Financial Markets and Economy
Zambia Seeks to Restore Confidence With Budget Amid Power Crisis (Bloomberg)
Zambian Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda is seeking to restore confidence in the economy to help reverse the world’s worst currency, record borrowing costs and sliding growth. The two things that matter the most to the outlook are the copper price and power supply, which he has little control over.
The World Bank is betting on mass migration driving the global economy (Business Insider)
The impact of mass migration has hit headlines around the world in recent months, but according to the World Bank, the benefits of large-scale immigration could drive forward the global economy in the coming decades.
In a major new report — released to coincide with the start of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund's annual meetings, this year taking place in Lima, Peru — the bank argues that the current mass migration happening throughout the world can be a major driver for the global economy in years to come.
Saudi prince now owns 5% of Twitter (CNN)
Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has given Twitter a big vote of confidence just months after suggesting CEO Jack Dorsey should step aside.
Alwaleed has increased its stake in Twitter over the last six weeks to 5.17%, making him the second biggest shareholder after former CEO and co-founder Evan Williams.
VW Scandal's Boost for Palladium Seen Sustained, Top Miner Says (Bloomberg)
The boost for palladium prices from a scandal at Volkswagen AG over car pollution tests will probably be sustained as the metal’s biggest monthly jump in two years brings it into line with supply and demand, according to GMK Norilsk Nickel PJSC, the top producer.
Britain's regulator is investigating whether banks signed off mortgages that risk crashing the market (Business Insider)
The Financial Conduct Authority launched a big review into the British banking sector to make sure lenders gave millions of homeowners a mortgage at a competitive rate. It is also looking at whether the sector is sufficiently regulated.
This is a huge deal because there are seven million Britons with a mortgage at the moment. The mortgages are worth £1.3 trillion in total.
You can stop panicking about the stock market now (Market Watch)
For a while there, it looked ugly on Wall Street as stocks were in a tailspin and big momentum plays were breaking down.
Renewables Shrug Off Slumping Oil as Investment Remains Steady (Bloomberg)
Renewable energy investment held firm in the third quarter, indicating the industry is weathering a slump in the cost of oil and coal.
Deutsche Bank shares are swinging violently as the bank warns of huge losses (Business Insider)
Shares in Deutsche Bank, mainland Europe's biggest investment bank, are swinging violently on news that it expects to book a third-quarter loss of €6.2 billion (£4.5 billion) on higher legal costs and a lower valuation for its Postbank unit.
Wall Street braces for stock-market fall ahead of Fed minutes (Market Watch)
The Dow industrials looked set to snap a streak of four consecutive gains as U.S. stock-index futures were pointing lower in early morning action ahead of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy-setting meeting.
A relatively subdued rise in Chinese stocks following a long holiday break and mixed trade in European indexes set the early tone, pitching futures lower.
With that backdrop, the Fed’s expected minutes and anticipation of Alcoa Inc.’s quarterly results—due after the close of trading Thursday—amid a downdraft in commodities, has fostered a sense of skittishness among investors.
U.K. Stocks Decline Before BOE as Glencore Falls With Miners (Bloomberg)
Drops in commodity producers took Britain’s shares down for the first time in seven days.
A big tech IPO flopped and now the company is worth less than when it was private (Business Insider)
Pure Storage, one of the most anticipated tech initial public offerings of the year, failed to live up to its expectations on its first day of trading.
The flash-storage provider went public Wednesday, but began trading below its $17 IPO price, and closed the day at $16.01.
Oil prices climb on weaker dollar, Russia’s attacks in Syria (Market Watch)
Oil futures rose on Thursday as the dollar weakened and Russia continued its military operations in Syria, though the global glut of crude continued to weigh on prices.
Russia escalated its assault on opponents of Bashar al-Assad’s regime with its first naval bombardment on Wednesday, a week after Moscow began its campaign in the war-torn country. The intervention added to the uncertainty in the Middle East, one of world’s biggest oil producing regions.
Sweden Wants More Steel Over App Wizards to Fuel Export Rebirth (Bloomberg)
The land of music streaming and Candy Crush wants to give good old heavy industry some steel.
Lumber Liquidators has reached a $10 million settlement with the DOJ, and the stock is soaring (Business Insider)
Lumber Liquidators has reached a $10 million settlement with the US Department of Justice relating to a 2013 inquiry about the company using illegally imported timber from eastern Russia.
