Financial Markets and Economy
The $67 Billion Prize On Offer as Japan Shakes Up Power Market (Bloomberg)
Spend a few minutes to fill in a single-page form from a government website. Mail it in. Thats all you need to register as a power producer in Japan as the countryopens its $67 billion retail electricity market.
The future of the bank branch is in trouble — here's why (Business Insider)
Millennials are increasingly turning to digital banking channels to perform their banking activities, and they're visiting their banks' branches less often than ever before.
Global IPO Wars: Exchanges Wage All-Out Fight for Next Alibaba (Bloomberg)
These days, it’s not enough to be the symbol of American capitalism.
The IEA says oil and gas investment hasn’t been this bad in 20 years (Quartz)
The global energy industry is running on empty, with low prices sending investments plunging.
Marvell Technology's auditor resigned and now the stock is crashing (Business Insider)
Marvell Technology's auditor has resigned and now the stock is crashing.
In a filing with the SEC on Monday night, Marvell Technology, a $5 billion semiconductor company, disclosed that PricewaterhouseCoopers resigned as its auditor on October 20.
Oil Heads East, Leaving Oklahoma Pipeline Unusually Un-Full (Bloomberg)
A pipeline to America’s largest oil hub is about to find itself in an unfamiliar position: not full.
Fed rate hike is a risk to stocks and corporate bonds, government says (Market Watch)
The government agency tasked with keeping an eye on financial stability in U.S. markets thinks a big risk to current U.S. asset prices is the Federal Reserve.
“It remains to be seen whether current U.S. asset price ranges can be sustained once the Fed begins to raise interest rates,” the Office of Financial Research said in its latest report on the markets released Monday.
UPS counting on small retailers to save Christmas (Business Insider)
After two years of disappointing profits from the holiday season, United Parcel Service Inc <UPS.N> is hoping a network of mom-and-pop retailers will help it avoid a third blue Christmas.
Investors will be watching closely.
Tom Lee Says Only Ninjas Are Making Money in This S&P 500 Rally (Bloomberg)
For a stock market that’s gone up as fast as this one, there’s a lot of pain going around.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has climbed almost 11 percent since falling to a 10-month low on Aug. 25, restoring about $1.4 trillion to share prices. Meanwhile there have been 13 instances in the past two weeks of companies posting one-day drops of 10 percent or more — one of the highest rates of single-stock crashes in four years.
George Soros' idea about how markets work explains what happened to Valeant last week (Business Insider)
What happened to Valeant Pharmaceuticals last week was about reflexivity.
What to look for in Comcast’s earnings (Market Watch)
Cable and Internet provider and overall entertainment Goliath Comcast Corp. is set to report its third-quarter earnings before the market opens on Tuesday. Here’s what investors can expect:
Earnings: Analysts tracked by FactSet expect Comcast CMCSA, +0.32% to report net income of $2.01 billion, or 80 cents share. That’s down from 73 cents per share in the year-earlier quarter. Comcast has beat EPS consensus seven times in the last ten quarters.
The Bitcoin Startup Boom Comes Back Down to Earth (Bloomberg)
Growth in venture capital flowing to bitcoin startups slowed substantially last quarter, and startups are feeling the pinch.
8 things frustrating stock market bears everywhere (Business Insider)
After a volatile few weeks, stocks are on the rebound.
The S&P 500 is now up a tiny 0.6% for the year, but at least it's up.
Last week, the S&P 500 scored its fourth straight weekly gain and the benchmark stock index is now up 11% from the depths of its most recent plunge in August.
Energy, metals companies lead list of issuers at risk of downgrade to junk (Market Watch)
The number of companies that are at risk of falling into the speculative rating category from investment grade rose sharply in the third quarter, led by commodities-related issuers, Moody’s Investors Service said Monday.
The number of potential fallen angels, those who are rated at Baa3, the lowest level of investment grade, that are either on review for a potential downgrade or have a negative outlook, rose to 41 from 31 in the quarter, according to Moody’s.
Apple Earnings Will Tell Us Whether to Expect Happy Holidays or a Long Winter (Bloomberg)
The iPhone maker will revealexpectations for the crucial end-of-year quarter, which should answer investors concernsabout growth after a record 2014.
Stock market experts are worried about bond market liquidity (Business Insider)
Barclays' US equity strategist Jonathan Glionna is worried about bond market liquidity.
October’s stock-market run-up may yield a bad ‘Santa Claus rally’ (Market Watch)
A torrid October rebound that pushed the S&P 500 back into positive territory for the year might have bulls feeling good again, but history shows the rally might diminish prospects for a “Santa Claus rally” at the end of the year, according to one market analyst.
