Financial Markets and Economy
Charting the Markets: Stocks Rally to Erase the Week's Losses (Bloomberg)
The turmoil in financial markets to start the week is fast becoming a blip in the rear-view mirror, with developed market equities posting robust gains on Thursday as volatility subsided and the commodity complex largely advanced.
Dow sets a 2-day record, finishes up 369 points (CNN)
The U.S. stock market bounced back on Thursday and made history.
After several volatile days with huge swings in both directions, the Dow finished Thursday up 369 points. Combined with Wednesday's 619-point rally, it's the best two-day point gain for the Dow in its history, surpassing the previous record set in 2008.
U.S. dollar flipped a time-tested investing trend on its head this week (Market Watch)
An unusual trend in the relationship between the dollar and U.S. stocks emerged during this week’s global stock-market selloff.
Though both U.S. stocks and the dollar have both been appreciating over the past year, they typically trade inversely because a strengthening dollar hurts corporate earnings.
Boeing: Don't worry about China's economy — they're going to buy nearly $1 trillion worth of planes (Business Insider)
The Chinese aviation industry is growing at an incredible pace.
And Boeing has taken notice.
According to the latest projections from the airplane maker, Chinese airlines will play a big role in the company's financial success.
Forget Oil Glut and War. Water is Real Threat for Mideast (Bloomberg)
Thirst.
It's not talked about nearly as much as oil or Islamic State, yet lack of water is driving conflict and strife in the Middle East and North Africa.
Oil markets catch breath after biggest gains in six years (Business Insider)
Crude oil futures were largely steady on Friday after posting their biggest one-day rally in over six years the day before led by recovering equity markets and news of diminished crude supplies.
Stock markets around the world rallied on Thursday, shaking off a slump related to China growth fears, as strong U.S. economic data boosted investor sentiment, and the dollar advanced for a third consecutive session.
Solid economic growth likely to limit stock-market correction (Market Watch)
To believe that the latest stock market correction is largely over and that the market is truly on its way to extending the 6-year-old bull market, one must see the glass half-full, rather than half-empty.
Mostly, it comes down to how investors interpret economic data, interest rates, monetary policy, valuations, and impact of slowing growth in China.
The Scary Number Hiding Behind Today's GDP Party (Bloomberg)
The federal government today released two very different estimates of the U.S. economy’s growth rate in the second quarter. The one that got all the attention was the robust 3.7 percent annual rate of increase in gross domestic product. Not many people noticed that gross domestic income increased at an annual rate of just 0.6 percent.
That’s a big discrepancy for two numbers that should theoretically be the same, since they’re two ways of measuring the same thing: the size of the economy. If you believe the GDP number, you’re happy. If you believe the GDI number, you’re thinking the U.S. is skating close to a recession.
'This doesn't look like a slowing economy to me' (Business Insider)
The US economy is rolling along.
In a note to clients following the market close on Thursday, Deutsche Bank economist Torsten Sløk, who has been notably bullish on the US economy over the last year, circulated a chart showing that when you look at R&D spending trends, the economy appears solid.
U.S. investors shouldn’t fear China’s slowdown (Market Watch)
Global stock markets have been rattled by a China-inspired selloff, triggered by fears that a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy could have spillover effects in the U.S.
But the potential impact of China’s economic woes on the U.S. have been overstated, Deutsche Bank analysts said during a client call Thursday.
One of the Most Popular Doom Scenarios for the U.S. Economy Is Fizzling Out (Bloomberg)
For years, politicians, gloomy newsletter writers, and even some economists have been warning that the U.S. is at the mercy of China, because China owns so much Treasury debt.
In 2010, a group called Citizens Against Government Waste made an infamous commercial called the Chinese Professor, in which a professor in Beijing in the year 2030 teaches his class about the demise of the U.S. because its government spent so much money and mortgaged the country's future to the Chinese.
Wall Street’s missing a closed-end bargain: Herzfeld (Market Watch)
A couple of closed-end mutual funds are paying attractive dividends.
Stocks Soar, Crude Oil goes Banana: Here's what you need to know (Business Insider)
It was another wild day on Wall Street as stocks rallied and crude oil went parabolic.
Stocks in the US gained more than 2% across the board and crude oil prices rose 10% in their biggest one-day gain since October 2008.
In the final hour of trading, stocks looked like they were going to collapse again, but quickly bounced back and moved to nearly session highs into the close.
U.S. Has What It Takes at Home to Counter Made-in-China Turmoil (Bloomberg)
The U.S. economy looks to have the staying power to take a licking and keep on ticking.
Venezuela wants an emergency OPEC meeting (Business Insider)
Venezuela is seeking an emergency OPEC meeting to figure out how the cartel can stem the collapse in oil prices, The Wall Street Journal is reporting.
According to people familiar with the matter, the Journal reports that Venezuela has contacted other members of OPEC — the 12-state oil cartel led by Saudi Arabia — to hold an emergency meeting "in coordination with Russia."
How momentum investing could go out of style (Market Watch)
Momentum stocks haven’t completely lost their mojo, but some analysts wonder whether the successful investing style might fall out of fashion.