The Lacey Act prohibits trade in fish, wildlife, and plants that have been illegally taken, transported, or sold.
Wall Street gets more nervous about Tesla (Market Watch)
Tesla Motors Inc. shares took a hit Wednesday as a downgrade and second price-target haircut for the stock added to concerns about the electric-car company’s ambitions.
Tesla TSLA, -3.93% shares are down more than 5% so far this week. If that weekly loss holds, it will be Tesla’s worst performance since mid-August. Shares are down 16% from their 2015 peak reached in July.
Europe Index Futures Little Changed as German Exports Disappoint (Bloomberg)
European stocks slipped after worse-than-expected German export data deepened investor concern about the euro-area economy’s growth prospects.
Consumer credit rises less than expected in August (Business Insider)
Consumer credit in August rose less than expected.
Credit rose by $16 billion, below expectations for a $19.5 billion expansion.
In July, consumer credit rose by $19.1 billion, or 6.7%, on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis to $3.4 trillion.
German Exports Slump Most Since 2009 Recession in Sign of Risks (Bloomberg)
German exports slumped the most since the height of the 2009 recession in a sign that Europes largest economy is vulnerable to risks from weakening global trade.
Junk bonds follow stocks into loss column for the year (Market Watch)
It’s not just stocks that are showing losses for the year.
U.S. high-yield, or “junk,” bonds shed all of their year-to-date gains in September and turned negative, as investors fled the asset class on growing concerns that liquidity will evaporate once the Federal Reserve begins to hike interest rates.
Oil pares gains after U.S. inventories cloud outlook (Business Insider)
Oil prices held steady after surrendering early gains on Thursday, as an unexpectedly large rise in U.S. inventory levels dented some of the recent optimism that the oversupply plaguing the market could soon vanish.
U.S. crude stocks rose by 3.1 million barrels to 461 million last week as refineries cut output and idled capacity. Analysts had expected a rise of 2.2 million barrels.
Wall Street Winning Streak Seen Ending on Global Market Turmoil (Bloomberg)
The six biggest U.S. banks collectively eked out revenue gains in this year’s first two quarters. That streak was probably toast in the third.
The 11 countries with the safest banks, ranked by customers (Business Insider)
The World Economic Forum's recently-released Global Competitiveness Survey offers a bundle of indicators to show the health of a country's institutions.
One of those is the perceived safeness of banks.
WEF used its executive opinion survey to ask "in general, how do you perceive the soundness of banks?"
Medill News Service: China can handle its three bubbles, expert says (Market Watch)
In the aftermath of the stock market freefall in June, China is facing three potential economic bubbles — but they are manageable, a China expert said Wednesday during a forum at the American Enterprise Institute.
Rising real estate prices, growing debt and the decline in the stock market are three potential risks for China, but the country’s unique economy may mitigate the peril, said Yukon Huang, senior associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Don't Expect Gas Savings to Spur U.S. Economy (Bloomberg)
It turns out not all of the spare change from lower gas prices has been lost in couch cushions: As much as 80 percent of it was spent elsewhere, the JPMorgan Chase Institute says.
This is the latest bond trading startup to win some big-name endorsements (Business Insider)
Electronifie, a corporate bond trading platform has added Troy Paredes, a former commissioner at the SEC, to its board of directors.
Also signed to the board is Max Kamhi, an entrepreneur and the former chief executive of hedge fund Jamison Capital Partners.
The trading platform is, along with TruMid and Liquidnet, a new entrant to the electronic bond trading world.
Thai Foreign-Exchange Trading Seen Easing From Two-Year High (Bloomberg)
The rush to buy foreign exchange in Thailand that pushed trading volumes to a two-year high should subside as fading bets for U.S. monetary tightening in 2015 bring stability to the baht,says Kasikornbank Pcl.
October’s reputation for bad returns is a myth (Market Watch)
A lot of market crashes have happened in October, which has given it a bad rap among investors. But historically, its reputation for sour returns has been exaggerated.
Asia's biggest clothing chain can't crack the US (Business Insider)
Japanese clothing chain UNIQLO has world domination in its sights and the latest set of results from its parent company show that's not such a crazy dream.
Fast Retailing, which owns UNIQLO, reported a whopping 48% rise in pre-tax profit to ¥117.38 billion (£640 million) in the year to August 31. Revenue rose 21.6% to ¥1.68 trillion (£91 billion).
