Financial Markets and Economy
Bezos Leaps to Third-Richest in U.S. as Amazon Sales Beat Target (Bloomberg)
Jeff Bezos just became Americas third-richest person.
Goldman Sachs says euro could end 2015 at $1.05 (Market Watch)
The euro could finish the year at $1.05 if the European Central Bank makes good on its promise of more quantitative easing in December, according to a report from Goldman Sachs Group.
The research note was written by Robin Brooks, Goldman’s top currency strategist, and his team. It is important to note that they’ve been outspoken euro bears all year — even forecasting back in March that the euro would hit parity with the dollar in September.
Money has been rushing out of US stocks for 10 years (Business Insider)
Money has been rushing out of US stocks for 10 years.
Bad Memories Fading in S&P 500 After 10% Rally From August Low (Bloomberg)
Back to flat. Almost.
‘Breakaway gap’ suggests McDonald’s stock has started a new uptrend (Market Watch)
A bullish “breakaway gap” in McDonald’s Corp.’s chart on Thursday suggests the stock has broken out of a four-year trading range and started a new uptrend, in one fell swoop.
The most boring part of the financial markets just got important (Quartz)
In the bond markets, boredom is a currency.
Most fixed income investors crave stable, low-volatility investments that quietly and reliably pay chunks of interest until they roll off into the great bond market hereafter.
Google did a clever math trick when figuring out how much stock to buy back (Business Insider)
Alphabet, the new parent company that counts Google as its subsidiary, has announced that it will undertake a monster $5 billion stock buyback starting in the fourth quarter.
It's a clever move on Google's part — but not just because it benefits the company by giving it more control over its stock price, since it lowers the number of shares out in the market.
Asian Stocks Set to Track Draghi Surge While Nasdaq Futures Jump (Bloomberg)
The October stock rally is back, thanks to some handy comments on stimulus from Mario Draghi and better-than-expected earnings from Google Inc. and Amazon. com Inc.
Mario Draghi delivers master class in jawboning the market (Market Watch)
Nobody jawbones like Mario Draghi.
Jawboning is a crucial skill for central bankers, with investors and traders hanging on every word and looking out for the most arcane change in language for a clue to what actions the central bank will—or won't—take.
Skechers misses on earnings, stock crashes (Business Insider)
Skechers shares collapsed by as much as 31% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the company posted a third-quarter miss on sales.
UAW Ratifies a Richer Deal with Fiat Chrysler (Wall Street Journal)
The United Auto Workers union has secured a new labor pact with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV with 77% of its rank-and-file workers voting in support of a new agreement that gives factory employees a significant bump in pay over the next four years.
Strategists Looking Saner as Tech Earnings Add Fuel to S&P 500 (Bloomberg)
Stocks fell so far and so fast in August that at its depth, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was 15 percent away from the average year-end prediction of Wall Street strategists.
The dollar rally is over so buy energy, materials, industrials: Stifel strategists (Market Watch)
That’s it for the dollar’s long advance, and watch for a rally for stocks in the energy, materials and industrials sectors, argue Stifel market strategists.
Eventually, only sports fans will pay for cable (Business Insider)
Eventually, only sports fans will have cable.
Big Electric Shocks Big Oil (Bloomberg)
When California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 350 on Oct. 7, it looked like a huge win for the oil industry. The original version of the bill included a mandate to cut the state’s petroleum consumption 50 percent by 2030. Days before the floor vote, State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, chief architect of the bill, announced that he was dropping that provision as a concession to Democrats from oil-producing parts of the state. “Big Oil might be on the right side of their shareholder reports, but we’re on the right side of history,” de León said as he announced the compromise. “Ultimately, California is going to demand that an industry which represents most of the problem has an economic and moral duty to be part of the solution.”
Argentine Front-Runner for President Is Expected to Resolve Standoff With U.S. Hedge Funds (NY Times)
As Argentina prepares for a new president, a glimmer of hope has emerged that a ferocious standoff with American hedge funds may be resolved within months.
On Sunday, Argentines will vote on who will succeed President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. The front-runner, Daniel Scioli, has at times shared her taste for fiery populist oratory.
AT&T revenue rises 18.6 percent on DirecTV acquisition (Business Insider)
AT&T Inc <T.N>, long the No. 2 U.S. wireless carrier and since July the world's biggest pay-TV operator, reported an 18.6 percent rise in quarterly revenue, helped by its DirecTV acquisition and as it added more prepaid mobile subscribers.
Net income attributable to the company fell to $3.0 billion, or 50 cents per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, from $3.13 billion, or 60 cents per share, a year earlier.
Microsoft's First-Quarter Profit Tops Estimates on Cloud Growth (Bloomberg)
Microsoft Corp. reported fiscal first-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates, buoyed by demand for Internet-based programs that handle business tasks and host companies’ applications. Shares jumped 8 percent.
