We curated a lot of interesting articles for your weekend reading. Enjoy!
Fresh Tremors Hamper Nepal’s Search for Earthquake Survivors (Bloomberg)
A fresh 6.7 magnitude aftershock in Nepal on Sunday hampered efforts to find survivors of a more powerful earthquake the day before that killed more than 2,200 people.
The tremors prompted authorities to temporarily halt flights into Kathmandu, the capital, where thousands of people are camping outdoors. The 7.8-magnitude temblor that struck shortly before noon on Saturday triggered avalanches on Mount Everest, killing at least 19 foreign climbers including a Google Inc. product manager.
It's still unclear how much good easy monetary policy is doing for the economy (BusinessInsider)
LONDON (Reuters) – Most central banks have been easing policy since the start of the year and are set to do more, but it still isn't clear whether that new activism, which has pushed stock markets to record highs, will help the global economy much.
Several meet this week to set policy, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and Sweden's Riksbank, which all have turned to government bond purchases as stimulus after running out of interest rates to cut.
Why North Europeans Are the Happiest People (BloombergView)
Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark and Norway are the world's happiest countries, according to the 2015 World Happiness Report, which is put out by some influential economists. Three of these European states are not members of the European Union. What are they doing right that the rest of the world is doing wrong?
Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University, Richard Layard of the London School of Economics and John Helliwell of the University of British Columbia have been putting out these reports since 2012. They are intended to remind governments that success is about more than economic growth and other such statistics. Sure, people are happier when they're richer and healthier, as they tend to be in more developed countries, but there are other contributors to perceptions of well-being. That's what the reports measures: People in various countries are asked how they perceive various aspects of their lives.
Analysts: Solar energy is on the verge of a 'global boom' (BusinessInsider)
One by one, Japan is turning off the lights at the giant oil-fired power plants that propelled it to the ranks of the world's top industrialized nations.
With nuclear power in the doldrums after the Fukushima disaster, it's solar energy that is becoming the alternative.
Solar power is set to become profitable in Japan as early as this quarter, according to the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF), freeing it from the need for government subsidies and making it the last of the G7 economies where the technology has become economically viable.
Dollar Drops for Second Week as Economic Misses Cloud Fed Outlook (Bloomberg)
The dollar dropped for a second week as data on the world’s largest economy persistently trailed forecasts, raising questions about whether the Federal Reserve will have scope to raise interest rates this year.
Comcast’s Week-Long Unraveling of TWC Deal Was Months in the Making (Bloomberg)
The collapse of Comcast Corp.’s plan to buy Time Warner Cable Inc., which played out in public over the course of a week, was months in the making.
When Comcast announced its $45.2 billion bid 14 months ago, Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts promised the new company would transform how Americans experience entertainment. But opponents stepped up their offensive in recent months. Government officials told executives they worried the new cable giant could stifle competition on the Internet.
P/E Ratios – You’re Doing It Wrong (ValueWalk)
This weekend I put together a short paper (it just worked better that way than as a blog post) wherein I explain how P/E ratios are routinely misused/abused by everyone from day traders to fundamental value investors and everyone in between. The issue is when you just look at the ratio, you simply can’t understand the fundamental factors that actually drive the ratio, and they are not, contrary to popular belief, just the price on your screen and last year’s or LTM earnings.
What Earnings Slump? Tech Giants Power Stocks to Highs in Week (Bloomberg)
What was billed as the worst earnings season in five years is jumpstarting a U.S. equities market that had been stuck in neutral for two months.
Tesla Hacked on Twitter, Media-Relations E-Mail Accounts (Bloomberg)
Tesla Motors Inc.’s Twitter feed and its media-relations e-mail account were hacked Saturday, with the electric-car maker led by billionaire Elon Musk becoming the latest victim of online vandals.
The hacker or hackers who compromised Tesla’s Twitter feed were able to post messages to the Palo Alto, California-based company’s more than 564,000 followers, and one of the attackers responded to an e-mail message to Tesla’s press contact, indicating that account was compromised, too.
College for the Masses (NYTimes)
Growing up in Miami in the 1990s, Carlos Escanilla was a lot more interested in hanging out with friends and playing music than in school. The son of immigrants from Chile, he slogged through high school with a C+ average and scored about 900 out of 1,600 on the SAT. “I was convinced I was going to be a famous rock star,” Mr. Escanilla, now 36, said.
When people talk about four-year colleges not being for everyone, the teenage Carlos Escanilla is the sort of student they have in mind. He seemed to be a much better fit for a job, a vocational program or a community college.