The big jumps were driven by booming sales in China and South Korea.
Silver Lining for U.S. Economic Data as Metal Defies Meltdown (Bloomberg)
Silver is becoming the best bet among major commodities, thanks to disappointing U.S. economic data.
China's Stocks Rise After Trading Break Amid Targeted Stimulus (Bloomberg)
Chinas stocks rose as trading resumed after a week-long holiday and the government took steps to boost the economy.
Morgan Stanley Bond Team Faces the Unexpected: Can Fed Avoid QE? (Bloomberg)
A year that started with almost everyone calling for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates is drawing to a close with one of the world’s largest bond dealers saying there’s increasing chatter about the need for additional stimulus.
Politics
Hillary Clinton has broken with Obama on a major cornerstone of his legacy (Business Insider)
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that "as of today" she opposes the major trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a major break with an administration that considers the deal a cornerstone of US President Barack Obama's foreign-policy legacy.
"As of today, I am not in favor of what I have learned about it," the Democratic presidential front-runner told PBS's Judy Woodruff in an interview during a campaign swing in Iowa. "I don’t believe it's going to meet the high bar I have set."
Supporters of Donald Trump and other Republicans get worst grammar grades (Market Watch)
Donald Trump may be leading his rival Republican presidential aspirants in the polls, but, when it comes to his supporters’ facility with grammar, he’s running dead last.
And, according to the Presidential Debate Grammar Power Rankings survey — conducted by the Grammarly blog — Republican supporters, overall, trail Democratic candidates’ backers in grammar skills.
Conde Seeks Guinea Election Win as Power Investments Deliver (Bloomberg)
Guinean President Alpha Conde strengthened his bid for a second term in Oct. 11 elections against a divided opposition by securing a steady energy supply and keeping the military out of politics to shore up a transition from dictatorship to democracy.
Technology
Track Your Carbon Footprint On Your Wrist (PSFK)
Worldbeing is a wearable and app developed by design agency Layer, which aims to deliver experiences for the physical and digital worlds. Led by Benjamin Hubert, the team includes industrial designers, UX/UI specialists, human-centered researchers and engineers.
Portable Power for Electric Cars (Popular Science)
One of the factors that keeps electric vehicles from wide adoption is range anxiety. Though battery technologies have come a long way in the last decade, with 100 miles on a charge being common and Teslas easily topping 200 miles, people still want to know they can take off on a family vacation or a weekend away. Road trip!
A French company has a cute solution to this problem: EP Tender, a generator housed in a little two-wheeled trailer pulled by your EV. It’s just over 4 feet long and over 400 pounds, which seems like a lot for an EV to pull. (The Renault Zoe shown in the demo videos is not rated for towing, by the way.)
Health and Life Sciences
Heart attack test 'cuts hospital stays' (BBC)
A blood test can more than halve the number of people admitted to hospital with a suspected heart attack, say doctors.
They say the rapid test, which looks for a chemical in the blood, would reduce stress for patients, save money and ease pressure on hospital wards.
Should therapy be mandatory for weight loss surgery patients? (CNN)
Surgery is meant to improve a person's health and quality of life, but there are some cases where it may have the opposite effect.
Bariatric surgery may be one of these, because it could increase a person's risk of self-harm, according to a new study.
Life on the Home Planet
Fuel crisis threatens Nepal's forests (BBC)
Nepal's world-renowned community forests are under threat from a sudden rise in demand for firewood because of a fuel crisis, officials say.
A blockade on the Himalayan nation's border with India has halted imports.
This insane Beijing traffic jam will make you thankful for your commute (Mashable)
China sure knows how to do insane traffic.
With millions of Chinese motorists taking to the road at the end of the country's week-long National Day celebration, a few traffic headaches were probably to be expected.
An Economic History of Leftovers (The Atlantic)
Irma Rombauer said she wrote The Joy of Cooking with “one eye on the family purse.” Maybe it’s not surprising, then, that the original 1931 edition had so much to say about leftovers. Rombauer carefully inventoried all the recipes in the book that could serve as vessels for leftovers, and she enthusiastically detailed her favorite all-purpose techniques, such as folding chopped leftovers (it didn’t really matter what) into waffle batter or mixing them with cream sauce and stuffing them into hollowed-out vegetables.
