Financial Markets and Economy
Uber Is Now Valued Higher Than 80% of the Companies in the S&P 500 (Bloomberg)
Uber is raising more money, and the new valuation will make it larger than stalwarts of the S&P 500, including Dow Chemical, BlackRock, and Netflix.
Bloomberg's Eric Newcomer earlier reported that the car-booking startup is looking to raise as much as $2.1 billion in a financing round that would give it a valuation of $62.5 billion.
U.S. Stocks Drop More Than 250 Points as ECB Disappoints (Wall Street Journal)
Stocks and bonds tumbled while the euro soared after the European Central Bank’s stepped-up stimulus efforts fell short of investors’ expectations.
Asian Stocks Extend Global Rout as Draghi Disappoints Investors (Bloomberg)
Asian stocks joined a global selloff asthe scale of further stimulus by the European Central Bank disappointed some investors.
S&P downgrades holding companies of eight U.S. banks (Business Insider)
Standard & Poor's cut its nonoperating holding company (NOHC) ratings on eight U.S. "global systemically important banks" by one notch, citing uncertainty about the U.S. government's willingness to provide support to the banking system if it came under stress.
Investor urges Viacom to sell Paramount studio stake to Alibaba: FT (Business Insider)
Viacom Inc's <VIAB.O> second-largest shareholder has urged the media company to sell a stake in its Paramount movie studio to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd <BABA.N>, according to the Financial Times.
"If Alibaba is going to be serious about getting into the entertainment industry Viacom should sell Jack Ma a piece of Paramount," Mario Gabelli, chief executive of Gamco Investors Inc, told the newspaper.
Trading fake stocks taught me that tech investors are way too gullible (Quartz)
Do optimists make for bad investors? Consider the unlucky shareholders in the biotech company Theranos, who pushed the company’s value to $9 billion before it came under fire for reportedly faulty blood-testing technology. Now big contracts from potential customers like Walgreens are on hold, and the company needs to resubmit data to receive approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.
Oil States Still Divided in Pre-Summit Talks: OPEC Reality Check (Bloomberg)
OPEC members preparing to decide production policy on Friday failed to overcome differences in pre-summit talks, leaving the group divided over the need for output curbs.
Stocks are tanking, the euro is exploding, oil is going nuts (Business Insider)
The euro is surging and US stocks are tumbling following the European Central Bank's decision to cut its deposit rate, as expected.
Trendiest Trades in Global Bonds, Currencies Are Getting Crushed (Bloomberg)
The most crowded trades in global debt and currency markets unraveled Thursday, and it wasn’t pretty.
Asian Futures Signal More Stock Losses on Draghi Disappointment (Bloomberg)
The global equity selloff looked set to get a fresh lease on life in Asia, with index futures foreshadowing losses from Japan to China, while the euro maintained gains following its steepest one-day surge since 2009.
Adidas has peaked (Business Insider)
Morgan Stanley is calling the top for Adidas, saying the German sports brand "may have peaked."
Nike, meanwhile, is set to take ground from Adidas on its home turf — Europe.
For China, the End of the Beginning on Road to a Global Currency (Bloomberg)
After a struggle of more than half a decade, China this week overcame doubts and objections to qualify for official reserve status for its currency, the yuan. Now, the real battle begins.
Chinese officials who want a much bigger role for market forces — including central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan and his deputy Yi Gang — have used the goal as a lodestone for their ideas.
Pandora shares fall 11% after company unveils its first debt offering (Market Watch)
Shares of Internet radio company Pandora Media Inc. fell as much as 11% Thursday, after the company announced its first-ever debt offering.
Good News! Economists are Getting More Bearish on U.S. Growth (Bloomberg)
Expectations for U.S. growth are getting dimmer by the day.
10 stocks leading the U.S. market lower (Market Watch)
U.S. stocks slid Thursday, as investors were disappointed with the European Central Bank’s stimulus plans and looked ahead to an expected increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve.
The ominous 'Skyscraper Indicator' has been triggered (Business Insider)
Saudi Arabia officially secured the funds to build the world's tallest building. Jeddah Tower (or Kingdom Tower) is expected to reach 3,280 feet — or 1 kilometer — into the air. That'll dwarf the current tallest building in the world, Dubai's Burj Khalifa, which opened in 2010 and reaches "only" 2,716 feet.
Gold Daily And Silver Weekly Charts – Falling Dollar, Hidden Risks (Jesse's Cafe Americain)
Gold and silver had some nice bounce backs today, with the dollar falling sharply on what seems to be a 'sell the news' phenomenon with regard to US interest rates, and the cut in rates by the ECB.
Politics
Putin Calls for United Front Against Terror as He Lashes Turkey (Bloomberg)
President Vladimir Putin raised the temperature in an increasingly bitter dispute with Turkey over the downing of a Russian warplane last week, saying the country’s “ruling gang” has lost reason as he threatened more punitive measures following economic sanctions.
It's all-out political war in the world's 7th-largest economy (Business Insider)
It's chaos in Brazil.
President Dilma Rousseff's chief political opponent, Eduardo Cunha, has started the ball rolling on her impeachment.
Technology
Toyota Asks for Ideas About How to Use an Ultrasmall Vehicle (NY Times)
AS a rush of innovation reshapes the automotive industry, from ride-hailing apps to autonomous driving technology, automakers have joined in rethinking the future of transportation.
Health and Life Sciences
Why is treating depression such a guessing game? (Futurity)
Depression is likely caused by multiple biological, psychological, social, and environmental drivers—and these factors often overlap.
Yet most previous research has focused on only one or two factors, and disregarded how the many factors can intersect and unfold over time.
TV May Be Bad for Your Brain (NY Times)
Watching television may be bad for your brain, a new study suggests.
Researchers followed 3,274 people whose average age was 25 at the start of the study for 25 years, using questionnaires every five years to collect data on their physical activity and TV watching habits. At year 25, they administered three tests that measured various aspects of mental acuity.
Life on the Home Planet
Cutting Emissions May Get Harder With Time (Bloomberg View)
The most fascinating thing about the Paris talks isn't that the result will be insufficient to avert potentially catastrophic climate change, but that people don't seem more bothered by the languid clip of progress.