How Not to Diversify and Other Lessons of the Tech Bubble (Bloomberg)
Thinking back on all the mistakes his clients made as the dot-com bubble inflated two decades ago, Dan Morgan remembered some funny ideas about diversification.
Euro Ministers Alarmed as Bloc Shuts Down Greece Plan B (Bloomberg)
Europe’s refusal to draw up contingency plans to prepare for the failure of negotiationswith Greece is alarming some euro-area finance ministers.
Slovenian finance chief Dusan Mramor led the calls at a meeting of the bloc’s 19 finance chiefs on Friday to consider a “plan B” to mitigate the fallout if negotiations with Greece fail. Several others raised similar concerns during official talks and in private conversations at a meeting in Riga, Latvia, on Friday, two people with knowledge of the discussions said.
The New Habit Challenge: Drink Your Coffee When Science Tells You To (FastCompany)
I feel like my day hasn't begun until I’ve consumed a minimum 8 oz. of pure, concentrated heaven: Coffee.
And I'm not alone. Sixty percent of American coffee drinkers claim they need coffee to start their day.
Which is why I’m sad to say that scientists disagree. No, really.
Our circadian clocks are an internal, biological, 24-hour hormonal cycle that regulate how sleepy or alert we feel throughout the day. Among other things they control our cortisol production, a hormone that naturally makes us feel more awake.
Crash Boys (BloombergView)
The first question that arises from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s case against Navinder Singh Sarao is: Why did it take them five years to bring it?
A guy living with his parents next to London's Heathrow Airport enters a lot of big, phony orders to sell U.S. stock market futures; the market promptly collapses on May 6, 2010; it takes five years for the army of U.S. financial regulators to work out that there might be some connection between the two events. It makes no sense.
Greece's Varoufakis Takes Hammering From Riled EU Ministers (Bloomberg)
Euro-area finance ministers hurled abuse at Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis behind closed doors as they shut down his bid to find a shortcut to releasing financial aid.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch chairman of the euro-zone finance chiefs’ group, categorically ruled out making a partial aid payment in exchange for a narrower program of reforms after a stormy meeting in Riga, Latvia, in which Varoufakis was heavily criticized by his euro-area colleagues over his failure to deliver economic reforms.
A great way to look at the tech bubble from a guy that survived the last one (BusinessInsider)
Today, Dave Goldberg is known as the CEO of hot startup SurveyMonkey, worth $2 billion as of December when it raised a $250 million round to cash out early investors.
But during the Internet bubble of the late 1990's he was known as the CEO of Launch Media, a dotcom-era music discovery service that Yahoo bought in 2001.
Nine Gadgets That Will Give You Real Superhero Abilities (Bloomberg)
It’s time to face it: You’re not Tony Stark. (You’re probably not even Elon Musk.) But luckily it’s the 21st century, and with a little creativity and some cash to spare, you can buy yourself gadgets that will actually give you some of Iron Man’s superpowers. With these nine gizmos, you can augment your body (or fill your garage) with enough advanced technology to turn yourself into a real-life Avenger.
Happiness Index Takes a Hit as Greece, Italy, Spain Struggle (Bloomberg)
Greece, Italy and Spain saw the biggest declines in national average happiness because their social institutions were too weak to handle stresses from the global financial crisis, according to a United Nations report.
The annual World Happiness Report found Greece was the biggest loser, with a decline of 1.5 points in its national average contentment from the pre-recession years of 2005-2007 to 2012-2014. Italy’s happiness fell by 0.8 points and Spain’s by 0.7 points during the same time period.
If Other Gold Miners Can Do What Newmont Just Did, Look Out (DollarCollapse)
The past few years have been brutal for the gold miners, most of which brought it on themselves by starting new, high-cost mines just in time for the metal’s price to crater. The resulting write-downs and operating losses have made this without question the most unloved sector in the whole market.
New Balance of Power (NYTimes)
HOUSTON — For the better part of the last century, crude oil prices have swung like a pendulum, pushing and pulling the fortunes of nations. More often than not, global supplies of the volatile commodity were controlled by the rulers of desert domains who would otherwise have been powerless had it not been for the oil that bubbled beneath their thrones.
That pendulum is on the move again, sending the price of oil cascading to less than $45 this winter from more than $100 a barrel last June, and it may fall further in the months ahead. On the surface, this latest oil boom gone bust may feel like history repeating itself, but there is a vital difference this time: The center of the oil world has spun from the sands of Saudi Arabia to the shale oil fields of Texas and North Dakota, a giant new oil patch some wildcatters have begun.
