Financial Markets and Economy
Here's Why Japanese Investors Have Gone Ga-ga Over That Leveraged ETF (Bloomberg)
Japanese investors appear to have fallen head-over-heels in love with a leveraged ETF.
Verizon's quarterly revenue rises 5 percent (Business Insider)
Verizon Communication Inc, the largest U.S. wireless service provider, reported a 5 percent rise in quarterly revenue as heavy promotions helped attract postpaid subscribers.
The net income attributable to the company rose to $4.04 billion, or 99 cents per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30 from $3.70 billion, or 89 cents per share, a year earlier.
Total operating revenue rose to $33.16 billion from $31.59 billion.
Britain's Stocks Decline With Miners Falling for a Fourth Day (Bloomberg)
A fourth day of declines in U.K. miners dragged the nation’s equities lower.
Lockheed quarterly sales rise 3.2 percent (Business Insider)
Lockheed Martin Corp <LMT.N>, Pentagon's No. 1 weapons supplier, reported a 3.2 percent rise in quarterly sales, helped by higher F-35 fighter jet sales.
Net income fell to $865 million, or $2.77 per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 27, from $888 million, or $2.76 per share, a year earlier.
China Mobile Nine-Month Earnings Rise on 4G Subscriber Growth (Bloomberg)
China Mobile Ltd. posted third-quarter profit that missed analyst estimates as the world’s largest carrier faces stiffer competition, slowing subscriber growth and costs for its new high-speed network.
Harley-Davidson third quarter profit falls on slowed sales (Business Insider)
Harley-Davidson Inc. <HOG.N> on Tuesday posted a lower quarterly net profit as global new motorcycles sales fell more than 1 percent.
The Milwaukee-based motorcycle maker reported a net income of $140.3 million, down about 6.5 percent from $150.1 million from a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share were 69 cents per share in the third quarter the same a year earlier.
Oil climbs as traders look past China to potential supply fall (Market Watch)
Oil futures improved from their overnight lows in choppy trade on Tuesday, as traders moved past lackluster economic data from China to focus on supply.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in November CLX5, +0.20% rose 10 cents, or 0.2%, to $46.38, after settling at thelowest level in more than two weeks Monday.
U.S. Index Futures Decline as Investors Weigh Earnings, Economy (Bloomberg)
U.S. stock-index futures declined as investors weighed earnings reports and mixed global economic data for clues on the trajectory of the U.S. recovery and central bank stimulus.
Yum Brands is splitting into two (Business Insider)
Yum Brands is separating into two publicly traded companies.
The Imaginary Threat of Short-Termism (Project Syndicate)
The idea that financial markets are too focused on the short term has gained considerable ground within much of the news media and among some academics in recent years, and now it is attracting political attention in the US. It is not difficult to see why; but it is important to understand why that could end badly.
FTSE 100 pushes toward second straight loss (Market Watch)
U.K. stocks turned lower Tuesday, once again feeling the pinch from commodity shares, but shares in the respective owners of the Crowne Plaza hotel brand and the Costa Coffee chain climbed following financial updates.
Options Traders Betting on a Boom in European Bank Earnings (Bloomberg)
As U.S. bank earnings wind down just as Europes kick off, a contrast has emerged in the options market.
The state of retail in one eye-popping earnings-growth chart (Business Insider)
Last week, Walmart's shares plunged after the company warned that profits will fall 6% to 12% next year.
Unsurprisingly, analysts weren't thrilled.
Google invests in Chinese search-and-smartwatch startup (Market Watch)
Google Inc. has bet tens of millions of dollars on a Chinese search-and-smartwatch company that marks a rare deal in China and renewed interest in a market it mostly exited in 2010.
China Has an Odd Way of Manipulating the Yuan: David Fickling (Bloomberg)
Spoiler alert: for the 36th time running, the U.S. Treasury has concluded that none of its major trading partners are driving down the value of their currencies.
One sentence nails why Walmart's problems are never company-specific (Business Insider)
Walmart sent shock waves through the business world when management warned that profits would tumble next year.
Among other things, the world's largest retailer faces higher employee costs as it's forced to pay higher wages for a shrinking labor pool.
Diamond Industry Dragged Into Slump as China Demand Ebbs Away (Bloomberg)
The China-fueled commodity slump that has torn through the worlds biggest raw-materials markets from iron ore to copper is now hitting the diamond industry. Thats bad news for Anglo American Plc.
Gold futures rise, bouncing back after largest single-day drop in 2 weeks (Market Watch)
Gold futures were inching higher in Tuesday trading, a day after the precious metal suffered its worst single-day fall in more than two weeks.
December gold GCZ5, +0.13% was $3.50, or 0.3%, higher at $1,176.30 an ounce. The yellow metal is hovering near its 200-day moving average of about $1,176 an ounce and has enjoyed a relatively long period of gains on the back of fading worries that the Federal Reserve will lift interest rates in 2016. Stubbornly low inflation, so far, has made some U.S. central bankers reluctant to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade.