Momentum trading, in which investors load up on stocks that are on a hot streak and unload or even short stocks that have turned cold, has been a winning strategy over much of the bull market that began in March 2009.
How Central Bankers Are Twisting Classic Bond-Investing Logic (Bloomberg)
The more central banks mess around with global bond markets, the more you have to question how you invest in bonds.
Think safe-haven debt, such as U.S. Treasuries, will provide a hedge against losses on stocks? Not always. Or that central bankers really have control over borrowing costs? Or that you ought to get paid to lend money to Germany, Switzerland, France and Belgium? Nope, on both counts.
Here comes the S&P 500 'Death Cross' … (Business Insider)
The most exciting name in technical analysis is coming to the S&P 500: a "Death Cross."
Business investment plays starring role in second-quarter GDP (Market Watch)
The jump in business investment in the second quarter is not an illusion, and it’s likely to continue to grow in coming quarters, economists said Thursday.
Business investment was the star of the second-quarter GDP data, having been revised dramatically upward to a 3.2% advance from an initial estimate of a 0.6% decline. All subcategories of business investment — structures, equipment and intellectual property — were revised higher.
Deutsche Bank: It's Chinese 'Quantitative Tightening' That's Been Slamming Markets Around the World (Bloomberg)
The recent selloff in global markets has been largely associated with what's going on in China (the yuan devaluation, the Shanghai Composite plunge, the slowing growth). But Deutsche Bank's FX Strategist George Saravelos pinpoints Chinese "Quantitative Tightening" as the key factor to watch.
Here's Saravelos explaining that basically China built up reserves just like the Fed did in recent years, and the world has to contend with that reversal.
Higher food prices don't hurt everyone equally (Business Insider)
One effect of higher food prices in a given country is higher consumer price index (CPI) inflation.
Politics
Biden running better than Clinton against top Republicans, poll shows (Market Watch)
Joe Biden is running better against leading Republican presidential contenders than Hillary Clinton is, according to a poll released Thursday, a finding that could influence his decision about running for the White House.
The vice president polls better than the former secretary of state when paired up against Republican hopefuls Donald Trump, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio in a Quinnipiac University poll. Biden, who is believed to be mulling another bid for the presidency, would beat billionaire businessman Trump by eight points (48% to 40%), former Florida Gov. Bush by six points (45% to 39%) and Florida Sen. Rubio by three points (44% to 41%).
Technology
Algorithm is a ‘toy’ version of a robot scientist (Futurity)
Biophysicists have gotten us a small step closer to an automated method to infer models describing a system’s dynamics—a so-called robot scientist.
“Our algorithm is a small step,” says Ilya Nemenman, lead author of the study and a professor of physics and biology at Emory University. “It could be described as a toy version of a robot scientist, but even so it may have practical applications.
Gundam Designer Is Developing a Real Transforming Car (PSFK)
In the world of anime fandom, there aren’t many names bigger than Kunio Okawara. You may not instantly recognize the name but chances are you’ve seen his work. Okawara was the first mechanical designer for the original Mobile Suit Gundam series that debuted in Japan in 1979. The show didn’t do well initially but Okawara’s designs were adapted to model kits which became wildly popular and responsible for a reboot of the show. The series revolutionizing the giant robot genre pairing normal pilots with mechs designed for combat.
Health and Life Sciences
Brain cells 'burn out' in Parkinson's (BBC)
Brain cells in Parkinson's disease exhaust themselves and die prematurely, burning out like an "overheating motor", an early study suggests.
Canadian researchers say the findings might help explain why only small parts of the brain are affected in the disease.
Parkinson's is caused by a loss of nerve cells in certain areas of the brain – but why these cells are vulnerable has been a mystery.
Let Fear Guide Early Stage Breast-Cancer Decisions (NY Times)
TWO patients, I’ll call them Sara and Janine, both learned that they had ductal carcinoma in situ (D.C.I.S.), often referred to as Stage 0 breast cancer. Both underwent lumpectomies in their early 50s. Told that worrisome cells were found, both had another surgery. Then a third surgery was recommended.
Sara decided she would rather live with the risk. Janine had the opposite response. “Let’s get this all out,” she said.
Life on the Home Planet
Utah resident dies from plague (CNN)
An elderly person died from plague this month, Utah health officials said Thursday. An investigation into how, where and when the person was infected with the flea-borne infection is ongoing. The person did not travel to an area where plague is common. No other information about the patient is known at this time.
People are usually infected after a flea becomes infected from a rodent such as a rat, squirrel or chipmunk, and then transmits it to a person by biting them.
Humus depletion induced by climate change? (Phys)
The yields of many important crops in Europe have been stagnating since the 1990s. As a result, the input of organic matter into the soil – the crucial source for humus formation – is decreasing. Scientists from the Technical University Munich (TUM) suspect that the humus stocks of arable soils are declining due to the influence of climate change. Humus, however, is a key factor for soil functionality, which is why this development poses a threat to agricultural production – and, moreover, in a worldwide context.
