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Friday, March 29, 2024

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Financial Markets and Economy

If you're feeling bullish after last week's stock-market rebound, look at these charts… (Business Insider)

Last week was a heck of a week in the global markets.

On Monday, it looked like the world was ending, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging more than 1,000 points and closing down nearly 600. Tuesday saw more carnage. By mid-week, however, stocks were ripping higher again. And by Friday, they actually closed up for the week.

1987 stock crash

The bottom is in… just not for the S&P (Market Watch)

The Federal Reserve may have cooked up some master plan while cavorting in Wyoming over the weekend, but the markets aren’t exactly impressed. Or maybe it’s more about the mess in China. Whatever the reason, this Monday, like so many before, already stinks. The red ink is rising.

Macau Economy Contracts 26.4% as Casino Slump Threatens Surplus (Bloomberg)

Macau’s economy dipped to its lowest since 2011 as high-end gamblers avoided the world’s largest casino market amid a widening crackdown on graft in China.

Verizon will let you keep your contract – but don't (CNN)

Verizon hasn't quite killed off two-year contracts just yet.

The nation's largest wireless carrier stopped offering two-year contracts to new customers earlier this month. But Verizon clarified last week that if you are currently under contract, you can renew your two-year deal with Verizon when you upgrade your phone.

Gold slips, threatens to fall in 5 of last 6 sessions (Market Watch)

Gold futures started the week on a downbeat note Monday, putting the metal on pace to record its fifth decline in six sessions.

Gold for December delivery GCZ5, -0.60%  gave up $6.90, or about 0.6%, to $1,127.20 an ounce in early trade, after settling at $1,134 an ounce Friday and snapping a four-session losing streak.

The Jackson Hole Economic Symposium in one chart (Business Insider)

Despite myriad of signs that say inflation is low, staying low, and perhaps going lower, Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer is sanguine about price stability.

cotd jackson hole

Iran Targets Foreign Investment to Boost Economy, Rouhani Says (Bloomberg)

Iran will encourage foreign partners and investment as sanctions are lifted and the country seeks to boost its economy after July’s nuclear agreement with the world powers, President Hassan Rouhani said.

“Foreigners must bring investment and technology and partner with Iranians so that both sides can benefit by winning a share of the Iranian and regional markets,” Rouhani told reporters in Tehran on Saturday. “The ultimate aim is to create employment for our youth.”

Wall Street braces for losses as Dow futures tumble (Market Watch)

Stock futures pointed to sharp opening losses for Wall Street on Monday, as a rocky month closes out with fresh worries over China and no clear view on whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will hike U.S. interest rates in September.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YMU5, -1.25%   slid 170 points, or 1%, to 16,489, while those for the S&P 500 index ESU5, -1.22% ESU5, -1.22% dropped 20 points, or 1%, to 1,970.25. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index NQU5, -1.12%  fell 37 points, or 0.9%, to 4,296.50.

Goldman Sachs says this chart looks like this only when there's about to be a recession (Business Insider)

Goldman Sachs says the VIX — an index of volatility in the S&P 500 stocks — has risen to a level usually seen only when the US is in recession.

vix goldman

People look at the exchange rate at a moneychanger displaying a poster of U.S. dollar bill, Chinese Yuan and Malaysia Ringgit in Singapore August 24, 2015. REUTERS/Edgar Su China's yuan up on suspected intervention, set for August loss (Business Insider)

China's yuan firmed on Monday after the central bank set a stronger guidance rate while it also appeared to continue using state-owned banks to support the Chinese currency, traders said.

For August, the currency is set to depreciate 2.7 percent if it closes at the midday level. Most of the losses came after the People's Bank of China (PBOC) surprised markets by devaluing the yuan by nearly 2 percent on Aug. 11.

Tell-tale chart?When did the world get so vulnerable to the vagaries of the Chinese stock markets? (Market Watch)

Things have settled down some since last Monday (Aug. 24), when fears of the next global financial crisis churned markets—and stomachs—everywhere. Major North American and European indexes finished the week just above where they had started it. Still, a queasiness lingers in the fact that there’s no good explanation for why the Chinese stock meltdown spread to trading floors across the Western world.

After all, they barely flinched when Chinese shares cratered in mid-June, and again in mid-July. And global investors have long known China is slowing; the Aug. 11 yuan revaluation—one supposed trigger of the recent plunge—told us nothing new about that.

200 arrested over China stock market rumors (CNN)

Chinese authorities have arrested nearly 200 people for alleged online rumor-mongering about China's stock market turmoil and a recent, deadly chemical factory explosion in Tianjin.

Among the arrested is Wang Xiaolu, a journalist for financial publication Caijing Magazine, "who has been placed under 'criminal compulsory measures' for suspected violations of colluding with others and fabricating and spreading fake information on securities and futures market," according to Chinese state media.

Lessons and Blessings in Trading (Trader Feed)

If everything in life either provides you with blessings or lessons, you will always profit, even when you lose money.

Viewing life through the lens of blessings and lessons means that you approach the world with a sense of gratitude.  There are a number of emotional and health benefits associated with gratitude, but perhaps the greatest benefit is that it promotes resilience.  It is through adversity that we stretch our boundaries and discover hidden reserves and talents.  As long as we take risks prudently, whether in romance or in markets, losses can become gifts once we seek and uncover their educational value. 

Dollar lower against yen, euro amid Asia stock markets slump (Market Watch)

The dollar was lower against the yen and the euro in Asian trade Monday, with weakness in Asian stock markets again prompting flights to the perceived safety of the Japanese and eurozone currencies.

The greenback USDJPY, -0.46%  was at ¥121.56, compared with ¥121.70 late Friday in New York. The U.S. currency was also weaker against the euro EURUSD, +0.4113% which rose to $1.1243 midday from $1.1187.

