Financial Markets and Economy
Wall Street's pros are still awfully bullish (Business Insider)
Wall Street's stock market gurus have been hacking away at their year-end targets for the S&P 500.
Humans Are No Longer The Apex Predator In Capital Markets (But We Act As If We Are) (Salient Partners)
I’m a good poker player. I know that everyone says that about themselves, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. I’m also a good stock picker, which again is something that everyone says about themselves. At least on this point I’ve got a track record from a prior life to make the case. But I don’t consider myself to be a great poker player or a great stock picker. Why not? Because I get bored with the interminable and rigorous discipline that being a great poker player or a great stock picker requires. And I bet you do, too.
Asian Stock Futures Drop as Rally Wavers Ahead of Payrolls Data (Bloomberg)
Asian index futures signaled a pull back Friday as the recovery in global equities after the third-quarter selloff struggles to gain traction ahead of key U.S. employment data.
Auto sales rocket to a 10-year high as US consumers prove they will not be stopped (Business Insider)
The US consumer is on a tear.
On Thursday, we learned that US auto sales in September rose to an annualized pace of 18.2 million vehicles, the fastest pace since 2005.
Wall Street Banks Admit They Rigged CDS Prices Too (Zero Hedge)
Back in June, we noted that a group of investors which included hedge funds, pension funds, university endowments, and others were looking to push forward with a lawsuit that alleged Wall Street had conspired to limit competition in the CDS market.
Of course the whole case was based on what amounts to tautological reasoning.
Here’s what to watch in the September jobs report (Market Watch)
With job openings at an all-time high and layoffs at the lowest level since Richard Nixon was president, the U.S.economy is expected to create another 200,000 new jobs in September.
Doom and gloom on Wall Street: Time to buy? (CNN)
Optimism has gone out of style on Wall Street. That's so 2014.
Doom and gloom is all the rage these days. Carl Icahn is bracing the world for a "bloodbath." The IMF is warning higher interest rates could create a wave of emerging market bankruptcies. And a single tweet from Hillary Clinton helped kill the biggest bull market ever in biotech stocks.
Distressed Debt Exactly That as Bond Prices Plunge to 59 Cents (Bloomberg)
Investors may struggle to profit from bonds of distressed companies in developing nations this year after a plunge last quarter, teamed with an increasingly uncertain outlook, looks set to erase 2015’s gains.
Deflation Warning: The Next Wave (Peak Prosperity)
The signs of deflation are now flashing all over the globe. In our estimation, the possibility of an associated financial crisis is now dangerously high over the next few months.
Short sellers cash in Apple bets as stock declines (Business Insider)
Many short sellers appear to have unwound their bets against Apple this week, and a 6 percent fall in the stock price suggests they made money as investor worries about the company countered a record launch of its newest iPhone.
Metals Are Getting Massacred (Bloomberg)
These are tough times to be in the commodity business. A selloff in the oil market that began in June 2014 has extended to a range of raw materials and is starting to resemble a full-blown meltdown. Investors reacting to weaker Chinese demand and an end to cheap money provided by the Federal Reserve are rushing to sell positions in companies that produce, trade, and ship everything from oil to gold to copper and aluminum. A Bloomberg commodities index that tracks returns from 22 raw materials has fallen 50 percent since a 2011 high and is trading near its lowest level since 1999. Of the 10 worst performers in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index this year, eight are commodities-related companies.
Market Is Sluggish as a New Quarter Begins (NY Times)
A late turn gave the market a meager gain to start the month on Thursday, a day after it finished its worst quarter in four years.
The trendiest economic measure around just gave us some bad news about third quarter GDP (Business Insider)
The Atlanta Fed's GDP Now model just downgraded expectations for third quarter growth in the US economy.
Heads Dollar Wins, Tails It Rises: It's All Good for Greenback (Bloomberg)
U.S. economic strength is a boon for the dollar, and evidence of weakness may not prove much of an obstacle. The rally in the greenback is set to stay on course in either scenario, say strategists at Credit Suisse Group AG.
Gold futures settle with a loss after a volatile day (Market Watch)
Gold futures settled lower Thursday after volatile trading in the wake of fresh U.S. economic data, setting up a Friday’s session during which the monthly employment report will mark the week’s data highlight.
Pacific trade pact talks move into third day, hang in the balance (Business Insider)
Trade ministers from a dozen Pacific nations meeting in Atlanta extended talks on a sweeping trade deal into a third day in a move officials said would either produce a breakthrough or send them home with the future of the agreement in doubt.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman was asking ministers to stay for another 24 hours, through Friday evening, in a bid to wrap up the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal, two people briefed on the talks said.
Politics
Trans-Pacific trade talks resume as differences persist (Market Watch)
Talks between the U.S. and 11 other Pacific nations over a regional free-trade pact are back on, but differences persist among the countries involved over drug protections and other issues.
Trade chiefs from the 12 countries involved in the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership met in Atlanta on Wednesday. The New York Times said negotiations are picking up where they left off two months ago, with countries at odds over drugs, automobiles, sugar and other matters.
The new debt-ceiling deadline comes at about the worst possible time for Republicans (Business Insider)
US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, in a letter to congressional leaders Thursday, said the nation's debt ceiling would need to be raised by November 5, earlier than was anticipated.
Lew said the earlier-than-anticipated new "X date" estimate was due, in part, to lower-than-expected tax receipts.
Technology
Portable Pizza Pouch necklace exemplifies the spirit of innovation (Mashable)
Most humans have but two hands to carry pizza. That is not enough
For $8.00, customers get a triangular plastic pouch with a zip-locked top. The pouch is fitted with detachable necklace for hands-free wearing, meaning pizza lovers can walk around all morning with lunch hanging around their necks.
This Wearable Keyboard Makes You Move If You Want To Write An Email (Fast Company)
You got used to your current keyboard. You can get used to another, more active one.
Even in today's mobile computing world, most office workers spend the day hunched over their keyboards barely blinking an eyelid. The keyBod provides a solution to get everyone moving, even when we still have to those dreaded TPS reports to do.
Health and Life Sciences
Cannabis for chronic pain is ‘reasonably safe’ (Futurity)
Patients with chronic pain who used cannabis daily for one year did not have an increase in serious adverse events compared to pain patients who did not use cannabis, according to a new study.
“This is the first and largest study of the long term safety of medical cannabis use by patients suffering from chronic pain ever conducted,” says lead author Mark Ware, associate professor of family medicine and anesthesia at McGill University.
Life on the Home Planet
Joaquin Grows Stronger Even as U.S. Threat Remains Undetermined (Bloomberg)
Forecasters can’t completely rule out a U.S. East Coast strike by Hurricane Joaquin but are more optimistic it will miss, even as the “extremely dangerous” storm pounds the Bahamas with high winds, heavy rains and raging surf, the National Hurricane Center said.
