you probably won't like) (Mashable Asia)
Here's what we know about robots: Robots have taken jobs. Robots are taking jobs. Robots will take jobs. The question remains, though: How many jobs? Hard to say.
Analysts, futurists, and academics vary in their assessment of just how many jobs (and perhaps more importantly which jobs) are at risk, but they generally all agree: things are going to change.
Sharing Is Caring: China's Smartphone 'Share Economy' Is Booming (Forbes)
Need to charge your phone urgently to make an important call? Need a bike quickly? Forget to bring your umbrella on a rainy day? If you’re in a Chinese city then the chances are there’s no need to worry.
iRobot Stock Downgraded: What You Need to Know (Fool.com)
Up 69% since the year began, and up nearly 160% over the past year, iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT) stock is on a tear. But how much longer can this momentum last?
Doughnut Delivery By Drone in Denver Is a Peek At the Future (Associated Press)
Doughnuts were delivered Wednesday by drone to Denver's mayor and the city's police and fire departments in an event that provided a glimpse into what companies hope will be a quick, inexpensive way to get merchandise to customers.
Google beefs up Gmail security to fight phishing attempts (Engadget)
Though they didn't say as much, the bumped-up protection is likely in response to the phishing scam that went around earlier this month. The attack peddled a bogus Google Docs file in attempts to gain access to users' Gmail accounts.
Underwater drones use sound to send snaps of the ocean floor (New Scientist)
Drones are sending back snaps from the deep. Uncrewed vehicles that scour the ocean floor for submerged mines can now beam back images to human operators in close to real time.
Sling TV doesn't want you to waste time looking for shows (Engadget)
Sling TV, the live streaming service that lets you start with a core channel package and add on whatever other bundles you might be interested in, is revamping its Android user interface. The changes, which begin rolling out today, will be expanded to other devices in the coming weeks.
Politics
Iowa's GOP Senators Cast Doubt On Health Care Law Repeal (Associated Press)
Lowering expectations, Iowa's two Republican senators say the long-promised repeal of "Obamacare" is unlikely, and any final agreement with the Republican-controlled House is uncertain.
The Numbers Don’t Lie: White Far-Right Terrorists Pose a Clear Danger to Us All (The Intercept)
Back in February, the Republican congressman from Wisconsin told CNN’s Alysyn Camerota that white terrorists of the far-right variety did not pose the same level of danger to Americans as so-called “Islamist” or “jihadist” terrorists.
Cracks widen in US-Europe alliance (CNN)
Next week marks the anniversaries of twin American tours de force that liberated and rebuilt Europe, enshrining an unprecedented era of peace and freedom.
Q. & A.: The Paris Climate Accord (NY Times)
President Trump is said to be considering withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate agreement, a landmark accord reached in 2015 between 195 countries that seeks to avoid some of the worst effects of climate change by curbing global greenhouse gas emissions.
Elon Musk to Trump: Ditch Paris deal and I'll quit as your adviser (CNN)
Elon Musk says he'll step down from President Donald Trump's advisory councils if he decides to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
Jeff Sessions may have had more meetings with a Russian ambassador before Trump's election, lawmakers say (Business Insider)
Congressional lawmakers are looking into whether Jeff Sessions had additional undisclosed meetings with a Russian ambassador before Donald Trump's election.
Trump may give back 2 Russian estates in New York and Maryland that Obama shut down over Russia’s election meddling (Business Insider)
White House officials could be inching toward giving back two Russian diplomatic compounds near New York City and Maryland's Eastern Shore, according to a Washington Post reportpublished Wednesday.
Trump Administration Explores More Drilling in Alaska (The Wall Street Journal)
The Trump administration ordered a review of oil reserves and production on Alaska’s vast public lands, an early step in potentially opening more areas of the state to drilling—including the now-protected Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Tomgram: Nomi Prins, All in the Family Trump (TomDispatch.com)
They are the outposts of empire. They have been or are being built in countries across the world from Indonesia to Dubai, India to Uruguay, South Korea to Qatar, the Philippines to Turkey, and in the future possibly, from Saudi Arabia to Egypt.
Why the pollsters can’t agree on UK election (Politico)
If you believe the U.K. election polls, Theresa May is on course for a landslide victory — and she will lose seats, leading to a hung parliament and messy coalition talks.
Evidently both can’t be true.
Health and Biotech
World-First Trials Have Been Launched to Treat Parkinson's And Blindness With Embryonic Stem Cells (Science Alert)
In a world first, surgeons in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou are planning to inject stem cells derived from human embryos into the brains of patients with Parkinson's disease with the aim of treating their debilitating symptoms.
Life on the Home Planet
Ten government soldiers killed in Philippines military air strike: minister (Reuters)
Ten Philippines soldiers were killed and eight wounded by friendly fire in a military air strike during efforts to take back a city occupied by Islamist militants, the defense minister said on Thursday.
Box Office: Johnny Depp's 'Pirates 5' Nets Boffo $326M Global Debut (Forbes)
So, yeah, it looks like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is a hit. Well, actually, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales may be a modest underperformer.
No, There Wasn't an Advanced Civilization 12,000 Years Ago (Scientific American)
Graham Hancock is an audacious autodidact who believes that long before ancient Mesopotamia, Babylonia and Egypt there existed an even more glorious civilization.
America's Most—and Least—Affordable Beach Towns, 2017 Edition (Realtor.com)
It's the American summertime real estate fantasy.
When the mercury starts rising again from coast to coast, we start dreaming about having a home right by the beach—close enough to enjoy a morning walk by the water and to hear the waves crashing at night. Epic sandcastles.
