Financial Markets and Economy
Inflation risk neglected by smug markets (Financial Times)
Students of economic history often marvel at some of the phenomena and oddities of past eras such as feudalism, giant stone currency, tulip bubbles and the gold standard. Perhaps in the future inflation will be added to the list of quaint, incomprehensible quirks banished to the history books.
That, at least, seems to be the conclusion of many investors and economists. Aside from a motley group of stubborn doomsayers — who have loudly and wrongly predicted the outbreak of hyperinflation since the financial crisis — the feeling in markets is that inflation is not just an inconsequential danger today, but in the future too.
U.S. stocks get the jitters before jobs report (CNN)
Investors are showing signs of nerves ahead of the U.S. employment report, which could determine the timing of the first interest rate rise in a decade and shake markets around the world.
Investor flight from US stocks fails to lift bond market (Business Insider)
The "flight to safety" into bonds many expected when U.S. stocks slumped last week never took off, making big losers out of prominent fund managers and further confusing investors at a volatile time in the market.
Stocks plunged in the second half of August, largely on fears of China's worsening economy, but U.S. Treasury yields did not see the kind of safety bid that many were expecting and has been typical in times of stock-market stress in the past.
Germany's Stocks Capitulate as Decline Triggers DAX Death Cross (Bloomberg)
German equities, which have already lost most of their gains for the year, have now fallen into a bearish chart pattern known as a death cross.
Dollar weakens ahead of August jobs report (Market Watch)
The dollar weakened against the euro and yen Friday ahead of a report on U.S. job gains in August that some economists say could tip the scales toward the Federal Reserve raising interest rates at its mid-September meeting.
But the U.S. currency continued its steady appreciation against the British pound, a trend that has been in place for the past week-and-a-half.
Oil prices dip, investors wait on cues from U.S. jobs data (Business Insider)
Oil prices eased in Asian trade on Friday as investors turned cautious ahead of U.S. jobs data later in the day which is expected to play into the Federal Reserve's decision on the timing of any U.S. rate hike.
Oil stuck to a narrow range in thin trading, with Chinese markets closed as second day for a holiday to commemorate the end of World War Two.
China Seeks to Calm Global Markets Forecasting Yuan Stability (Bloomberg)
China sought to ease concerns that its slowing economy could drag down global growth and signaled it won’t get dragged into tit-for-tat currency valuations.
Yi Gang, deputy governor of the Chinese central bank, said Friday that his country’s economy is solid despite the stock market selloff and the yuan will be stable. He spoke in an interview in Ankara where finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 nations.
Money flows back to stock funds as investors tiptoe in (Market Watch)
Investors thrust a net $10.7 billion into stock funds in the past week, marking the first weekly inflow in three weeks, says a Bank of America Merrill Lynch note.
They have tiptoed back into stock funds following a record-setting exit in the prior week as equities dived worldwide.
Wind Farm Investment Plunges With Power Prices in Nordic Region (Bloomberg)
Investors are pulling back from wind farms in Nordic nations as the lowest electricity prices in 12 years cut the profitability of new projects.
Shares Edge Up as Global Turmoil Subsides (NY Times)
Investors were encouraged by news that the European Central Bank is ready to increase economic stimulus if inflation in the eurozone does not pick up.
Britain's High Street is in crisis and retailers are tanking (Business Insider)
John Lewis, the bellwether UK department store, had a tough August — and so did the rest of the High Street.
Losses deepen for Asian stocks as Chinese markets remain closed (Market Watch)
Markets in Asia deepened their losses for the week on Friday, as worries about an imminent rate increase by the U.S. Federal Reserve overshadowed the potential for stimulus by the European Central Bank.
While traders got a break from the usual China stocks volatility — mainland markets have been closed the past two days for a national holiday — heavy selling on the back of persistent concerns about the state of China’s economy left regional stocks battered this week.
Charting the Markets: Gearing Up for U.S. Jobs Report (Bloomberg)
Markets react ahead of the final monthly report before the Federal Reserve's September policy meeting.
Oil prices fall as investors wait for key U.S. jobs report (Market Watch)
Oil prices moved firmly lower on Friday, as investors awaited U.S. jobs data due later in the global day amid a lack of other cues.
