Financial Markets and Economy
People weren't supposed to be saving this much money — and now it's a problem (Business Insider)
So, let's start with the basic premise: Consumers are not economists.
This means that normal people who have a job and then decide what to do with their hard-earned money often make decisions that economists don't expect.
Vietnam's Communists School Indonesia's Capitalists on Economy (Bloomberg)
Vietnam and the Philippines are set to reap the rewards of diversifying their exports, helping fireproof the two economies from plunging commodity prices. Indonesia and Malaysia's failure to do so now represents a risk to Asia's 2016 outlook.
Investors are backing Nelson Peltz to keep an eye on GE's Jeff Immelt (Business Insider)
This could be Nelson Peltz's easiest campaign ever.
General Electric shares gained 4% today after news that the activist investor is taking a stake in the company.
In this case though, Peltz may not have much of a fight on his hands and it seems even he knows it. Peltz's Trian Fund Management bought into GE with its biggest bet ever, a $2.5 billion investment, but it has no plans to seek a board seat.
What to watch for in Alcoa’s earnings (Market Watch)
Alcoa Inc.’s third-quarter results, scheduled to be revealed after the market closes Thursday, will mark the unofficial launch of what is currently projected to be the weakest earnings reporting season for S&P 500 companies in six years.
Investing in Iran? You'd Better Like Tea, Cake and Bureaucracy (Bloomberg)
When Mahdi Yazdizadeh tried to import and sell a type of high-tech robot that stocks warehouses, he found himself running from one Tehran office to the next, having to answer a stream of questions to get the needed approvals.
Fund investors, it’s best to forget 2015 and look to the future (Market Watch)
Read between the lines on the third-quarter statements from your mutual funds and you will see a hard truth written there: Your mutual funds are going to lose money in 2015.
It’s not set in stone yet — and depends on the type of fund, of course — but it certainly appears that 2015 will be the worst year for stocks since 2008, with those results reflected by the average mutual fund.
An Interesting Thing Happened in the Repo Market (Bloomberg)
The growing gap between where dealer-banks are willing to finance each other through the vast and shadowy "repo" market vs. what investors charge for such collateralized lending shows the negative feedback loop of heightened regulatory pressures on banks.
Or as JPMorgan analysts led by Alex Roever put it in a recent note, "sheet happens."
Warren Buffett and Jeremy Grantham have been warning us about this moment for years (Business Insider)
We may have seen the peak in US corporate profits. And what could happen next isn't good.
Service side of economy showing signs of catching flu from manufacturing (Market Watch)
A pair of surveys show the services side of the U.S. economy catching the cold from the issues, including the strong dollar, China’s slowing and the energy-price collapse, that have hammered the manufacturing side.
Brazilian Stocks Lead Gains in Americas on Fed Delay Speculation (Bloomberg)
Brazil’s stocks capped their longest rally in 13 months and the real gained as speculation that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates lower for longer bolstered riskier assets.
Don't look now. But stocks are on fire again (CNN)
The stock market is kind of like a batter in the midst of an epic hot streak — swatting every pitch out of the park.
The S&P 500 was up 1.8% Monday. It's the fifth straight up day for the broader market — the longest winning streak of the year.
Here’s how the commodity contagion will infect your investments (Market Watch)
There is talk of Glencore GLNCY, +11.98% the troubled Switzerland-based commodity-trading firm, being the 2015 Lehman Brothers and the epicenter of a global-resources crisis reminiscent of 2008. Excited chatter aside, the problems in commodity markets are important and will affect the broader economy through a number of specific channels. The stresses will affect not only private businesses but a number of countries.
Growth in U.S. Services Cooled in September as Orders Slowed (Bloomberg)
The pace of growth in U.S. services industries cooled last month from the best readings in a decade, a sign consumers may be taking demand down to a more sustainable level in the face of global weakness.
Gun stocks are doing way better than Apple (CNN)
Gun stocks are surging, even as America mourns another mass shooting and Hillary Clinton vows to restrict sales.
Popular gun companies Smith & Wesson (SWHC) and Sturm Ruger (RGR) are among the best stocks in America in 2015. It's a reminder of just how profitable these businesses are.