The S&P 500 posted an 8.1% month-to-date rise through Oct. 23. According to Sam Stovall, U.S. equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ, that’s around eight times the size of the typical October rally, based on data going back to 1945.
Figuring Out China Monetary Policy Gets Even Harder for Analysts (Bloomberg)
Chinas monetary policy just got even harder to follow.
Two things that could keep this global stock-market rally going (Market Watch)
Investors’ appetite for riskier assets such as stocks came surging back in October, getting a big hand from promises of easier money by the European Central Bank and an actual rate cut from China’s central bank.
The question now is how markets can keep up the momentum.
Politics
Washington is on the verge of a massive budget deal — here's what it would tackle (Business Insider)
The contours of an emerging budget deal would provide Congress with a way out of most of the coming landmines ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
A House source, cautioning that there is no final agreement at the moment, sketched out the details of the agreement in an email to Business Insider.
Donald Trump Just Accidentally Gave His Opponents an Attack Ad (Mother Jones)
On Monday morning, GOP front-runner Donald Trump inadvertently gave his opponents a ready-made attack ad. During an interview with NBC's Matt Lauer on Today, the billionaire, who often gives the impression that he built his fortune from scratch, even though he hails from a wealthy background, explained the challenges of building his real estate empire. "It has not been easy for me," he said. "It has not been easy for me." He said his father, real estate developer Frederick Trump, had given him a "small loan," which he repaid with interest, and which enabled him to begin buying properties in Manhattan. The size of the loan? It was for a paltry $1 million dollars.
Indonesia's Widodo Talks Climate With Obama as Peat Fires Rage (Bloomberg)
With smoke choking Indonesia’s air, President Joko Widodo met Barack Obama at the White House in a visit curtailed by forest fires that have focused attention on climate change.
Technology
This Mini, Portable Wind Turbine Could Charge Your Phone Or Power Your House (Fast Company)
Gigantic wind farms aren't the only way to harness the breeze. Two brothers have created a simple device that anyone can use.
Einar Agustsson and his brother Agust Agustsson come from a long line of electricians. The family business is in making and fixing complex motors, like those at Iceland's many renewable energy plants.
The Craziest Concept Cars Ever Seen at the Tokyo Motor Show (Bloomberg)
Concept cars that are never going to make their way to production are a staple of any car show. With that disclaimer out of the way, it's fair to say the Tokyo Motor Show has become particularly well known for the boldest, strangest, most off-the-wall concepts the motoring world ever sees. Let's have a look at some of the highlights over the years.
Health and Life Sciences
Drug from bananas may fight flu virus (Futurity)
Bananas contain a substance that, when changed slightly by scientists, shows promise to fight a wide range of viruses, including the flu.
And the process used to create the virus-fighting form may help scientists develop even more drugs, by harnessing the “sugar code” that our cells use to communicate. That code gets hijacked by viruses and other invaders.
Red meat causes cancer — unless you eat it like this (Market Watch)
If you’re a paleo fan or Atkins diet devotee — or simply a die-hard carnivore — you may be putting your life at risk, a new study reveals.
Eating processed meats like bacon, ham, hot dogs and sausage puts you at risk of getting cancer, according to a report released Monday by the World Health Organization. The WHO put processed meats — defined as meats that have been transformed through salting, curing, fermentation, smoking, or other processes to enhance flavor or improve preservation — in the highest of five categories in terms of their cancer-causing potential, along with cigarettes, arsenic, plutonium and asbestos.
Life on the Home Planet
Indonesia May Take Up to a Decade to Curb Annual Land Fires (Bloomberg)
Indonesia may take as long as a decade to permanently curb the plantation land-burning that sends choking smog across swathes of Southeast Asia each year, according to a research fellow at Nanyang Technological University.
Although Indonesia has ratified a regional agreement committing it to act to reduce the smoke “haze” caused by the land fires, the law has yet to enacted locally in its districts, said Jonatan Anderias Lassa, a research fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies at the Singapore university.
More than 200 dead in Afghanistan and Pakistan following Hindu Kush quake (Market Watch)
A major 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck in the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan on Monday afternoon, cutting a swath of death and destruction in both countries.
As night fell across the area’s rugged and, in some places, rebel-held terrain, Afghan and Pakistani authorities rushed to mount rescue efforts. The scale of the disaster was unclear, and officials said it could take days to assess the damage in remote villages.