A pedestrian is reflected on an electronic board showing the graph of the recent fluctuations of the Japan's Nikkei average outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, August 27, 2015. Asian stocks extended gains on Thursday as a sharp rebound on Wall Street and gains in battered Chinese shares eased fears of a deep and protracted global market rout, while the dollar rallied as risk aversion eased. REUTERS/Yuya ShinoAsia stocks sag as Fed rate prospects revived, China still a worry (Business Insider)

Asian stocks sagged on Monday after top Federal Reserve officials kept the door open for an interest rate hike in September and investors braced for China economic data this week.

Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer, speaking at the central bank' conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, said recent volatility in global markets could ease and possibly pave the way for a rate hike.

Investing in energy stocks could land you in a huge ‘value trap’ (Market Watch)

The stock market’s wild trading recently has raised the specter of a bear market emerging from hibernation. That means it’s time for investors conditioned to buy all declines to be mindful of the “value trap” — a declining stock, sector, or index that appears cheap after a selloff but keeps declining.

Herdsmen from the Kyrgyz ethnic group hold their falcons as they ride on horses during a hunting competition in Akqi county, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous February 1, 2015. Picture taken February 1, 2015.The flood of cash into tech startups means pay is going through the roof (Business Insider)

Tech startups around the world are awash with cash right now, thanks to hedge funds, traditional investment firms, and billionaires piling in alongside VCs to back businesses.

Europe is no different, with €3.47 billion (£2.5 billion, $3.92 billion) invested in tech startups here in the second quarter of the year, according to Tech EU. The UK took the biggest share of that, accounting for €992.9 million (£725.7 million, $1.12 billion).

Futures Movers: Oil prices down as markets off to a shaky start for the week (Market Watch)

Oil prices fell Monday, reversing some of the gains made late last week amid concerns the latest rally in the oil and commodities markets would be difficult to sustain.

Investors are bracing for another week of volatile trading, with a focus on China as well as the timing of a U.S. interest-rate increase. Oversupply concerns also remain persistent as seasonal summer demand for oil fades and oil refineries slow operations.

Politics

obama biden clinton cute guys real cuteHedge fund god Jim Chanos just explained why Republicans should lose the 2016 election (Business Insider)

Chanos said this in an interview with Roben Farzad of NPR's Full Disclosure 

Chanos is a friend of Vice President Joe Biden who has been floated as a potential candidate. Chanos has no idea if Biden will run or not. But he thinks Biden would be a great candidate because he works with people across the aisle. People on the other side like him and admire him. He hits a chord with the middle class.

Wall St. Policy Poses a Challenge for Presidential Candidates (NY Times)

Even seven years after the financial crisis, Wall Street has lost none of its ability to stir partisan rancor.

The Republican presidential candidates are almost entirely unified behind repealing the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul legislation approved by a Democratic-controlled Congress after the 2008 collapse, which was brought on by reckless mortgage lending. That rollback would undoubtedly allow for more unfettered trading and lending.

Inside Trump's bankruptcy track record (CNN)

Donald Trump brags about how well his businesses have fared in bankruptcy. And in fact, no major U.S. company has filed for Chapter 11 more than Trump's casino empire in the last 30 years.

"I have used the laws of this country … the [bankruptcy] chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family," he said during the first Republican presidential debate on August 6.

Technology

Boeing's weapon against drones: Think laser, think welding torch (Phys)

Consider a contest of unmanned aerial vehicle versus energy. And one where energy wins. Boeing has a compact laser weapons system to pull the win off. The system directs energy on its targets, focusing energy on a spot in order to damage the target. Think of it as a welding torch, said Isaac Neal, Boeing engineer, but from many hundreds of meters away.

Gallery ImageThis Modern Survival Kit Comes With a Battery for Your Phone (Wired)

THREE YEARS AGO, the team at Box Clever began looking for a project to take on internally. New York was reeling from Hurricane Sandy, and the storm had prompted a debate within the San Francisco design firm about just what “survival” means and how it’s changed in the 21st century. It felt bigger than Band-Aids and gauze, so the team set out to create the modern survival kit.

The designers started with some constraints. Most importantly, Seth Murray, one of Box Clever’s principals, told his team to do anything it wanted as long as they bought everything from Alibaba’s shopping site. Hence the name Project Alibaba. “It had to be something that wasn’t a huge resource or time commitment from the studio,” Murray says. “It had to already exist—we were packaging it up in a project.”

Health and Life Sciences

NHS tests implanted sugar monitor (BBC)

A blood sugar monitor that can stay in the body for up to five months is being tested on NHS patients.

It is hoped the device, which continuously monitors the blood and beams the information to a smartphone, will help control type 1 diabetes.

Patients in London, Cambridge and Swansea are taking part in the trial to assess the safety and accuracy of the monitor.

Life on the Home Planet

Growing cucumber and sweet pepper in water efficient zero emission greenhouse (Phys)

Regulations to reduce the emission of nutrients and pesticides force the horticultural industry to adopt a new approach to water management. Is a zero-emission greenhouse feasible?

Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture is currently testing the zero emission greenhouse. In this zero emission greenhouse all drain  is re-used.

In the reference greenhouse occasional discharge takes place in accordance with current practice and the  for nitrogen for 2015. The discharged water is also treated for removal of pesticides.

millet in bowlDrought could turn millet into American food (Futurity)

Most people in the US put millet in the birdfeeder, but Amrita Hazra says we ought to eat it ourselves.

Hazra, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of California, Berkeley, plant and microbial biology department, and her colleagues on the Millet Project are cultivating millets, testing millet recipes, and offering samples of millet-based products at local food events and exhibits.

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