Financial Markets and Economy
This little change could make Black Friday even more miserable this year (Business Insider)
Just when you thought there couldn't be another way to make Black Friday any more miserable for shoppers and retail employees, the credit-card industry came up with one.
Credit-card companies last month began to mandate new technology that uses chips instead of magnetic stripes. It's a change made for a very good reason: card security.
Every Problem Is An Outdated Solution (Trader Feed)
One of the first lessons I learned as a psychologist is that our problems generally represent coping efforts that have long since lost their usefulness and that now bring unwanted consequences. This is a powerful concept, and one that is not well appreciated by traders.
How Alibaba turned an obscure, made-up Chinese holiday into a $14.3 billion shopping extravaganza that's bigger than Black Friday (Business Insider)
Alibaba turned Single’s Day, the Chinese holiday for the single-set, into a huge economic opportunity through a savvy marketing blitz.
The company raked in $5 billion during the first 90 minutes of the sale, totaling $14.3 billion in just 24 hours largely through its online shopping platforms, Taobao.com and Tmall.com.
Tapping Indian investors – 5 things to know before you pitch (Venture Beat)
In the first six months of 2015, Indian venture capitalists (VCs) invested $2.46 billion into startups. And you’d better believe Indian angel investors are getting in on the action too. So far this year there have been 221 angel investments in India, totaling $120 million. As such, it’s clearly a good time for founders across the globe to consider seeking Indian investment – and there are two categories of startups that stand to benefit the most.
Here's why the rise of this recession indicator might not indicate a recession (Business Insider)
Here's an under-covered but very interesting economic data point: the Census Bureau's inventory-to-sales ratio.
Twitter, GoPro, and Fitbit shares have all sunk below their IPO prices (Quartz)
A trio of high-profile tech companies—Twitter, GoPro, and Fitbit—have been trading under their IPO prices even as the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite has been nearing an all-time high. Two of the three, GoPro and Fitbit, closed yesterday (Nov. 13) at all-time lows.
I.M.F. Officials Back Inclusion of Renminbi in Fund’s Currency (NY Times)
International Monetary Fund staff members recommended Friday that China’s renminbi be included in the fund’s benchmark basket of currencies, a big step forward for the country’s long campaign to turn its currency into one of the pillars of international finance.
Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the I.M.F., said that the fund’s executive board would decide on Nov. 30 whether to add the renminbi to the fund’s unit of accounting, which would clear the way for central banks to hold more of it in their reserves.
9 charts that show a big global slowdown is on its way (Business Insider)
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development released its twice yearly Economic Outlook on Monday, and it makes for pretty gloomy reading.
Angel Gurria, the OECD's secretary general spoke in Paris on Monday morning, and he reflected the OECD's generally pessimistic tone.
Wearables wrecked Fossil’s earnings, so it bought a wearables company (Business Insider)
While retailers everywhere, including Macy’s and Nordstrom, reported suffering a rubbish third quarter, Fossil was experiencing the same.
How 'The Devil's Financial Dictionary' defines 13 Wall Street words (Business Insider)
Wall Street analysts and economists speak their own language.
Words like "research" and "analysis" mean one thing to regular folks, but something totally different to the folks with a financial interest in how they are perceived.
Stocks see new wall of worry (Yahoo! Finance)
Oil once more has the stock market over a barrel, and it will likely be a major focus for markets in the week ahead.
Investors will also be watching developments in France , where coordinated attacks left dozens dead Friday night.
About 45 Tonnes of Gold Were Taken Out of the Shanghai Exchange in the Latest Week Ending 6 November (Jesse's Cafe Americain)
Another record year in the making for China gold bullion taken off the exchange.
Politics
Turkey Sees China Joining G-20 Unity Against 'Currency Wars' (Bloomberg)
Group of 20 nations including China are united in rejecting policies that risk triggering currency wars while trying to bolster economic growth, according to the Turkish host government.
Currency devaluations should reflect market realities rather than become policy tools for national governments, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Cevdet Yilmaz said Saturday in the Mediterranean city of Antalya, where world leaders will gather for a two-day summit starting Sunday.
Bernie Sanders Is Really Not Impressed With Hillary Clinton's Plan For Wall Street (Huffington Post)
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was not impressed by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's plan to regulate Wall Street.
"I've laid out a very aggressive plan to rein in Wall Street, not just the big banks; that's a part of the problem and I am going right at them, I've got a tough plan," Clinton said, going on to explain how the government needed to regulate the "shadow banking industry" such as hedge funds, insurance companies and investment banks.
How the 2016 Candidates Responded to the Paris Attacks (The Atlantic)
As news bulletins from Paris reported a steadily mounting death toll on Friday night and into Saturday, the 2016 U.S. presidential candidates quickly offered their condolences for victims of the attack that claimed more than 120 lives and wounded upwards of 350 other people. After French authorities pinned the blame on ISIS, the tone of condolence shifted to one of criticism towards the Obama administration’s strategy in Syria and Iraq.
Technology
High-Tech Glasses Can Treat Lazy Eye (Popular Science)
For the 2 to 3 percent of children with amblyopia, or lazy eye, treatment options aren’t great. Since the characteristic poor vision is usually a result of weakened signals from the eye to the brain, kids have to wear patches for several hours per day or take drops to strengthen the weaker eye. That can stress kids out or alienate them from their peers—as one organization’s web site notes, “Patching during school hours gives the class an opportunity to learn valuable lessons about accepting differences between children.” The children wearing the patches would probably disagree; many of them refuse treatment.
'Biggest ever' crystal model built (BBC)
The world's biggest crystal structure model – a 3D chemical illustration made from little balls and sticks – is being assembled in Vienna's city hall.
It replicates the repeating lattice of sodium and chloride ions found in a crystal of salt (NaCl).
Standing more than 3m tall, the model was built by Dr Robert Krickl from nearly 40,000 balls and 10km of sticks.
Health and Life Sciences
SARS-like Virus in Bats Could Jump to Humans (Medicine Net)
A newly identified SARS-like virus in bats appears to be able to jump to humans without mutation, new research suggests.
However, it's not yet clear whether it would then be able to spread from person to person, the researchers said.
Ingestible Bio-Bots Design the Healthy Body of the Future (PSFK)
Health has become a top priority for many of us. We want to take responsibility and find ways to be more proactive when it comes to managing it. Increasingly we are looking for the most natural solutions to facilitate this; through our new connections and sources of information, we now have access to more resources on a daily basis. Above all, an exciting new synergy between nature and technology is emerging, perhaps best illustrated by the coming bio-bot tide.
Life on the Home Planet
After Paris attacks, cities around the world light their landmarks in support (Mashable)
The arch at Wembley Stadium and the sails of the Sydney Opera House were lit up, while the Paris Las Vegas Hotel dimmed the lights on their replica Eiffel Tower in respect.
As night falls in Europe, expect to see many more iconic locations ablaze in the tricolore of blue, white and red.
Refugees in France Fear Islamic State Violence Has Followed Them (Bloomberg)
They came to France to escape war in their homelands. Now the Syrians and Iraqis living at a refugee shelter outside of Paris have discovered that the war has followed them.
When news of the terror attacks broke late on Friday, families in the Centre Hubert Renaud, a summer-camp dormitory complex built near the town of Cergy, crowded around the television in the shelter's common room. “Everyone was watching, no one could believe it,” said Ahmad al Asoul, 19, who arrived in France from Syria two months ago.
