Financial Markets and Economy
Are The Lows In Place For Crude Oil? (Value Walk)
After a precipitous decline from June 2014 to late January, oil prices have been forming a base over the past few months. As the chart below indicates, oil prices have mostly been trading between $45 and $55 per barrel this year. The recent rise above $60 per barrel is raising hopes that the bottom could be in for crude oil.
There's been a stunning development in corporate America (Business Insider)
We may not see an earnings recession after all.
In a research note on Friday, FactSet's Jonathan Butters observed that earnings for S&P 500 companies were now on track to grow 0.1%, turning positive for the first time since January.
America’s Oil Drilling Boom Is Sputtering Back to Life (Bloomberg)
The oil boom isn’t dead after all.
For the first time in five months, a rig in the Williston Basin, where North Dakota’s Bakken shale formation lies, sputtered back to life and started drilling for crude once again. And then one returned to the Permian Basin, the nation’s biggest oil play, field services contractor Baker Hughes Inc. said Friday.
Study Confirms That Revolving Door Helps Produce “Alpha” (Value Walk)
A team of academics decided to take a close look at the so-called revolving door of Washington, that is, individuals moving from federal government positions into the private sector. The idea was to examine the relationship between senior government employees joining private sector firms and long-run stock returns.
Legal Marijuana Faces Another Federal Hurdle: Taxes (NY Times)
Money was pouring into Bruce Nassau’s five Colorado marijuana shops when his accountant called with the bad news: The 2014 tax season was approaching, and Mr. Nassau could not rely on the galaxy of deductions that other businesses use to reduce their tax bills. He was going to owe the Internal Revenue Service a small fortune.
“I had to write a check for $275,000,” Mr. Nassau said. “Unbelievable.”
Greece could use 'parallel currency' as desperation grows (Telegraph)
Greece could start using a "parallel currency" to pay its civil servants if it runs out of cash, one of the European Central Bank's board members has suggested.
Highlighting the desperate situation faced by the country, Yves Merch, a member of the ECB's executive board and governor of Luxembourg's central bank, told Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia that Greece could resort to using "exceptional tools" to pay its obligations.
Schaeuble Says Greece Playing Chicken With Default Risk (Bloomberg)
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned that governments can sometimes default by accident, in a jab at Greek officials still holding out for a better deal from creditors as their cash supplies run critically low.
Greece is preparing for a meeting of euro-region finance ministers on Monday with the European Central Bank threatening to restrict the country’s access to bank funding unless there’s progress toward an aid deal. Greece’s creditors say the government’s plans for fixing the economy aren’t yet detailed enough to justify more financial support.
Wage increases in focus ahead of retail earnings (Reuters)
Labor expenses will be a key focus during retailers' earnings conference calls in the coming weeks, with many companies under pressure to boost workers' wages at a time when low U.S. unemployment levels have given workers more leverage.
Wal-Mart (WMT.N), Target Corp (TGT.N), T.J. Maxx (TJX.N), Gap (GPS.N), and McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) have already announced wage increases, and the trend appears to be trickling further into the retail and restaurant sectors.
Job report gives Fed green light to move in September (Market Watch)
The rebound in the April job report gives the Federal Reserve the green light to raise interest rates in September, economists said.
The Labor Department reported that the labor market churned out a healthy 223,000 new jobs in April, and the unemployment rate fell to 5.4%, the lowest level since mid-2008.
“I think the April report comes too late to put June on the table but there is going to be a focus on September,” said Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at Northern Trust, in an interview.
Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz: 'There is no magic bullet' to fix income inequality (Business Insider)
Nobel prize winning economist and professor Joseph Stiglitz sat down with us last week to talk about the alarming state of income inequality in the US, prior to a scheduled talk for the Commonwealth Club in Palo Alto.
Politics
America’s Richest Congressman, Worth Almost $500 Million, Says Poor Americans Are Doing Great (Think Progress)
Congressman Darrell Issa, America’s richest Congressman with a net worth of nearly $500 million, says the nation’s poor are actually doing very well. Issa told CNN that “our poor are… the envy of the world.”
Issa said that, compared to India, America’s poor were living with greater incomes, more opportunity to climb the economic ladder and better access to quality education. CNN reporter Cristina Alesci rejected the comparison. “We don’t want to compare ourselves to India, we want to set the bar pretty high,” she said.
China’s Military Buildup Aimed At Preventing World War 3 (Value Walk)
China’s aggressive military buildup might be a matter of serious concern for Western countries, especially the United States. But it is aimed at preventing a World War 3, at least that’s what military officials in Beijing believe. The People’s Liberation Army Daily said in a lengthy editorial Thursday that the country was building a stronger military to “prevent disasters such as World War II.”
Technology
The dawn of artificial intelligence (Economist)
“THE development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,” Stephen Hawking warns. Elon Musk fears that the development of artificial intelligence, or AI, may be the biggest existential threat humanity faces. Bill Gates urges people to beware of it.