Profit in the period that ended Sept. 30, excluding items such as severance and acquisition costs, amounted to 67 cents a share, and sales adjusted for deferrals were $21.7 billion, Microsoft said Thursday in a statement. Analysts on average projected profit of 59 cents on revenue of $21 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
GNC is crashing (Business Insider)
GNC got served a lawsuit on Thursday.
Amazon Sales Top Estimates on Prime Day Event, Cloud-Computing (Bloomberg)
Amazon.com Inc.’s stock soared after third-quarter sales topped analysts’ estimates thanks to the company’s fast-growing cloud-computing division, a boost from its July Prime Day promotion and a watchful eye on spending.
Build-A-Bear just recalled a bunch of stuffed animals because of a choking hazard and now the stock is getting slammed (Business Insider)
Shares of Build-A-Bear Workshop fell by as much as 7% in trading on Thursday morning after the company recalled a brand of its stuffed animals.
Google Profit, Sales Top Estimates on Robust Web-Traffic Growth (Bloomberg)
Google parent Alphabet Inc. is selling more ads and keeping spending under control, fueling better-than-projected sales and profit in the latest quarter. The shares jumped as much as 8.6 percent.
Can 'Sustainable' Investing Pay Off? A Report from Wharton Says Yes (The Atlantic)
If you’re joining us late: my article in the current issue, about the Generation Investment Management firm of London, explained its potential as a test case for the “sustainability can be profitable!” hypothesis.
China’s Economy at the Fifth Plenum (Project Syndicate)
The Chinese government’s intervention in the stock market and devaluation of the renminbi this summer provided a loud reminder that economic developments in China affect everyone. Now, China is set to take some more world-shaping decisions at this month’s Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee.
Two years ago, at the Third Plenum, China’s leaders committed to pursue far-reaching reforms, declaring that markets must “play a decisive role in allocating resources.” While the state sector would continue to play the leading role in the provision of public goods and services, policymakers would “unwaveringly encourage, support, and guide the development of the non-public sector, and stimulate its dynamism and creativity.”
Americans' Outlook for U.S. Economy Declines to a 13-Month Low (Bloomberg)
Americans’ expectations for the economy deteriorated to a 13-month low in October, coinciding with a recent slowdown in hiring.
The monthly measure tracking the economic outlook declined to 42 from a September reading of 44.5, data from the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index showed Thursday. The share of respondents who said this month that the economy is getting worse matched May as the highest since October 2013.
Politics
Trump Didn't Mean to Dis Des Moines (The Atlantic)
Trump retweeted the following after a poll showed him slipping to second in the first caucus state: “@mygreenhippo #BenCarson is now leading in the #polls in #Iowa. Too much#Monsanto in the #corn creates issues in the brain? #Trump #GOP.”
Maybe. But perhaps the intern’s name is Donald J. Trump. Trump has said he sometimes dictates tweets and sometimes does it himself—something reporters have witnessed—and this isn’t far off from other stuff he’s tweeted.
Technology
Construction site robot adapts as tools drop, plans change (Phys)
Robots engineered for construction sites are in the news this week. Namely, there is a robot called the In-situ Fabricator. Described as an autonomous construction robot, one can put the accent on autonomous.
The Robots Chasing Amazon (Bloomberg)
In a mock warehouse stocked with granola bars, breakfast cereal, sponges, and other household goods, a worker plucks items from shelves and places them in a plastic bin. The bin is set atop a small wheeled robot that follows the employee’s every step like a puppy. When the container is full, the robot darts off with it to a packing area; a second robot with an empty bin then picks up where the first left off, allowing the worker to keep gathering items without pausing or having to push around a heavy cart.
Health and Life Sciences
Living With Cancer: Deciding About Dying (NY Times)
Fifty-five years ago, when I was 15, my mother made me promise that I would not commit suicide. I intend to keep that promise if and when I ask a doctor for passive assistance — ending life-sustaining support — or for active help: palliative sedation or a lethal prescription. To my mind, treating cancer pain aggressively even when it accelerates the dying process should not be equated with suicide.
Molecule stops body from making Alzheimer’s protein (Futurity)
In the war against Alzheimer’s disease, one of the big villains is a protein called amyloid beta—”Abeta” for short.
In a diseased brain, sticky strands of the protein clump into plaques that kill nerve cells and choke the gaps between them. Under a microscope the plaques look sinister, even to the untrained eye—scattershot black blotches, splattered across healthy tissue.
Life on the Home Planet
19 of the most inspiring rags-to-riches stories in business (Business Insider)
Some of the richest people in the world were born into their wealth.
But many of them started with nothing, and through hard work, talent, grit, and a bit of luck, managed to rise to the very top.
American Killed Assisting in Raid on Islamic State Site in Iraq (Bloomberg)
A member of a U.S. special operations team was killed during a raid to free hostages of Islamic State in northern Iraq, the first American to die in action in the country since U.S. forces returned to assist in the battle against the extremist group.
The service member, who hasn’t been publicly identified, was part of a special operations team assisting Kurdish Peshmerga forces who raided an Islamic State-controlled prison near Hawijah, according to a Pentagon statement Thursday.