China's Stocks Fall for Second Day on Economic Slowdown Concern (Bloomberg)
Chinese stocks rose, sending the benchmark index to the highest level in two months, after economic data showed faster growth in the services sector and margin debt posted its longest stretch of gains since August.
Wireless carrier Verizon is also in the market for eyeballs (Phys)
Verizon has long been known as a home phone and wireless service provider. But it's evolving to make more money by tracking what we watch and read on our phones.
Apple's new billion-dollar business (CNN)
As if Apple needed the money, Tim Cook is about to add yet another billion-dollar business to the company's war chest.
Apple Music now has 15 million subscribers, Cook announced at a Wall Street Journal technology conference in Laguna Beach, California, on Monday evening. Of those 15 million, 6.5 million are paying customers (the other 8.5 million are still on Apple's free three-month trial). Subscribers pay Apple $10 a month for access to unlimited streaming music.
Charting the Markets: Equities Tumble, Xi Comes to Town (Bloomberg)
European equities fell the most in six days after rising at the open. The culprit? Basic resources and big oil. The Shanghai Composite, on the other hand, rose almost 1.2 percent on Tuesday. China's stock market has rattled global investors this year, but it's still up by close to 6% year to date.
Drug Firms Buy Pricey Vouchers to Speed Products to Market (Wall Street Journal)
There is a new price surge in the pharmaceutical industry—for a limited number of government-issued vouchers that drug makers including AbbVie Inc. and Sanofi SA are buying to speed products to market.
Chinese stocks rise on hopes for Beijing easing (Market Watch)
Shares in China rallied on hopes that Beijing will ease monetary policy to address the country’s slowest growth in years, but lower oil prices dragged down energy shares, knocking Hong Kong and Australia lower.
The Shanghai Composite Index SHCOMP, +1.14% finished up 1.1%, buoyed by expectations for stimulus from China’s central bank, as well as gains in small-cap stocks. A gauge of shares on China’s startup board, the ChiNext, was up 3%.
Politics
Bernie Sanders, Democratic Socialist Capitalist (NY Times)
In last week’s Democratic Party debate, Bernie Sanders stuck up for the idea that Americans are prepared to elect a democratic socialist, which is how he describes himself. “We’re gonna win,” he said, when the moderator, Anderson Cooper, pressed him on his electability under any kind of socialist label.
This led Hillary Rodham Clinton to defend capitalism, saying, “We would be making a grave mistake to turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in history,” though she allowed the need to “rein in the excesses of capitalism.”
Pugnacious Trudeau Steps Out of Father's Shadow and Into Power (Bloomberg)
As a young man, Justin Trudeau continually sought respite from his father’s long shadow. He debated in university as Jason Tremblay, boxed as Justin St. Clair and eventually settled on Canada’s west coast — as far in Canada as he could get from beingPierre Trudeau’s eldest and still be close to great skiing.
The Wall Street Journal: Trump, Carson gain more support in fresh GOP poll (Market Watch)
Donald Trump and Ben Carson continue to broaden their appeal among Republican primary voters and have widened their lead over former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and many other more-experienced candidates, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds.
Technology
Tommy Hilfiger Introduces Virtual Reality Headsets for Shoppers (NY Times)
With its clunky headsets and project names like “Oculus” and “Morpheus,” virtual reality has so far been the realm of hard-core gamers and other early adopters of cutting-edge tech.
Now, retailers are jumping for a piece of VR’s promise to immerse its users in virtual 3-D video. (The industry even has a new term for selling through virtual reality: “v-commerce.”)
Health and Life Sciences
First case of cancer linked to Fukushima cleanup (CNN)
When the Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant suffered a catastrophic meltdown, thousands of workers were called in to take the reactor offline.
Now, four years later, Japan has confirmed the first case of cancer stemming from that dangerous work.
Could humans regrow teeth? These fish say ‘maybe’ (Futurity)
Working with hundreds of Lake Malawi cichlids, researchers are beginning to understanding how the animals maintain their hundreds of teeth throughout their adult lives.
Life on the Home Planet
Solar Power Expansion Could Pose Ecological Risks (Scientific American)
Solar power development is big business in sunny California, fueled by low solar panel prices and the drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to tackle climate change. Some biologists, however, are growing concerned that the placement of new large-scale solar power plants in the Mojave Desert may harm the biological diversity found there.
Cooling Pods Are Welcome Ally in Fight Against Heat Pollution (PSFK)
City centers are touted for having lower carbon footprints than their suburban counterparts. Shorter commutes and smaller homes may make this the case, but urban heat islands complicate this sustainability issue. Clouds Observatory is a design strategy for reducing heat pollution—it’s a set of floating pods that deflect heat in a stylish, yet seamless way.
