Financial Markets and Economy
Beggar Thy Neighbor? Greece's Battered Banks Beget Balkan Jitters (Zero Hedge)
Back in April, we noted that central banks in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Albania, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia had all effectively moved to quarantine Greece, as it became increasingly apparent that negotiations between Athens and the troika were set to deteriorate ahead of a €750 million payment due to the IMF on May 12.
U.S. investors are dumping stocks for the wrong reason? (Market Watch)
There are many legitimate reasons why the stock market is vulnerable to a serious decline. But the Greek debt crisis is not one of them.
Dallas Fed: Texas Manufacturing Activity Still Contracting (Calculated Risk)
Texas factory activity declined again in June, according to business executives responding to the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey. The production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, rose to -6.5 but remained in negative territory, suggesting a fourth consecutive month of contracting output.
Puerto Rico, crushed by debt, seeks moratorium (Business Insider)
Crushed by liabilities it now cannot repay, Puerto Rico is seeking to reschedule its $73 billion debt, the US commonwealth's governor said.
Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla earlier made the admission in a New York Times interview, rattling stock markets and quickly knocking 10 percent off prices of Puerto Rican bonds.
Why Greek crisis won’t hurt U.S. economy (Market Watch)
Five years ago, a messy Greek exit from the eurozone could have ignited a global chain reaction that would have damaged a fragile U.S. economic recovery.
Now, the latest in the Greek debt drama is considered unlikely to generate more than a temporary ripple in the U.S.
A lot has changed since 2010. The vast majority of Greek debt is now in the hands of the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and eurozone governments, not the private-sector banks. That could limit damage from a potential default from radiating beyond Greek borders.
Why Puerto Rico's economy is in a 'death spiral' (CNN)
That's how the commonwealth's governor, Alejandro García Padilla, summed up the situation in an interview with the New York Times. Puerto Rico owes about $73 billion in debt, which Padilla says the government can't pay.
Puerto Rico Announces Bond Payment "Moratorium" (Zero Hedge)
Likening his state's situation to that of Detroit and New York City (though not Greece), Padilla concluded, the economic situation is "extremely difficult," which is odd because just a few years ago when they issued that bond – everything was awesome?
Dow Tumbles 350 Points as Greek Crisis Worsens (Wall Street Journal)
U.S. stocks tumbled Monday, wiping out gains for the year, as a worsening in Greece’s debt crisis jolted global markets and pushed the country closer to an exit from the eurozone.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped to a nearly five-month low, and the S&P 500posted its largest one-day percentage decline since April 10, 2014.
U.S. Job Openings Hit An All Time High (Forbes)
I’m shocked. And I can tell you that it takes a lot to rock me. The numbers are out, and they confirm what many of you may be feeling. The number of U.S. job openings rose to the highest level on record in April, according to the Labor Department’s latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).
The U.S. had 5.4 million job openings in April. The total was thehighest since the department began conducting the so-called Jolts survey in 2000.
U.S. stock futures up, euro sags as markets eye Greece (Business Insisider)
U.S. stock futures edged up and the euro sagged in early Asian trading on Tuesday as Greece lurched toward defaulting on a debt payment due later in the session, raising the likelihood of the cash-strapped nation's exit from the euro zone.
Greece will not pay a 1.6 billon euro loan installment due the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday, a Greek government official told Reuters, after talks between Athens and its creditors broke down over the weekend when Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called a surprise referendum on the austerity plan.
Trading
The Power of the Mirror Principle? (Trader Feed)
Think of parenting. Think of apprenticeships in the trades. Think of training to be a professional in medicine. All are developmental processes, and all facilitate development through a combination of teaching and role modeling. Development occurs through learning, but learning is internalized through role modeling. This is the flaw of many "education" efforts in trading. They attempt to facilitate the development of the trader by teaching. That creates an informed person, but it doesn't create a successful trader. The latter requires role modeling–an internalization of what has been taught.
