Financial Markets and Economy
Dollar Death Cross Haunts Currency Traders Amid Three-Week Drop (Bloomberg)
Currency traders, beware — theres a scary chart pattern haunting the dollar.
Hundreds of bank branches are disappearing (Business Insider)
Wall Street's biggest banks have been shutting down branches since the financial crisis.
The reason: They can do so without it having any real impact on the amount of business they pick up.
Peru Keeps 3.5% Rate as Slower Inflation Gives Central Bank Room (Bloomberg)
Peru kept borrowing costs unchanged as policy makers look for more signs inflation is under control after the central bank unexpectedly increased the key lending rate last month.
Why AMD won’t join chip merger frenzy (Market Watch)
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is Silicon Valley’s cat with nine lives, dodging bullets over the years in the way of product setbacks, corporate restructurings, CEO mishaps and cash crunches.
Albertsons was set to be one of the biggest IPOs of 2015 — until someone dropped the ball (Business Insider)
Albertsons' initial public offering has been delayed indefinitely, and it could be thanks to one critical error leading up to its pricing.
The Idaho-based grocery chain was scheduled to price its offering on Wednesday.
China's Economy May Be Even Bigger Than You Think (Bloomberg)
With China set to announce its third-quarter gross domestic product report on Monday, skepticism over its economic data is arising anew.
The lonely green bar on this chart says it all (Business Insider)
It has been a rough few months, as stocks saw a bout of dramatic and capricious swings throughout August and September on warnings of global economic deceleration.
Here’s why restaurants are eating Wal-Mart’s, Whole Foods lunch (Market Watch)
When companies from Wal-Mart Stores to Whole Foods are struggling to sell groceries, the chances are more likely changing preferences than management screwups.
Copper Seen Near Bottom by Antofagasta as China Absorbs Supply (Bloomberg)
The head of Antofagasta Plc, the copper miner controlled by Chile’s richest family, believes prices of the metal are near a bottom as a modest pickup in Chinese demand next year is set to stem further declines.
Trump warns of a stock market bubble (CNN)
Donald Trump has an urgent warning for Americans: The stock market is in the midst of a bubble.
The billionaire businessman told The Hill this week he's concerned people are "being forced into an inflated stock market and at some point they'll get wiped out."
American manufacturing is in a recession (Business Insider)
American manufacturing is in recession.
The misery index hit a 59-year low, so why are we still miserable? (Market Watch)
The misery index just fell to a 59-year low, but nobody seems to be very happy about the lack of misery.
Puerto Rico Bonds Show Skepticism for Quick Relief From Treasury (Bloomberg)
Puerto Rico bond prices suggest that investors are doubtful of a proposal being floated that would have the U.S. Treasury assist the commonwealth in the restructuring of its debt.
The fintech bubble we warned you about is already popping (Business Insider)
British peer-to-peer lenders are already shutting up shop ahead of regulation of the sector, according to reports.
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is in the process of regulating the peer-to-peer sector, where people can lend money directly to consumers and businesses via online platforms.
Gold Stages Comeback, Erasing 2015 Losses on View Fed Will Delay (Bloomberg)
Go ahead, call it a comeback: gold just erased its 2015 losses.
The metal jumped to a three-month high on Thursday as evidence that economies are slackening from China to Europe damped expectations that the Federal Reserve will soon raise interest rates. Signs of stagnating U.S. inflation and retail sales added to the case for policy makers to keep rates low, which revives the appeal of gold as a store of value.
Gold scores highest settlement in four months (Market Watch)
Gold futures settled higher on Thursday for a fifth straight session to score their highest settlement in about four months.
Thursday’s gain lifted gold futures into positive territory year to date. Speculation over an end to the metal’s downtrend is growing as gold find support on the back of declines in the U.S. dollar over the past few weeks.
One Chart That Shows How Central Bankers Are Failing To Generate Inflation All Around the World (Bloomberg)
The share of countries experiencing a bout a deflation is at its highest level since September 2009.
Financial Shares Surge on Earnings Reports (NY Times)
Bank and technology stocks were higher, and traders were optimistic about a delay in the Fed’s interest rate increase.
One major US economic indicator continues to impress (Business Insider)
Initial jobless claims continue to barrel lower every week.
Politics
The Republicans’ Incompetence Caucus (David Brooks, NYTimes)
The Republican Party’s capacity for effective self-governance degraded slowly, over the course of a long chain of rhetorical excesses, mental corruptions and philosophical betrayals. Basically, the party abandoned traditional conservatism for right-wing radicalism. Republicans came to see themselves as insurgents and revolutionaries, and every revolution tends toward anarchy and ends up devouring its own.
Democratic socialist Sanders outraises Bush, other Republicans in third quarter (Market Watch)
It turns out being a democratic socialist can pay.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent running for the Democratic presidential nomination, raised $26 million in the third quarter, his campaign said earlier this month.
Technology
'Digital skin' activates brain cells? (BBC)
Engineers have built a flexible sensor that detects touch and, just like skin, produces electrical pulses that get faster when the pressure increases.
They have also used those pulses to drive neuronal activity in a slice of mouse brain.
Is this the Tesla of motorcycles? (CNN)
An Italian company is determined to become the Tesla of motorcycles.
The Modena-based Energica Motor Company makes all-electric racing bikes that can go from 0 to 60 in under three seconds, and reach a top speed of 150 miles per hour. If you don't know much about motorcycles, three seconds is pretty good.
Health and Life Sciences
Lungs lose function as obese patients age (Futurity)
Adult asthma patients who are obese have worse lung function and more difficulty controlling their symptoms than asthma patients who are not obese. A new study traces the path toward worse lung function in children and young adults who become obese as they age.
Life on the Home Planet
The US is going after a hacker they think assembled an ISIS ‘kill list’ of more than 1,000 US personnel (Business Insider)
Federal prosecutors are going after a man they say stole the personal information of more than 1,000 American federal employees and military personnel.
The theft, according to a statement from the Department of Justice, was part of a plot to hand that information over to people affiliated with ISIS.
Conflicting Accounts of Jerusalem Strife Surround a Wounded Arab Boy (NY Times)
The Palestinian president said on television that the 13-year-old Arab boy bleeding profusely from the head had been executed on a Jerusalem street. An Israeli hospital showed a photo of the boy recovering, spoon-fed by a nurse.
After Kunduz falls and violence spreads, more Afghans eye Europe (Reuters)
The young man from the northern Afghan city of Kunduz used to make a decent living doing a dangerous job.
As an informer for Afghanistan's intelligence agency, he posed as a businessman and mingled with Taliban insurgents, gathering GPS data, photos and audio clips of militants.
