Financial Markets and Economy
Your Rent's About to Get Even Higher (Bloomberg)
If the monthly rent check is already painful to write, brace yourself.
The Census Bureau's U.S. rental vacancy rate, which tracks the share of properties that are unoccupied, fell to 6.8 percent in the second quarter. That's the lowest level using comparable data since 1985.
Everything's starting to crash (Business Insider)
In a recent update I gave six signs of an impending crash. Just today we have a number of those signs starting to hit.
Despite a $486 billion fund to prop up its market, China’s stocks sunk another 8.5% on Monday – the biggest one-day drop since 2007.
This is following a 35% crash into early July. Now, after bouncing back up to 4,200, the Shanghai Composite is down to 3,750. If it falls another 10% to below its recent low of 3,374, that will be the decisive blow – for us and them.
Treasury market might look past Fed meeting to GDP (Market Watch)
Treasury investors aren’t sweating Janet Yellen’s Fed meeting. As the Federal Open Market Committee’s policy huddle is set to conclude Wednesday with a statement but no news conference, few traders are expecting big market-moving surprises on interest rates.
Investors are pricing in a zero probability of a rate hike in July, according to the CME Group FedWatch tool that tracks Fed funds futures prices, and Treasury bets are split between a September and December hike.
Emaar IPO Flop Raises Red Flag for Egypts Bet on Property Boom (Bloomberg)
The Emaar Properties banners adorning the facade of the Cairo Stock Exchange radiated confidence as shares started trading in Egypt’s biggest initial public offering since the 2011 Arab Spring. Three weeks and a 7.4 percent decline later, investors are lining up to get out.
Wall St. Money Meets Social Policy at Rikers Island (NY Times)
First, the control group fell apart. Wardens at Rikers Island, the New York City jail, could not separate teenagers who were to participate in a course of cognitive behavioral therapy from those who were not supposed to attend.
Then the city’s Education Department, which had offered to put teachers on Rikers to assist the intervention, pulled out. And the budget of the Osborne Association, which had been enlisted to carry out the therapeutic program, was cut when Rikers’s teenage population unexpectedly fell below the level written into its contract.
'Investors' Panic-Buy Stocks After Confidence Collapse Sparks Biggest Short-Squeeze In 6 Months (Zero Hedge)
China closes weak… Europe weak… US Consumer Confidence collapses… Energy credit risk increases dramatically… and stocks rip led by Energy in yet another epic short squeeze…
5 charts that show Silicon Valley is booming (Business Insider)
The Economist has a blow-out piece on Silicon Valley, with some really marvelous charts. I know what the data say — and this is just one sector — but it doesn’t feel like a Great Stagnation. It certainly would seem to be a sector with plenty of churn and dynamism (though we can have enough innovation and technological advancement, right?)
D.R. Horton sees pickup in entry-level home sales (Market Watch)
Entry-level homes are gaining traction at the country’s largest home builder, even as homeownership among U.S. families has hit the lowest rate in almost five decades.
China's Richest Regions Saw Boost From Stocks Boom Last Quarter (Bloomberg)
China’s diverse regions saw the impact of another differentiator to growth this year as an equities boom – – which has since soured — provided a boost to some of its richest provinces.
Wall Street not giving up on U.S. social impact bonds (Business Insider)
Wall Street firms like Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE>, Santander Bank and Bank of America <BAC.N> are still interested in backing U.S. social impact bonds, despite the failure of the first such initiative.
Social-impact bonds allow private capital to be funneled into philanthropic projects usually funded by governments and charities. Investors receive a return based on whether a project saves public money by addressing the social issue it targets.
Why China’s stumbling stock market won’t trip up U.S. earnings (Market Watch)
Ultimately, how much China drags down the U.S. corporate sector hinges on how severely the slump in Chinese stocks impacts the broader Chinese economy, said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Asset Management Group.
“We believe China’s stock market has less connection to the real economy than even the U.S. market since most Chinese market participants keep the majority of their wealth elsewhere and view the stock market more like a casino,” he said.
Alarm Bell Rings in Tokyo at Rapid Rise in German Exports to China (Bloomberg)
As if Japan didn't have enough economic problems to overcome, officials in Tokyo have identified another worrying trend: lagging export growth to China.
Wall Street will be surprised to hear what New York's ex-banking regulator just said about regulators (Business Insider)
The former top cop regulating the New York banking scene just gave his public opinion of regulators. Wall Street might be surprised to hear what he's saying.