Museum: Is Time the Only True Luxury Object? (Bloomberg)
What is luxury? A watch, a couture dress, a crown? Or is it having control over space, time, privacy? Is the notion of luxury changing over time?
A new exhibition, opening on April 25, organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London together with the Crafts Council, asks these very questions. (In fact, it’s called What Is Luxury?) The works showcased help illuminate the way we use and perceive luxury today, and how that might change in the future.
U.K. Labour Pledges Rent Caps to Protect ‘Generation Rent’ (Bloomberg)
U.K. Labour Party leader Ed Miliband pledged to cap private rents for three years in a bid to win votes from 11 million people who rent their homes.
Rent increases will be capped at the inflation rate as measured by the consumer price index, and tenants will be entitled to secure three-year rental periods under a proposed law Labour will include in its first legislative program, should it win the May 7 general election, according to an e-mailed statement.
The incredible rise and fall of Tesco (BusinessInsider)
British grocery chain Tesco reported its full-year results Wednesday — and it's a total disaster zone.
The company announced losses of £6.4 billion for 2014-15, its worst set of results in 100 years of trading and the first posting since CEO Dave Lewis took the reigns last July.
What the Next Two Weeks Holds in Store in the Greek Crisis Saga (Bloomberg)
A euro area finance ministers meeting over the disbursement of bailout funds ended inacrimony on Friday, as creditors expressed frustration with the country’s refusal to comply with the terms attached to its emergency loans.
While focus now turns on a May 6 interest repayment to the International Monetary Fund and the next Eurogroup meeting on May 11 in Brussels, the country has a number of funding hurdles to clear before then and beyond.
More and More Americans Think Astrology Is Science (MotherJones)
"I believe in a lot of astrology." So commented pop megastar Katy Perry in a recentGQ interview. She also said she sees everything through a "spiritual lens"…and that she believes in aliens.
According to data from the National Science Foundation's just-released 2014 Science and Engineering Indicators study, Americans are moving in Perry's direction. In particular, the NSF reports that the percentage of Americans who think astrology is "not at all scientific" declined from 62 percent in 2010 to just 55 percent in 2012 (the last year for which data is available). As a result, NSF reports that Americans are apparently less skeptical of astrology than they have been at any time since 1983.
American's CEO Explains Why He Wants to Be Paid Only in Stock (Bloomberg)
Investors wondering whether U.S. airlines have sorted out the key to sustained profits, consider this: The chief executive officer of the world’s largest airline, American, says the industry is so financially safe that he’s asked to be paid only in company stock.
“I wouldn't be doing this if I thought it was still the same old airline business, because it's not,” Doug Parker said on Friday in a quarterly earnings call, explaining his reasoning two days after American released executives’ 2014 compensation. “I’m not suggesting there is not still risk in airline stocks, but we're really bullish on what the outlook is for years to come.”
Your Fuel-Sipping Car Screwed Up the Funding to Fix This (Bloomberg)
U.S. states are taking more financial responsibility for roads and bridges as the expiration of federal transportation funding approaches, straining a partnership that dates to the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s.
At least six states have delayed about $2 billion in construction projects because of the uncertainty, and others are making contingency plans to pay contractors. Five states, all with Republican governors, increased fuel taxes this year, while Minnesota and Michigan are pursuing legislation or ballot measures to raise additional money.
How a Bubble Steals From the Future (BloombergView)
Yesterday, we discussed why the Standard & Poor's 500 Index has gone sideways for the past few months. The prime suspects were rich valuations, earnings crimped by falling energy prices and higher returns to be had overseas.
Today, I want to look at the Nasdaq Composite Index. It closed at 5,056.06 yesterday, surpassing its March 2000 dot-com high. It took more than 15 years to breach that earlier mark. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 passed their pre-crisis 2007 highs almost two years ago.
Chill Persists in March U.S. Durable Goods Report (Bloomberg)
Aircraft and defense orders pushed headline orders to a solid increase in March, but the underlying details were less robust. Modest inventory accumulation and slumping order backlogs are troubling signs that production will remain slack into the current quarter. This should become evident in next week’s production gauges from the Chicago PMI and manufacturing ISM.
Sunday Times Rich List: Britain's richest double their wealth in 10 years (TheGuardian)
The collective wealth of Britain’s richest people has more than doubled in the last 10 years, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.
