Financial Markets and Economy
U.S. stocks poised for gains despite new China fall (CNN)
Chinese stocks bounced around Wednesday before ending weaker for the fifth day running. Stock futures are signaling that U.S. markets should open with a gain of about one percent, but Europe is firmly in the red.
Credit Market Opportunities Seen After Ugly Selloff (Bloomberg)
The wider spreads in corporate credit markets that have opened up this week may eventually prove irresistible to fixed-income investors, who still see corporate bonds as the yield-enhancing asset class of choice, Bloomberg strategist Simon Ballard writes.
‘Bearmageddon’ is coming, and only a liquidity hero can save us (Market Watch)
Bring in the monkeys. They’d know far better where this market is going right now.
China’s central bank has said it’ll pump 140 billion yuan ($21.8 billion) into its financial system. But that may be met with a big yawn, after yesterday’s interest-rate cuts failed to keep the Shanghai Composite in the black.
The summer market turmoil is a perfect storm for the world's biggest luxury brands (Business Insider)
Nothing is going quite right for the world's major luxury goods brands at the moment.
The market tumult that began in China and ripped through Europe and the Americas is particularly bad for some companies, and there's no question that major producers of fashion items, watches and jewellery are among them.
Tale of Two Pigs Is One Way to Divine Chinas Economic Future (Bloomberg)
China wants an economy driven by consumption and not investment. That means putting more spare ribs on the table and forging fewer girders for skyscrapers.
Don’t rule out a bull run in commodities (Market Watch)
Oil prices are trading near a six-year low, copper futures have shaved off 20% year-to-date and wider panic has grabbed the commodities market in fears over a sharp slowdown in China.
There are plenty of reasons to be downbeat on the resources industry at the moment, but don’t count out a comeback for the depressed sector, says commodities veteran investor Jim Rogers.
Now is the time to buy Chinese stocks (Business Insider)
The Chinese markets might be crashing, but analysts at Goldman Sachs thinks the sell-off is over-cooked and that stocks are cheap.
No, Apple isn’t a slam-dunk (Market Watch)
A close look at Apple suggests cause for even more concern about the stock, writes Brett Arends.
Advanced Set to Dethrone PTT as Largest Thai Firm on Oil Slump (Bloomberg)
Thailands Advanced Info Service Pcl is poised to end PTT Pcls 12-year reign as the countrys biggest company by market value.
What China’s market crash means for India’s economy (Quartz)
Black Monday hit India hard. Really hard.
The country’s benchmark index, Sensex, saw its biggest-ever intra-day fall in absolute terms, convulsed by the meltdown in China’s stock market on Aug. 24.
The bloodbath has somewhat abated, with most equity markets across the world now recovering.
This stock market gauge predicts double-digit gain for S&P 500 (Market Watch)
The stock market's long-awaited correction is unlikely to be the beginning of a major bear market.
Currency volatility upsets Asian growth plans (Business Insider)
Faced with falling exports and deflation risks, it suited much of Asia to let their currencies drift lower, until China's abrupt devaluation triggered a tide of volatility that is upsetting not just their currency management but also their growth strategies.
China's 2 percent devaluation on Aug. 11 added to evidence that its economy was struggling, and overseas it caused a ripple of panic that a currency war was in the offing.
Yen drops against rivals as investors keep an eye on Asia stocks (Market Watch)
The yen was weaker against the dollar and the euro in yet another round of choppy Asia trade Wednesday, with investors keeping a wary eye on the region’s equities after the global stock-market selloff this week.
The U.S. dollar USDJPY, +0.62% was at ¥119.57, compared with ¥118.86 late Tuesday in New York. The Japanese currency was also lower against the euro, which rose to ¥137.49 from ¥136.89 late Tuesday.
Oil near six-and-a-half-year lows as China economy fears linger (Business Insider)
Crude oil futures dipped on Wednesday on fears of a hard landing for China's economy despite central bank moves to bolster stumbling growth and concerns about a supply glut.
U.S. stock futures resumed their descent in early Asian trade and Asian shares were seen on the defensive on Wednesday as monetary easing by China's central bank had limited success in cheering up nervous investors.
Politics
Donald Trump and Jorge Ramos have a stormy history (CNN)
"Go back to Univision," Donald Trump said when Univision anchor Jorge Ramos tried to ask a question at a Tuesday evening press conference.
Ramos wasn't altogether surprised when a security guard escorted him out of the room. In fact, he wasn't sure if he'd be allowed into the press conference in the first place.
Trump’s extremist bombast opens the door for more sensible candidates (Market Watch)
Donald Trump’s presidential bid may not even make it into 2016, but in the meantime he is shaping the race in important ways.
For one thing, his caricature of right-wing Republican policies strips away the political double-talk and exposes the bigotry, xenophobia and misogyny that underlie many of them.
Technology
Sensel's pad can morph for artists, music makers, gamers (Phys)
An item on Kickstarter called the Sensel Morph looks as if it is perking people up—a glance over at the funding numbers tells you their goal is $60,000 with 44 days to go. No sweat. Pledges so far have topped $100,000 and items for earlybird pricing are gone. What's all the fuss about? They said that with their Morph device you invite new possibilities in music, art, gaming, and beyond.
People Are Paying For Car Tech They Aren't Even Using (Gizmodo)
Why take 20 minutes to read through the available technology in your owner’s manual when you can just ignore the complicated infotainment system altogether and use your cell phone instead?
That’s exactly what the 2015 Drive Report survey by J.D. Power found people doing, with 20 percent of participants having not attempted to use half of the technology in their cars, according to Reuters. More than 4,000 people were surveyed between April and June.
Health and Life Sciences
Low vitamin-D genes linked to MS (BBC)
People genetically prone to low vitamin-D levels are at increased risk of multiple sclerosis, a large study suggests.
The findings, based on the DNA profiles of tens of thousands of people of European descent, add weight to the theory that the sunshine vitamin plays a role in MS.
Scientists are already testing whether giving people extra vitamin D might prevent or ease MS.
India's babies get 'bullet-proof' incubators (CNN)
Life as a premature baby is precarious — especially if you're in rural India.
There are some 750,000 neonatal deaths each year in India, and one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world.
Access to incubators is minimal outside cities; neonatal technology is expensive, particularly for local medical facilities.
Life on the Home Planet
Thailand destroys ivory stockpile amid junta crackdown (Phys)
Thailand destroyed more than two tonnes of ivory Wednesday—a victory for animal rights groups fighting against the trade in a country renowned for being a hub for illegal tusks.
The ceremony, in which 2,155 kilograms of raw tusks and carved trinkets were fed into an industrial rock crusher before being incinerated, was presided over by the Thai junta leader Prayu Chan-O-Cha and is the first time the kingdom has taken steps to destroy part of its stockpile.
No, Da Vinci Wasn't The First Inventor to Dream About Human Flight (Gizmodo)
Leonardo DaVinci’s wing and glider designs have inspired literature, art, and cinema over the centuries. But plenty of other people have schemed to take to the air, long before the Wright Brothers. Here are just some of the inventors who devised methods of unpowered human flight…with mixed success.
The most famous mythic fliers in the Western canon are Icarus & Daedelus. In the Ramayana, demi-god brothers Jatayu & Sampani from the Ramayana fly too close to the sun and fall. There’s also Bladud, a King of Britons in 500 BC, mentioned briefly by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who attempted to fly from a temple in Trinovantum (London) and was killed when he fell.