A model in mathematics or physics is an approximation of the reality we're trying to understand and predict. A scientific theory, at the end of the day, is a model of reality. A role model is our theory of the reality we hope to achieve; it is a model of our desired reality. In studying a role model, immersing ourselves in the model, and imitating the model, we make that desired reality part of our reality.
Are value stocks the next Brooklyn? (CNN)
The analysts at Wall Street research firm Jefferies have a fun way to describe the stock market in 2015.
They think that stocks may now be a little too trendy, just like the New York City borough that's famous for a certain well-known bridge, Coney Island and for being the original home of the Dodgers.
"Stocks and Brooklyn real estate used to be cheap and unpopular; not anymore," the Jefferies analysts wrote.
Politics
Jeb Bush Says Baltimore And Ferguson Protests Caused By Lack Of ‘Mentoring’ (Think Progress)
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is back on the campaign trail in the early primary state of South Carolina, after canceling planned events in the wake of the deadly shooting at a historic black church in Charleston.
During a Q & A with employees of the pharmaceutical company Nephron, his response to a question about teachers’ unions veered into his thoughts on the origins of the mass protests in Ferguson and Baltimore.
Republicans Should Reform Obamacare, Not Repeal It (The Atlantic)
“No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed.”
Technology
Illinois Drone Task Force Is Made Up Mostly Of Cops (Popular Science)
When it comes to drone law, some opinions are more equal than others. A bill sitting on the Illinois Governor’s desk would create an “Unmanned Aerial System Oversight Task Force”, with 22 set-aside seats for representatives from different groups who might reasonably have opinions on drone use. So long as the public is included, it’s a good idea, but there’s something strange about the list: it completely omits any group concerned with civil liberties, and it also leaves out the media.
This is especially strange, because the Task Force’s stated job of “providing guidance into the safe operation of drones, while not infringing upon the constitutional rights of others” and “provide oversight and input in creating comprehensive laws and rules for the operation and use of drone technology within this State”
Ghost Fleet Reveals The Terrifying Future of Warfare (Gizmodo)
P.W. Singer and August Cole’s debut novel Ghost Fleet isn’t like any other Future War novel out there. One, they’re not your typical novelists, and two, it’s a novel that’s more realistic than anything else that typically has the ‘Military Science Fiction’ moniker attached to it.
Military science fiction has a long and distinguished history. Early ‘Invasion’ novels such as the The Battle of Dorking and War of the Worlds speculated on warfare in the late 1800s, while books such as Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers and Joe Haldeman’s Forever Warexamined the role of the soldier in war. With their first novel, Singer and Cole have put together a book that’s more in line with the earliest wartime novels, and it’s a terrifying narrative that will almost certainly be read by every military officer with a growing amount of dread.
Tested: How Bright LEDs Are Compared to Other Lights (Wired)
I WASN’T SURE the price was correct. Normally when I walk through Lowes, I check the price of LED bulbs. It seems they have always been between 11 and 15 dollars for the kind that would screw into a standard light fixture. This one said “$2.48″. That can’t be correct—but it was. At a price of under 3 dollars, this light bulb was a must buy. So I purchased it. Now for the testing.
LED light bulbs are now affordable alternatives to other lights. How does the LED compare in terms of power, brightness and color?
Health and Life Sciences
Researchers define unique group of high-risk lymphoma patients (Science Daily)
The goal for many cancer patients is to reach the five-year, disease-free mark, but new research from UR Medicine's Wilmot Cancer Institute suggests that two years might be a more practical survival goal for people with follicular lymphoma.
The difference underscores the fact that about 20 percent of follicular lymphoma patients consistently experience their disease coming back within two years of being treated with the latest therapies–despite the fact that most follicular lymphoma patients can expect to live 20 years.
Life on the Home Planet
Climate change plans require urgent action, warn MPs (BBC)
The UK must take urgent action to prepare for the impact of climate change, a group of MPs has said.
Ministers should focus on the future risks of heatwaves and flooding, says the climate change committee.
Its report said more needed to be done to keep emissions on track, although the government said it was committed to meeting its climate change target.