In the previous session, oil got a boost from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi hinting at expanded stimulus in response to volatile markets. Most Asian stock markets remained subdued, with markets in China closed for a second day today.
Futures fall as investors nervous ahead of jobs data (Bloomberg)
U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday ahead of the August jobs report that is expected to feature in the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006.
Nonfarm payrolls is expected to have increased by 220,000 last month, up from 215,000 in July, according to a Reuters survey of economists. The data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Politics
TN Judge Refuses To Divorce Couple, Blaming SCOTUS Gay Marriage Ruling (TPM)
A judge in Tennessee told a married couple seeking a divorce that he could not grant one for them, arguing that the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision left him unclear as to when a marriage ends.
"The conclusion reached by this Court is that Tennesseans have been deemed by the U.S. Supreme Court to be incompetent to define and address such keystone/central institutions such as marriage, and, thereby, at minimum, contested divorces," Hamilton County Chancellor Jeffrey Atherton wrote when denying the divorce petition, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
With Cardin opposed, Iran deal more likely to come down to Obama’s veto (The Washington Post)
Sen. Ben Cardin’s announcement that he will vote against the Iran deal throws a potential speedbump into President Obama’s growing victory parade, just as Democrats seemed to be building the numbers to keep a resolution of disapproval from getting through Congress.
“This is a close call,” the Maryland Democrat wrote in a Washington Post op-ed Friday, “but after a lengthy review, I will vote to disapprove the deal.”
Donald Trump stumbles during interview on foreign policy (Market Watch)
The Quds Force and the Kurdish people are not the same thing.
Donald Trump seemed to think conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt was referring to the latter — a group with its own language and culture — instead of the former in a radio interview on Thursday. Hewitt, the New York Times writes, asked Trump about the Quds Force, an Iranian military group. Trump told Hewitt the Kurds have been “horribly mistreated” before Hewitt interrupted and corrected him. Fellow Republican presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina, the Times writes, sounded informed about the Quds Force when she appeared on Hewitt’s show. Trump also told Hewitt at one point that his question about the names of individual foreign leaders was “somewhat ridiculous.”
The Trouble With Partisan Loyalty Oaths (The Atlantic)
Would he or wouldn’t he? In the end, Donald Trump signed the Republican National Committee’s pledge, but he did it his own way, in that inimitable, inch-high Sharpie scrawl, at once as angular and overstuffed as the man himself.
The document is Trump’s agreement (along with other Republican candidates) not to mount a campaign as an independent or with a third party in the even that he loses the GOP nomination.
Technology
Bionic Suit Helps A Paralyzed Man Take Thousands Of Steps (Popular Science)
In July of this year, researchers accomplished a feat that didn’t seem possible just a few years ago. They were able to stimulate the nerves of patients who were completely paralyzed so that they could move their legs in a rhythmic pattern. Now, the same team of scientists have gone one step farther: With the help of a bionic suit, they enabled a paralyzed man to take thousands of steps during a five-day training session, and for the two weeks that followed.
The patient–a 39-year-old man who was paralyzed from the waist down four years ago from a severe fall–is the first completely paralyzed person to walk on his own. The results were published and presented at the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Meeting this week.
Health and Life Sciences
Aspirin 'might boost cancer therapy' (BBC)
Aspirin may be able to boost the effectiveness of cutting-edge cancer medicines that bolster the immune system, scientists say.
Immunotherapy lets the body's own defences fight cancer and has been a source of huge excitement in the field.
Life on the Home Planet
Prime Minister Cameron Says U.K. Will Resettle Thousands More Syria Refugees (Bloomberg)
Prime Minister David Cameron yielded to pressure over the migration crisis engulfing Europe and said Britain will take in “thousands more” refugees from Syria.
“We will continue with our approach of taking them from the refugee camps,” Cameron told a news conference in Lisbon Friday during a visit to Portugal. “This provides them with a more direct and safe route to the United Kingdom, rather than risking the hazardous journey that has tragically cost so many of their lives.”
Hints of compromise at climate talks (BBC)
Rich nations at UN climate talks are said to be edging towards a compromise on the thorny issue of loss and damage.
Poorer countries want compensation for extreme weather events that they link to large scale carbon emissions.
But the US and EU have long resisted this idea, fearing an endless liability running into billions of dollars.