Gold futures extend gains to a second straight session (Market Watch)
Gold futures settled higher on Monday, extending gains to a second straight session as traders continued to mull the impact of last week’s disappointing monthly U.S. jobs report and the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will continue to delay a hike in interest rates.
Biggest Stock Bull Purves at Weeden Cuts S&P 500 Estimate by 13% (Bloomberg)
More of Wall Street’s typically optimistic equity forecasters are capitulating, including one of the most bullish.
Best soda companies you've never heard of (CNN)
Coke and Pepsi have been market duds this year. But Shasta maker National Beverage is surging. So is Cott, which makes private label sodas for Walmart.
Here are the 16 most overpriced stocks in the market (Business Insider)
Goldman Sachs expects the stock market to rally every year for years to come.
But not every stock in the market should be expected to do well.
In its new quarterly chartbook for clients, Goldman Sachs' David Kostin and his team identify the stocks offering the most downside relative to Goldman analysts' price targets.
Politics
Republicans Sour on Obama's Trade Pact (The Atlantic)
Having secured a landmark trade agreement with 11 Pacific Rim nations, President Obama is now relying on trade-loving Republicans to ratify it in Congress. But as details of the pact emerge, the chances of widespread GOP support are dicier than they once were.
Mozambican Opposition Head, President Signal Willingness to Talk (Bloomberg)
Mozambican opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama may soon be ready to emerge from hiding and resume talks with President Filipe Nyusi after what his party claims were two attempts this month by government forces to kill him, he told television station STV.
Technology
Shock-Absorbing Heels Promise the Comfort of Tennis Shoes (PSFK)
Yasuyuki Yamada’s YaCHAIKA shoes marry the fashion of high heels with the comfort previously associated with a pair of tennis shoes by applying new mechanics to the standard design.
The shoes, still under development and which nabbed a James Dyson Award, use a pair of curved springs beneath the heels which dip up to three inches when the wearer places weight on them.
Scientists have figured out how to store memory with light (Quartz)
One of today’s biggest computing innovations relies on a throwback to the 1990’s. New research from the University of Oxford shows that scientists have created an ultra-fast memory chip that uses light to store information, as CDs and DVDs do.
The research, conducted by Oxford’s Harish Bhaskaran and Wolfram Pernice of the University of Münster, was published in the scientific journal Nature Photonics on Sept. 21. The researchers developed a new system to store information on a chips made from a material called GST—the same stuff that many rewritable disks are made of—using a combination of high- and low-powered laser pulses.
Health and Life Sciences
Heart Scan Can Fine-Tune Risk Estimate for Patients Considering Statins (NY Times)
Treatment guidelines suggest that nearly half of those over age 40 — nearly 50 million people in the United States — at least consider acholesterol-lowering statin to reduce heart attack risk.
But a new large study of people who had an inexpensive heart scan found that half of those who were statin candidates had no signs of plaque in their heart and very little chance of having a heart attack in the next decade.
Healthy eating, Roman style: Ancient Pompeiians had surprisingly good teeth (CNN)
The ancient Romans may not have had access to modern dentistry, but they did boast strong, healthy teeth thanks to the absence of one key ingredient from their diet: sugar.
Researchers in Pompeii, Italy, working on the remains of those killed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD have found the ancient Romans to have been in surprisingly good dental health.
Life on the Home Planet
In Guatemala mudslide, searchers find dead families huddled together (Reuters)
Beneath the mud and rock that engulfed the small Guatemalan town of Santa Catarina Pinula last week, search crews have found entire families who died huddled together after they were buried alive.
At least 152 people were killed in Thursday's disaster just outside Guatemala City, government officials said on Monday evening, and emergency services chief Alejandro Maldonado said at least 300 people were still unaccounted for.
Turkey summons Russia envoy again (BBC)
Turkey has again summoned the Russian ambassador after a second violation of its airspace by a Russian warplane operating in Syria in two days.
It did the same after the first violation on Saturday, after which two Turkish F-16 jets were scrambled.
