Financial Markets and Economy
The Five Best U.S. Retailing Stocks of 2015 (Bloomberg)
And the five most improved.
Gold eyes lowest settlement in 2 weeks as 2015 nears a close (Market Watch)
Gold futures were drifting lower Wednesday as the curtain begins to fall on 2015.
February gold was GCG6, -0.70% $5, or 0.6%, lower at $1,062.20 an ounce. The yellow metal is eyeing a roughly 0.3% monthly gain, but an annual drop of nearly 10%, according to FactSet data.
Silicon Valley's most secretive startup lets employees sell $425,000 worth of stock per year (Business Insider)
Palantir is one of the biggest privately held tech companies in the world, recently valued at $20 billion. The company sells data analysis software to government agencies like the FBI and CIA, as well as to private companies.
As is the case with a lot of other billion-dollar startups, this has created some tension between executives who want to keep the company private to avoid burdensome regulations and the distraction of being public, and investors and employees who want to capitalize on the company's fast growth so far, reports Rolfe Winkler in the Wall Street Journal.
The Year Wall Street Cut The Cord on Most U.S. Media Stocks (Bloomberg)
It was the year Wall Street discovered cord-cutting.
Average returns almost never happen in the markets (Business Insider)
It's something you'll hear in your entry level courses in finance or investing: On average, stocks return about 10% per year and bonds return about 5%.
Best Russia Bond Picker Adds Banks Eluding Tug of Oil Downturn (Bloomberg)
The ruble’s resilience to nosediving oil prices has burnished the appeal of Russia’s banks, according to the manager of the nation’s best-performing bond fund.
Oil futures drop on oversupply worries, Saudi demand pledge (Market Watch)
Crude prices slumped on Wednesday, pressured by fear of expanding crude inventories in the U.S. and vows by Saudi Arabia to meet any increase in global oil demand.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen pulled off something remarkable in 2015 (Business Insider)
There has been an awful lot of talk about monetary policy in 2015. An awful lot.
Stocks Down, Bonds Down, Gold Down, Crude Down, Dollar Down (Zero Hedge)
Sell Mortimer, Sell!
GameStop Says We're No RadioShack as Investors' Doubts Increase (Bloomberg)
Marlon Gomez likes his video-game discs. The 41-year-old shipping worker, shopping recently at a GameStop in Los Angeles, said he can lend them out or bring them to friends homes, which he cant do with a download.
Financial Markets Were Flat in 2015. Thank Goodness. (NY Times)
It might have made a little money. It might have lost a little money. But, barring any drastic moves in the final trading days of 2015, the most widely held classes of assets, including stocks and bonds across the globe, were basically flat. In the United States, for example, a whopping 1.98 percent return on the Standard & Poor’s stock index (including reinvested dividends) as of the Dec. 28 closing price was roughly matched by a 1.07 percent return on intermediate-term Treasury bonds.
Britain's stock market just had its worst year since the financial crisis (Business Insider)
2015 is a year that investors in Britain's biggest companies won't want to repeat for a long, long time, and it's all down to crashing commodity prices.
At the time of writing, the FTSE 100, Britain's blue chip share index dropped by a massive 457 points in 2015, the equivalent of nearly 7%.
Emerging-Market Sentiment Turns More Bearish on Oil, Fed's Path (Bloomberg)
Sentiment for emerging-market assets is turning more bearish as oil prices hold below $40 a barrel ahead of further U.S. rate increases.
This Goldman Sachs chart shows just how much cheaper TransferWise is compared to banks (Business Insider)
Goldman Sachs put out an epic "year in review" style note of its 100 favourite charts that sum up the year this week and one that stands out relates to TransferWise, one of the few British tech unicorns (private companies worth over $1 billion).
The Best and Worst of the U.S. Economy in 2015 (Bloomberg)
It wasn't all that bad a year to be a Motown resident, or a software publisher, or even a job seeker without a high school degree. Homeowners in West Virginia have less reason to be upbeat, and women are more likely to see the cloudy side of the street. Here's how Americans fared in a handful of demographic groups across the economy in 2015.
Germany's DAX Beats World With More Gains Expected (Bloomberg)
German stocks outperformed European and global peers in 2015. Investors are betting on more gains next year.
Here’s what could trigger one more big round of market fireworks for 2015 (Market Watch)
What a difference a low-volume day makes.
