Financial Markets and Economy
Why this 2,073-foot Chinese building could be an omen of economic doom (Business Insider)
Nothing marks the height of human achievement and economic prowess quite like a skyscraper.
The newly completed 2,083-foot tall Shanghai Tower is officially the second tallest building in the world, and the tallest in China.
And there are still taller planned skyscrapers, like China's Sky City and Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Tower.
Germany Enters Correction; EMs In Longest Losing Streak Since 1990 Routed By Turkey, Obama Turmoils Dollar (Zero Hedge)
While there were key macroeconomic data out of Asia earlier in the session, with Japan revising its Q1 GDP up from 2.4% to 3.9% (due to an upward revision to capex) making some wonder if it simply didn't snow in Japan this winter, as well as Chinese trade data that was once again disappointing with the third consecutive drop in exports coupled with an 18.1% collapse in imports hinting that nothing is going well in China's economy (which once again sent stocks soaring this time up another 2.2% on certainty another PBOC rate cut is imminent, pushing the PBOC to a fresh 7-year high of 5,132), it was actually a leaked Obama comment on the strong USD that moved markets.
Japan’s Economy Grows Faster Than Estimated on Investment Gains (Bloomberg)
Japan’s economy grew at a faster pace than initially estimated in the first quarter, on a stronger pickup in business investment and inventory buildup.
Gross domestic product expanded an annualized 3.9 percent, more than a preliminary 2.4 percent, according to revised data from the Cabinet Office. The median forecast of 26 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for 2.8 percent growth.
Update: Prime Working-Age Population Growing Again (Calculated Risk)
I pointed out that "even without the financial crisis we would have expected some slowdown in growth this decade (just based on demographics). The good news is that will change soon."
Changes in demographics are an important determinant of economic growth, and although most people focus on the aging of the "baby boomer" generation, the movement of younger cohorts into the prime working age is another key story in coming years. Here is a graph of the prime working age population (this is population, not the labor force) from 1948 through May 2015.
Banks Face Basel Push to Prepare for Interest Rate Change (Bloomberg)
Banks are set to face tougher international rules on the capital they must have on hand to cope with a change in interest rates, amid regulators’ concerns that current standards may be too flimsy to fully capture the risks.
Chinese firm wins Warren Buffett lunch with $2.3 million bid (Market Watch)
A Chinese gaming company won this year’s charity auction for lunch with Warren Buffett Friday night, displaying a sense of humor with a bid of $2,345,678. The amount was not a record, but was higher than what fans of Mr. Buffett have paid in the past couple of years.
Da Lian Zeus Entertainment Co., an online gaming firm based in Beijing, was the winner of the 16th annual auction, according to a statement from the Glide Foundation, the San Francisco charity that receives the proceeds from the auction each year. Glide uses the funds to help the city’s poor and homeless.
Citi Clients "Complain How Difficult It Is To Make Money", "Everyone Is Worried About Liquidity Shocks" (Zero Hedge)
Back in early/mid 2007, just as the subprime bubble was bursting but Wall Street was desperate for the party to go on, when VIX was flirting with single digits (killing the swaption market due to lack of vol), when record, multi-billion LBOs were a daily thing, and when corporate bond spreads barely registered any risk on the horizon, there was one dominant trade for those credit traders who saw the writing on the wall (as they usually do 3-6 months ahead of their equity trading peers): going long cheap index puts while funding the cost of carry by selling a steep long end and pocketing the roll down.
U.K. Business Lobby Cuts Growth Outlook on Overseas Headwinds (Bloomberg)
The British economy's G7-beating recovery is losing a bit of its luster, according to new forecasts released today by the Confederation of British Industry.
"Go East, Young Firm": Chinese Companies Drop New York Listings, Return Home (Zero Hedge)
China’s equity market bubble has become the stuff of legend recently, as millions of newly-minted day traders, record margin debt, liberalized cross-border flows, and the inclusion of China A shares in two transitional EM FTSE Russell benchmark indices have created a veritable frenzy on the SHCOMP and, more spectacularly, on the Shenzhen exchange.
Look at the crazy mess new Deutsche Bank CEO Cryan is expected to fix (Business Insider)
Deutsche Bank revealed on Sunday that it is replacing co-CEOs Anshu Jain and Jurgen Fitschen with John Cryan.
The markets clearly loved the news this morning: the stock price exploded in the early trading session, adding €2.5 billion ($2.79 billion, £1.82 billion) to Deutsche Bank's market capitalisation.
China’s Stocks Jump to Highest in Seven Years; Small-Caps Tumble (Bloomberg)
Chinese shares rose to the highest level in seven years in volatile trade as bets that MSCI Inc. will include mainland shares in its indexes overshadowed weaker shipments data. The ChiNext index of smaller companies tumbled.