Dread that the abominations people create will become their masters, or their executioners, is hardly new. But voiced by a renowned cosmologist, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and the founder of Microsoft—hardly Luddites—and set against the vast investment in AI by big firms like Google and Microsoft, such fears have taken on new weight. With supercomputers in every pocket and robots looking down on every battlefield, just dismissing them as science fiction seems like self-deception. The question is how to worry wisely.
The Army Is Developing Killer Robots (Phase Zero)
Faster than a soldier can react. Remember that phrase because it will lead you to killer robots.
When I saw the research and development solicitation today from the Army for ideas aboutModular Active Protection Systems (MAPS), I went down a frightening rabbit hole of research, tipped off by a name and an acronym that just had that smell. The request for proposals says nothing about what MAPS is and the innocuous command responsible, TARDEC — the Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center — makes, umm, armored vehicles.
Health and Life Sciences
Your pain reliever may also be diminishing your joy: Acetaminophen (paracetamol) reduces both pain and pleasure, study finds (Medical News Today)
Researchers studying the commonly used pain reliever acetaminophen found it has a previously unknown side effect: It blunts positive emotions.
In the study, participants who took acetaminophen reported less strong emotions when they saw both very pleasant and very disturbing photos, when compared to those who took placebos.
Acetaminophen, the main ingredient in the over-the-counter pain reliever Tylenol, has been in use for more than 70 years in the United States, but this is the first time that this side effect has been documented.
CRISPR genome editing tools are transforming research in medicine, nutrition, and agriculture (Eurek Alert)
New Rochelle, NY, May 7, 2015–Researchers have customized and refined a technique derived from the immune system of bacteria to develop the CRISPR-Cas9 genome engineering system, which enables targeted modifications to the genes of virtually any organism. The discovery and development of CRISPR-Cas9 technology, its wide range of potential applications in the agriculture/food industry and in modern medicine, and emerging regulatory issues are explored in a Review article published inOMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology, the peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the OMICS website until June 5, 2015.
Life On The Home Planet
Oregon science teacher arrested for teaching science (Salon)
A Salem, Oregon science teacher has been arrested after burning the message “I heart Mom” into several of his students’ arms with a Tesla coil, an electrical device frequently used for educational purposes.
The teacher, Samuel Dufner, 37, of the South Salem High School, was arrested after an angry parent complained, but quickly posted the $2,000 bail. He has since been placed on administrative leave.
Starbucks Moves Quickly to Find a New Source for Ethos Water Outside California (Starbucks News)
Due to the serious drought conditions and necessary water conservation efforts in California, Starbucks is moving the sourcing and manufacturing of Ethos Water out of state.
Beginning the first week of May and over the next six months, Starbucks plans to move production to its Pennsylvania supplier, while simultaneously exploring alternatives to transition to a new source and supplier to serve the company’s West Coast distribution.
Starbucks has been actively engaged in the local efforts to conserve water and has decreased usage by 26 percent in the State of California through green building and water conservations practices.
Whole Foods' Other Problem (Forbes)
Whole Foods Market, Inc. is a fast growing natural and organic foods retailer, riding the healthy food craze, which has allowed the company to charge premium prices for its products, compared to conventional products.
The trouble is this: Whole Foods Market doesn’t own the organic farms that produce the products it sells at its stores. It buys those products from others.
Liberia declared Ebola-free after weeks of no cases (BBC)
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Liberia free of the Ebola virus, confirming that the country has had no new cases in 42 days.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told the BBC that Liberia had "crossed the Rubicon" and would be celebrating a concerted effort to stem the disease.
More than 4,700 deaths from Ebola have been recorded in Liberia, more than in any other affected country.
Americans Are Drinking Less But Spending More on Fancy Booze (Bloomberg)
The cost of going out is going up. The culprit this time isn’t bars and restaurants that hike up drink prices. It’s the growing number of Americans who intentionally choose more expensive beers, wine, and cocktails. As drinkers get pickier, their bar tabs get more bloated.
This is just one of recent changes in the way American drink booze. People go out less often. On a given night, they order fewer drinks. Still, they can’t seem to get enough craft beer and fancy cocktails.
Here's what two scientists think it will take to save the planet (Business Insider)
Edward O Wilson made his name by arguing that two apparently disparate things – human society and the natural world – are governed by the same principles. Sean B Carroll made his name by unifying the study of humans and animals, showing that development in both is driven by the same fundamental molecular and genetic processes. So what happened when these two scientists were brought together? They decided to unify all of biology.
3 Essential Money Lessons To Teach Your Children (Forbes)
When your mother is a financial advisor, you tend to learn about money at a very young age. Gail Winslow, a Financial Advisor with RBC Wealth Management in Washington, D.C. and mother of six (and grandmother of six more), says she gave her kids an allowance when they were eight years old, and immediately began teaching them the basics of managing money.
The Buffett Formula — How To Get Smarter (Farnam Street Blog)
Most people go though life not really getting any smarter. Why? They simply won’t do the work required.
It’s easy to come home, sit on the couch, watch TV and zone out until bed time rolls around. But that’s not really going to help you get smarter.
Sure you can go into the office the next day and discuss the details of last night’s episode of Mad Men or Game of Thrones. And, yes, you know what happened on Survivor. But that’s not knowledge accumulation, it’s a mind-numbing sedative.