Benjamin Lawsky used to head up New York's Department of Financial Services before he resigned this year to launch The Lawsky Group, a consulting firm.
China and Greece Signal a New Round of Deflation (Zero Hedge)
Stocks rallied today because the Fed meets today and tomorrow and traders are conditioned to play for a rally into Fed meetings. Also, stocks had fallen for four days straight prior to this and so we were oversold in the near-term.
Why the Market Rout Hasn't Dashed Chinese Consumers' Desire to 'Buy American' (Inc,)
The Chinese stock market continued its stumble Tuesday, with that country’s main Shanghai Composite Index falling 1.7 percent, following an 8.5 percent slide on Monday, with some $3 trillion in stock holdings being erased since June.
But China’s growing middle class may not be as harmed as you think, and by some accounts China is still a good place to sell if you’re a U.S. entrepreneur, as long as you approach the market intelligently.
How Big Was BP's $5.8 Billion Loss? (Bloomberg)
BP Plc reported a $5.8 billion net loss last quarter, not including inventory holding losses, citing low oil prices and charges from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. How does that stack up for the London-based energy giant?
It's been a 'horrendous' time for corn farmers (Business Insider)
Corn plunged another 4.66% today, with September futures hitting $373 per bushel, after having already plunged nearly 7% last week. Corn has gotten massacred. Since July 14, it has dropped 15%.
Investors Dismiss Fed With Bids for U.S. Notes at Six-Year High (Bloomberg)
Any trepidation about the Federal Reserve's plan to raise interest rates this year was not enough to damp demand at the Treasury's $26 billion auction of two-year notes.
Foreign central banks and mutual funds came away with 54.4 percent of the debt, thebiggest share since 2009. The U.S. central bank will complete a two-day meeting Wednesday and issue a statement about its rate plans.
Why Your Portfolio Does Not Perform Like The Indices (In 1 Simple Chart) (Zero Hedge)
The average S&P 500 stock is no longer keeping pace with the market's moves… as breadth becomes focused on a shrinking pool of FOMO stocks.
America's budget deficit this year will be the lowest since 2007 (Business Insider)
Goldman Sachs thinks that the federal budget deficit this fiscal year will be the lowest it's been since the start of the financial crisis.
The Congressional Budget Office's most recent estimate from March puts the deficit for the year ending September 30, 2015 at $486 billion or 2.7% of GDP.
Coal Dividends Going the Way of Dinosaurs as Peabody Ends Payout (Bloomberg)
When Peabody Energy Corp. announced it was suspending quarterly payments to shareholders to save cash, it marked the end of an era for traditional U.S. coal miners.
Wall Street Still Didn't Get The Memo – China's Done, Top's In! (David Stockman Contra Corner)
Bubblevision’s Scott Wapner nearly split a neck vessel today denouncing the US stock market sell-off. It was completely unwarranted, he thundered, because China don’t have nothin’ to do with anything.
Cerberus leads U.S. investors gobbling up Europe's bank loans (Business Insider)
Cerberus, the private equity firm named after the mythical three-headed dog guarding the gates of Hades, is leading a charge by U.S. investors who are snapping up European loans at knockdown prices.
New York-based Cerberus Capital Management [CBS.UL] has bought more than 27 billion euros ($30 billion) of European loans in the last 2-1/2 years, acting along with rivals such as Lone Star and Blackstone <BX.N> to snap up commercial and residential debt from banks desperate to shrink or governments running down so-called "bad banks".
Nine Charts That Show the U.S. Bull Market Is Thinning (Bloomberg)
That sense of abandonment you’re feeling in equities is real. Breadth is drying up, slowing down a U.S. bull market that is now the third-longest since 1940. Here are nine charts that show the rally is relying on fewer and fewer companies to maintain its gains.
Supply And Demand In The Gold And Silver Futures Markets (Paul Craig Roberts)
This article establishes that the price of gold and silver in the futures markets in which cash is the predominant means of settlement is inconsistent with the conditions of supply and demand in the actual physical or current market where physical bullion is bought and sold as opposed to transactions in uncovered paper claims to bullion in the futures markets. The supply of bullion in the futures markets is increased by printing uncovered contracts representing claims to gold.
Dealmaking Surge in July Puts Summer of 2015 on Track for Record (Bloomberg)
So much for a quiet summer. July isn’t over yet and dealmaking is already on track for the busiest third quarter on record, with volumes set to surpass $1 trillion.
Treasury Bears Are Tougher to Find After Crude Oil Prices Plunge (Bloomberg)
The ranks of bearish investors in U.S. government debt have thinned, thanks to the decline in crude oil prices.