This year’s list found the wealthiest 1,000 individuals and families now have a combined fortune of just over £547bn – or £547m each on average.
Dubai Stocks Lead Mideast Gains After U.S. Record, Oil’s Advance (Bloomberg)
Dubai stocks climbed, tracking a record close in U.S. equities, after the price of Brent crude rose to the highest since December. Abu Dhabi shares also gained.
Dubai’s DFM General Index added 2.1 percent to close at 4,172.14, the highest since Dec. 1. Gulf Navigation Holding, a shipping company specializing in oil and chemicals, was Dubai’s biggest percentage gainer, advancing the most in more than four months. Abu Dhabi’s ADX General Index strengthened 0.8 percent, the most since April 2.
Cheaper Robots, Fewer Workers (NYTimes)
This is the first episode in a Bits video series, called Robotica, examining how robots are poised to change the way we do business and conduct our daily lives.
Faced with an acute and worsening shortage of blue-collar workers, China is rushing to develop and deploy a wide variety of robots for use in thousands of factories.
A Mortgage Company That Crashed to Pennies During The Crisis Has Come Back From the Dead (Bloomberg)
Is the U.S. mortgage market set to accelerate? Some investors apparently think so.
Shares of Impac Mortgage Holdings, a California-based company that originates and buys U.S. home loans, are surging a day after it posted first-quarter results. On Thursday, Impac reported a quarterly profit of $34m, reversing a loss recorded in the same period a year earlier. Income was buoyed by the purchase of CashCall, an online mortgage originator that Impac plans to meld with its existing platform and then use to make more nonconforming home loans that aren't insured by the US agencies or government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Quantitative Easing and The Great Recession: Who Wins? Who Loses? (NakedCapitalism)
The Federal Reserve (“the Fed”), the central bank of the United States, is at the center of a big political fight, once again. Ron Paul, former libertarian congressman, says we should “End the Fed” and reinstitute a gold standard; Rick Perry, former governor of Texas, said the Fed policy of low interest rates is “treasonous” and Fed officials should be sent to Texas where they know how to “deal with” such people; Senator Rand Paul (Ron’s son) has put forward a bill to “Audit the Fed” and establish more Congressional control over monetary policy; and progressives from Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to the Occupy Movement are highly critical of the revolving door between Fed officials and Wall Street, but oppose Paul, Paul and Perry’s “hard money” policies that would make life harder for debtors.
The Cable Era Is Over (BloombergView)
In February 2014, when Comcast said it planned to buy Time Warner Cable, an era of continued cable dominance still seemed likely. Maybe not inevitable, and certainly not eternal, but you could easily sketch a scenario in which the cable industry continued to define the way in which Americans got their home entertainment and lots of other things.
Republicans Make Their Pitches to Social Conservatives in Iowa, Emphasizing Marriage (Bloomberg)
WAUKEE, Iowa—Carly Fiorina and Bobby Jindal are not the two names most often discussed in the still-forming 2016 Republican presidential race, yet they received some of the strongest applause and laughter from social conservatives gathered Saturday evening in the state that votes first.
They were among nine declared or likely candidates who pitched themselves to more than 1,000 social conservatives during a five-hour session in an evangelical church in suburban Des Moines at an event sponsored by the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition. The speakers criticized Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama while mostly avoiding direct engagement with each other.
Obama: 'I have something that rhymes with bucket list' (BusinessInsider)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he's bringing a new attitude to the final quarter of his presidency: Bucket!
"After the midterm elections, my advisers asked me, 'Mr. President, do you have a bucket list?'" he told those attending the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents' Association.
Iraq Will Export New Crude Grade in May After Setting Discounts (Bloomberg)
Iraq, OPEC’s second-biggest producer, will start exporting Basrah Heavy crude next month after offering discounts for the new grade in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
The heavy grade “will help us to preserve our oil qualities” and increase “output chances,” Iraq’s Oil Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said on his Facebook page. Shipments will represent a “big achievement,” he said.
Islamic State Seizes Dam, Kills Iraqi General, 127 Soldiers (Bloomberg)
Islamic State fighters captured a dam in Anbar province and killed 127 Iraqi troops including a top army commander in attacks that show the militant group’s resilience despite battlefield setbacks elsewhere in Iraq.
Iraqi forces have begun a military operation to retake Tharthar Dam near Fallujah, the Iraqi defense ministry said Saturday in a statement on its website. The dam controls the flow of water from Tharthar and Habaniya lakes into the Tigris River and lies 98 kilometers (61 miles) west of Baghdad.