Here are the 5 best money-making stock market trades of 2015 (Market Watch)
It’s universally true that in any market, someone is making money even if all hell is breaking loose.
I’m not even talking about individual plays. I’m talking focused bets on specific sectors, geographic regions or asset classes that are well-timed and have benefited from major macro tailwinds in short order.
Here's the 'spillover effect' so many people in markets are worried about (Business Insider)
Global bonds sold off this week.
And now stocks have started following suit.
After German bund yields started rising sharply on Wednesday, US Treasurys followed.
White House denies Obama said strong dollar a problem (Business Insider)
A senior US official denied on Monday a news wire report that President Barack Obama had told a Group of Seven industrial nations' summit that the strong dollar was a problem.
Bloomberg News earlier quoted a French official as saying Obama had made the comment.
"The president did not state that the strong dollar was a problem," the US official said.
Politics
The Clinton Global Initiative Is Back, But Where Are the CEOs, the GOP, and Hillary? (Bloomberg Politics)
During the past few years, when the Clinton Global Initiative held its annual America conference, the leaders of corporate and political America made it a point to be there. Past participants have included presidential aspirants Carly Fiorina, Chris Christie and, of course, Hillary Clinton. Top executives of blue-chip companies such as Duke Energy, Dow Corning, the TIAA-CREF pension fund, UBS Wealth Management, Goldman Sachs, Walmart, and Siemens have all participated in prior years.
The women on the front lines of the latest abortion battle (CNN)
As the technician scanned her belly to determine the gender of her baby, Christy Zink could not have been more excited about her pregnancy.
At 21 weeks, the pregnancy had been going well. But the look on the technician's face as she examined the images told Zink that was no longer the case.
Trading
Becoming Better By Building Routines…And By Shattering Them (Trader Feed Blogspot)
If you're looking to make changes in your life, you can't live a static life. Routine is the friend of efficiency and the enemy of change. Routines are great for turning best practices into best processes. We need routine to cultivate positive habit patterns. When we seek change, however, we need to break routine. Not just tweak small changes around the edges, but shatter routine and engage in wholly new activities and old activities in wholly new ways.
Succeeding At Trading By Listening To Smart People (Trader Feed Blogspot)
Here are a few random observations about markets, trading, and life inspired by a cool Jackson, WY morning.
Technology
Apple Plans Streaming Music Push at Developer Conference (Wall Street Journal)
Finally, Apple is facing the music.
At its Worldwide Developers Conference starting Monday, the company is expected to unveil its push to change how people buy and listen to music. Apple aims to counter the slowdown in music downloads – a business it pioneered more than a decade ago with iTunes – with a new subscription-based streaming service and an ad-supported online-radio offering.
Health and Life Sciences
Study links delay of gratification to how brain structures are connected (Medical News Today)
The ability to delay gratification in chimpanzees is linked to how specific structures of the brain are connected and communicate with each other, according to researchers at Georgia State University and Kennesaw State University.
Their findings were published June 3 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
Ability to Learn New Language is in Your Genes (Neuro Science News)
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered that a genetic variation in the FOXP2 gene is strongly associated with the ability to learn a foreign language during adulthood. The FOXP2 gene, expressed in the human brain, has been previously implicated in disordered speech and language.
Bharath Chandrasekaran, assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders in the university’s Moody College of Communication, described the discovery in the May 20 edition of the Journal of Neuroscience.
Life on the Home Planet
Lab-Grown Meat's Main Obstacle is Quickly Disappearing (Big Think)
My colleague Natalie Shoemaker wrote a few days ago about research efforts that track the various defenses and rationalizations for eating meat. It's important to note that the piece is written from a strictly rational standpoint centered on the following facts.
Absurd Creature of the Week: This Bug Is Big as a Gerbil. Fortunately It Loves Carrots (Wired)
YOU KNOW THAT scene in the newish King Kong where those folks get eaten alive in a pit of giant insects? It’s a damn character assassination, through and through. The huge cricket-like bugs among them are based on the giant weta, the heaviest reliably reportedinsect on Earth, at 2.5 ounces. And really, the movie bugs could have been even bigger for all I care—it’s that their crummy attitude is all wrong. Giant weta, for their monstrous size, are actually quite sweet. Not like cuddly sweet, though you’re welcome to try, but sweet nonetheless. They demand an apology. Or else…they’ll…just kinda just sit there and eat carrots.
18 of the most beautiful places in Denmark (CNN)
In honor of Denmark's June 5 Constitution Day — the closest thing the Scandinavian country has to a national day — we've rounded up a gallery of some of its most picturesque locations.