This Chart Tells You Why It's So Hard to Bet Against the Euro (Bloomberg)
The investor consensus is the euro should be weaker, yet a look at the order book of one of Germany's biggest banks shows they aren't putting their money where their mouth is.
Stocks Melt-Up On Oil Bounce As JPY Carry Breaks (Zero Hedge)
In case you were wondering WTF… it's oil, as the algos pin to WTI after JPY failed to follow through on overnight intervention…
Politics
Could Trump Win? (Buchanan)
The American political class has failed the country, and should be fired. That is the clearest message from the summer surge of Bernie Sanders and the remarkable rise of Donald Trump.
Sanders’ candidacy can trace it roots back to the 19th-century populist party of Mary Elizabeth Lease who declaimed:
“Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street. The great common people of this country are slaves, and monopoly is the master.”
Obama claims he could win a third term (Market Watch)
Goodbye, President Spock.
New York Times columnist Maureen Down once drew a comparison between “Star Trek’s” aloof science officer, Mr. Spock, and President Obama. But Obama may be aiming to shed the Vulcan comparison.
Some senators want an oil war with Iran (CNN)
As Secretary of State John Kerry tried to sell the Iran nuclear deal to Congress Tuesday, some U.S. senators were ready to start an oil war with Iran.
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski is sponsoring a bill to lift the ban on exporting American crude oil. Send U.S. oil abroad, she argues, so America can "compete against our foes in a way that doesn't involve sending our troops in and boots on the ground."
Techbology
Windows 10 is seriously great (CNN)
If you're a Windows 7 or 8.1 user, your PC is about to get a truly awesome upgrade.
Windows 10 is launching on Wednesday, and it's everything a PC operating system should be: familiar, beautiful, easy to use and helpful in unexpected ways. The best part: it's a free upgrade for just about everyone currently running Windows 7 and 8.
Now The Blind Can Read Texts On This New Braille Smartwatch (Popular Science)
Dot wearable
Touchscreens are not conducive to the blind as they cannot see the shifting pixels on the smooth device. That has not only slowed down the technological literacy for the blind, but has also impaired their reading literacy, cutting them off from most information that isn't published in print. Some tech companies have found workarounds, like having Siri read texts or creating braille e-readers, but they are often clunky and expensive.
Health and Life Sciences
We Transformed Living Cells from Pigs into Tiny Lasers (Scietific American)
In the last few decades, lasers have become an important part of our lives, with applications ranging from laser pointers and CD players to medical and research uses. Lasers typically have a very well-defined direction of propagation and very narrow and well-defined emission color. We usually imagine a laser as an electrical device we can hold in our hands or as a big box in the middle of a research laboratory.
Fluorescent dyes have also become commonplace, routinely used in research and diagnostics to identify specific cell and tissue types. Illuminating a fluorescent dye makes it emit light with a distinctive color. The color and intensity are used as a measure, for example, of concentrations of various chemical substances such as DNA and proteins, or to tag cells. The intrinsic disadvantage of fluorescent dyes is that only a few tens of different colors can be distinguished.
Scientists Tweak T Cells Using CRISPR (Popular Science)
For the first time, researchers have modified the genes in T cells using CRISPR—a special enzyme that can edit DNA. They hope that by altering T-cells, which are critical to the immune system, these cells could fight diseases that usually sneak past or alter the immune system.
Tweaking T cells seems like a great way to fight disease. T cells are the body’s primary disease-fighting agents–they seeking out and destroy cells that may cause infection or disease. They’re also easy to extract from a patient’s blood, alter, and put back in the body. For years scientists have hoped that they could use CRISPR/Cas9, the enzyme that allows researchers to edit DNA at a desired location, to change T cells’ genetic code in order to target specific diseases like HIV or cancer.
Life on the Home Planet
Ancient tooth found in French cave (BBC)
A human tooth dating to around 565,000 years ago has been found by a 16-year-old volunteer in France.
The tooth was found at Arago cave near the village of Tautavel, one of the world's most important prehistoric sites; it has been under excavation for about 50 years.
The owner of the tooth – a very worn lower incisor – lived during a cold and dry period, according to scientists.
T. rex used ‘steak knife’ teeth to chomp prey (Futurity)
Tyrannosaurus rex and other theropod dinosaurs were fearsome predators thanks to a unique, deeply serrated tooth structure that helped them easily tear through the flesh and bone of bigger animals.
The only reptile living today with something similar is the Komodo dragon—which also preys on larger animals.
