Financial Markets and Economy
Rich Asians Mostly Stick With Dollar Rally UBS Sees Almost Done (Bloomberg)
UBS Group AG, the world’s largest private bank, is telling its wealthy clients that the U.S. dollar’s gains are set to be limited as the Federal Reserve will probably tighten policy gradually after liftoff next month.
Switzerland is about to launch a huge experiment in 'the war on cash' (Business Insider)
A huge economic experiment will begin in Switzerland and Sweden in 2016, and some people are calling it the "war on cash."
Both countries have central banks that have imposed negative interest rates on their commercial banks, making it costly for those banks to store cash. The intent is to force the banks to lend out the cash, thus spurring the economy and a small amount of healthy inflation.
There’s much about the economy to be thankful for (Market Watch)
You know how the media is: always trumpeting bad news. It’s not news, for example, when a plane lands safely, right? But when something goes wrong, they’re all over it like white on rice. That’s how it usually is with our economy too. We’re always hearing about our problems. Some $19 trillion in federal debt. Tens of millions on food stamps. The increasing challenge of being able to pay for college, buy a home, or have a comfortable retirement. On and on. These are big, serious problems, no question about it.
Cyber Monday Is Dead. Long Live Cyber Friday (Bloomberg)
The last thing shoppers need is another name for their holiday binge; and yet here it is. First there was Black Friday. Then there was Cyber Monday. Now there’s Cyber Friday as the lines blur between online and traditional shopping in a weekend of frenzied consumption.
Elite funds prepare for reflation and a bloodbath for bonds (The Telegraph)
One by one, the giant investment funds are quietly switching out of government bonds, the most overpriced assets on the planet.
Nobody wants to be caught flat-footed if the latest surge in the global money supply finally catches fire and ignites reflation, closing the chapter on our strange Lost Decade of secular stagnation.
The Turkish Wild Card in Syria That Russia and U.S. Both Need (Bloomberg)
Turkey just reinforced its role as a wild card in the Syrian civil war, and one that both sides of the conflict ultimately have to deal with.
After becoming the first NATO country in more than half a century to shoot down a Russian warplane, it sent the alliance scrambling to deescalate tension with Moscow as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to continue to protect his country’s airspace.
Copper prices rally on reports China will probe short selling (Market Watch)
Copper prices, which have been among the hardest-hit in this year’s commodity fallout, rallied on Thursday amid reports that China regulators may be looking into short-selling of copper and other metals.
Portugal's anti-austerity Left take power in watershed moment for the euro (The Telegraph)
Portugal’s anti-austerity Left has taken power with the support of Communists and radical forces after eight weeks of bitter wrangling, breaking Germany’s grip on economic policy and setting the scene for a bruising fight with Brussels on budget plans.
The triumph of the triple-Left alliance under Socialist leadership is a historic moment for the country and implies a sweeping reversal of austerity cuts imposed by the now-departed EU-IMF Troika.
Debt Burden Among South Africans Seen as `Time Bomb' for Country (Bloomberg)
Increasing debt in South African households and their excessive access to easy credit is the biggest time bomb facing the country, said Ismail Momoniat, a deputy director general at the National Treasury.
Nippon Paper Sets Nanofiber Diapers as Path to Boost Growth (Bloomberg)
Nippon Paper Industries Co. plans to build a factory to mass produce nanofiber as soon as next year, part of a push to bolster revenue as Japan’s shrinking population and the shift to online content threatens sales of newspapers and books.
Ex-Barclays CEO: Banks are about to have an 'Uber moment' — and it's going to be painful (Business Insider)
Antony Jenkins, the former CEO of Barclays, has a nightmare vision for the future of big banks.
In a speech in London this week he said: "The incumbents risk becoming merely capital-providing utilities that operate in a highly regulated, less profitable environment, a situation unlikely to be tolerated by shareholders."
Euro on shaky ground, stocks up on talk of aggressive ECB easing (Yahoo! Finance)
The euro slipped towards seven-month lows, bond yields fell and European shares rallied on Thursday on growing talk of aggressive stimulus from the European Central Bank next week.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index (.FTEU3) settled 0.9 percent higher, adding to Wednesday's 1.4 percent gain, while the Euro STOXX 50 index added 1.1 percent.
Politics
Why the CIA is smearing Edward Snowden after the Paris attacks (LA Times)
Decent people see tragedy and barbarism when viewing a terrorism attack. American politicians and intelligence officials see something else: opportunity.
Bodies were still lying in the streets of Paris when CIA operatives began exploiting the resulting fear and anger to advance long-standing political agendas.
Hollande, Putin Call for ‘Broad’ Coalition to Fight Terrorism (Bloomberg)
French President Francois Hollande and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin called for a “broad coalition” to fight Islamic State militants in Syria, even amid fading chances that a wave of terrorist attacks will become the catalyst for a united front involving Russia and the U.S.
“We must build this broad coalition that I have mentioned to hit terrorism,” Hollande said at the start of talks with Putin at the Kremlin on Thursday. “I am in Moscow with you to see how we can act together, to see how we can coordinate to hit this terrorist group and at the same time find a political solution for Syria.”
Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet was a confrontation waiting to happen (Economist)
The shooting down by Turkey of a Russian Su-24 fighter-bomber on Tuesday morning—the first time a NATO member has admitted bringing down a Russian warplane since the end of the cold war—was in many ways a confrontation waiting to happen. Syria has become a messy battleground with outside powers supporting different proxy factions and, increasingly, intervening directly in the country’s civil war. Russian, American and French air forces have all bombed targets in Syria with worryingly little co-ordination.
Technology
Robot to help passengers find their way at airport (Phys)
The robot in the "Spencer" project is now all set to face the real world at the major international airport Schiphol in Amsterdam. Its mission: to help passengers find their way around the airport.
Health and Life Sciences
So, You Ate Too Much…What Do You Do Now? (Forbes)
So you told yourself that you would not overeat during Thanksgiving . But here you are after the feast, feeling bloated and filled with eater’s remorse. As you stare at the stacks of empty dishes, you may say, “what have I done?” So, the question is “what do you do?”
Overeating episodes happen to the best of us. Many people do not choose to overeat. (Unless, you are in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.)
The 6,000-Calorie Diet (The Scientist)
Between October 2013 and July 2014, six healthy, middle-aged men reported to Temple University Hospital in north Philadelphia. For seven days, researchers confined each subject to his hospital bed and told him to select breakfast, lunch, and dinner, along with three daily snacks, from the hospital menu containing typical American cuisine: eggs, fried chicken, hamburgers, French fries, etc. The intake totaled a whopping 6,000 calories—about 2.5 times the men’s normal diet.
Life on the Home Planet
Thanksgiving Reflections (The Huffington Post)
If you read the news you're bound to feel anxious and depressed. You'd have to be a psychopath not to feel that way. The world looks plenty grim through the eyes of the media, and it's always been that way. It was the same in the 1800s and in Roman times, nothing's changed. We seek out danger as a species; it's what we do. It's not only the news, it's our innate tendency to purvey distress. We're simply hard-wired that way.