The bulls got to work yesterday and pushed the S&P 500 SPX, -0.28% to a 0.8% gain for 2015 with two days to go. Who said it wasn’t worth sticking around during the holidays to turn the lights out?
Noble Group Ends a Turbulent Year With Cut to Junk From Moody's (Bloomberg)
Asia's top commodity trader exits 2015 in very different shape to how it began the year.
Gold Steady on Thin Trading as 2016 Outlook Eyed by Investors (Bloomberg)
Gold prices were steady and on course for a third annual decline as investors focused on the outlook for 2016.
China to Suspend New Coal Mine Approvals Amid Pollution Fight (Bloomberg)
China will stop approving new coal mines for the next three years and continue to trim production capacity as the world’s biggest energy consumer tries to shift away from the fuel as it grapples with pollution.
Southeast Asian nations launch economic alliance (Market Watch)
Ten Southeast Asian nations start an ambitious experiment on Thursday: integrating their economies in a bid to bring more global sway and prosperity to the region’s 622 million citizens.
Their common market — more than a decade in progress — aims to forge a prominent regional bloc to rival China and Japan out of a hodgepodge of economies ranging from rich-and-open Singapore to emerging Myanmar.
South African Trade Balance Swings to Surplus as Exports Rebound (Bloomberg)
South Africa posted its first trade surplus in five months in November as exports of precious metals, such as gold and platinum, picked up and imports slumped.
Politics
Republicans come up short in search for diverse voters in 2016 election (Reuters)
Ten months before the United States elects a new president, the Republican Party has yet to resolve a problem that its leaders said contributed to Mitt Romney’s 2012 loss to Barack Obama: a lack of support among Hispanic and younger voters.
The percentage of Republicans among those likely to vote in the Nov. 8, 2016, election lags Democrats by 9 percentage points, compared with a 6-point deficit in the year leading up to Obama’s 2012 victory, according to an analysis of Reuters/Ipsos polling data from 2012 and 2015.
Political Incorrectness Is Scientifically Bogus (Bloomberg View)
Among Republicans, it has become politically correct to be politically incorrect. Actually that’s the most politically correct thing that you can possibly be. As soon as you announce that you’re politically incorrect, you’re guaranteed smiles and laughter, and probably thunderous applause. Proudly proclaiming your bravery, you’re pandering to the crowd.
Technology
Few Computers Are Powerful Enough to Support Virtual Reality (Bloomberg)
Virtual reality has a very real problem. With several technology giants preparing splashy introductions for the first VR headsets in 2016, few people own hardware capable of fully supporting Facebook’s Oculus Rift or other systems.
Health and Life Sciences
Cartilage grown to rebuild body parts (BBC)
Patients needing surgery to reconstruct body parts such as noses and ears could soon have treatment using cartilage which has been grown in a lab.
The process involves growing someone's cells in an incubator and then mixing them with a liquid which is 3D printed into the jelly-like shape needed.
Can Too Much Exercise Harm the Heart? (NY Times)
With many of us contemplating marathons or other prolonged endurance events in 2016, we, our spouses and other family members most likely have wondered whether such strenuous training could be harmful to our hearts. Could any of us, in making ambitious resolutions, exercise too much?
A newly published scientific review offers both reassurance and some caution. It found that while most athletes’ hearts can withstand most exercise, there are exceptions.
Where Autism Got The Right Treatment In 2015 (Forbes)
It’s a pleasure to have the abundance of choices available this year in selecting the best online places to read news and views about autism online. Some sites stand out as reliably respectful of autistic people and disability in general, and this year offered up some truly remarkable storytelling about the past, present, and future of autistic people.
Life on the Home Planet
Storm Brings Chaos to U.K. as North Braces for More Flooding (Bloomberg)
Another storm battered the north and west of the U.K., causing chaos to transportation and leaving thousands of people without electricity or facing more flooding in what’s been the wettest December on record for parts of the country.
This Giant Squid Looks Like a Robot Missile Lurking in the Ocean (Gizmodo)
This Giant Squid looks almost embarrassed at how big it is. Spanning over 12 feet long, with scary tentacles that can spray open, it is definitely something I wouldn’t want to see in the ocean. It’s totally creepy. CNN got this footage of the Giant Squid from Diving Shop Kaiyu “on a pier in Toyama Bay in central Japan”.
