Here's what's been happening while you were busy celebrating the New Year.
Financial Markets and Economy
Who Gets Excluded From the Modern Economy? (The Atlantic)
In the aftermath of the recession, researchers, academics, and bankers themselves analyzed and opined on the role that investment banks and the use of derivative products played in contributing to the crisis. Many wondered and theorized about what that sector of the economy would look like in a post-crisis era.
But as the economy has strengthened and inequality has grown, the questions of how financial and economic systems can and should operate, and if they exist to serve average people—not just those who can afford to use big-name banks and make high-priced investments—have become increasingly important ones. As the middle class shrinks, the cost of living rises, student-loan debt grows, and wages fail to keep up, the plight of those without sufficient financial education and access to affordable banking has become more and more apparent.
[Picture via Pixabay]
Obama Dollar Rally Is Forecast to Join Clinton, Reagan Upturns (Bloomberg)
The dollar has an opportunity to make history.
Bentley’s new SUV: the 1% is buying again (Market Watch)
Inside are the hides of four cows, 15 separate pieces of veneer, mineral glass gauge covers, milled aluminum accents and tolerances measured in tenths of a millimeter. All this is before options; they can include a self-winding Breitling Mulliner Tourbillon watch in place of the standard timepiece, cast of solid gold with a diamond-studded mother of pearl face, still to be priced but certainly in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Just for the watch.
This inventory of superlatives provides only part of the reason Bentayga is as surefire as the auto biz can deliver. The rest is that the sky is no longer falling. The Great Recession is mostly a memory and the 1% is buying again.
Oil prices fell 35%. What now? (CNN)
Oil prices are likely to stay low for most of 2016, as Iran starts flooding market with new crude.
Treasuries Set for Measured Losses With Fed in Rate-Raising Mode (Bloomberg)
Treasuries are forecast to decline during the first half of 2016, with yield increases moderated on speculation the Federal Reserve’s monetary-policy normalization will prove more gradual than central bank officials foresee.
Investors look to January effect at start of 2016 (Business Insider)
As Wall Street wraps up its flattest year since 2011, investors will have to deal with many of the same issues next year as they attempt to gauge market direction.
While many market participants have a host of worries heading into 2016 that could hurt stocks and keep volatility high, they remain optimistic for gains in 2016 and a strong start to the year could boost that case.
Einhorn's Greenlight Fund Ends Second-Worst Year Down 20% (Bloomberg)
For David Einhorn, 2016 can't start soon enough.
New Year's resolution: Start investing (CNN)
Are you in the 1%? Congratulations! This article isn't for you. For everyone else, make a New Year's resolution to get into the 50% club.
About half of Americans own stocks. They understand the secret to getting wealthy and financially healthy.
One thing all junior bankers who want to work at hedge funds should know (Business Insider)
Headhunters are not your friends.
That is the simple message that one former Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst tells every junior banker he mentors.
Becoming Your Life's Author (Trader Feed)
What book will you write with the 365 pages of 2016?
Think of your book's themes: What would you like to experience in 2016? What would you like to accomplish? What would you like to develop and improve: in yourself, in your relationships, in your trading?
Amazon is killing Ocado, but Goldman Sachs has an interesting theory about how this might actually be good for Ocado (Business Insider)
It has been a terrible year for Ocado stock. Currently, it's down to 304p from a high of 470p in mid 2015.
Mostly, this is Amazon's fault.
Politics
Jim Hightower: The Corporate Media Is Basically Pretending Bernie Sanders Doesn't Exist (AlterNet)
The Tyndall Report, a non-partisan media monitoring firm that has been tracking the nightly news broadcasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC, found that Trump is tromp, tromp, tromping over the airtime of everyone else.
From last January through November, these dominant flagship news shows devoted 234 minutes of prime-time coverage to the incessant chirping of the yellow-crested birdbrain, with no other contender getting even a fourth of that.
Take Bernie Sanders, who’s stunning the political establishment with a fiery populist campaign that’s drawing record crowds.
[Photo Credit: Screen capture]
Putin names United States among threats in new Russian security strategy (Reuters)
A new appraisal names the United States as one of the threats to Russia's national security for the first time, a sign of how relations with the west have deteriorated in recent years.
The document, "About the Strategy of National Security of Russian Federation," was signed by President Vladimir Putin on New Year's Eve. It replaces a 2009 version, endorsed by then- President Dmitry Medvedev, the current prime minister, which mentioned neither the United States not NATO.
‘Super PACs’ Supporting Ted Cruz Plan a $1 Million Advertising Buy (Market Watch)
A string of allied “super PACs” supporting the presidential campaign of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is planning a $1 million television, digital and radio advertising buy in the early voting states, with the heaviest spending in Iowa, a spokeswoman for the group said.
Technology
Smart Cities are Beginning to Adopt Electric Scooters as the Future of Transport (PSFK)
By 2025 the number of smart cities around the world is predicted to quadruple from 2013, from 21 to 88. Gogoro is an electric scooter and energy company that is helping to lead this transformation by making megacities more connected, sustainable, and smart. Already in Amsterdam and Taipei, Gogoro is seeking out new metropolitan regions. But what cities are fitting for this mobility technology, and what will be the long-term impact?
Japanese scientists have created a new type of hologram that you can actually feel (Quartz)
Researchers have built a machine that renders holograms touchable, adding to a growing body of “telehaptic” prototypes released in 2015.
The holographic machine is called Haptoclone and was developed by researchers at the University of Tokyo.
Health and Life Sciences
This Lung Cancer Drug May Not Be What It Seems, Chemists Say (Forbes)
An experimental cancer drug may not work the way its manufacturer says it does , a new report claims. The drug, called antroquinonol, is currently being given to people with non-small-cell lung cancer who are enrolled in clinical trials taking place in the U.S. and Taiwan. It’s critically important to know what a drug’s active ingredient is, in order to manufacture it consistently and in order to make future improvements to it. So a study like this one, if it proves reproducible, is at best a wrinkle and at worst a roadblock on the path to a new FDA-approved lung cancer drug.
LGA calls for calorie counts on alcohol (BBC)
Makers of alcoholic drinks should display the calorie count on bottles and cans, the Local Government Association says.
The LGA believes companies should be forced to warn people that drinking alcohol can contribute to weight gain.
Life on the Home Planet
Shi'ite Muslims worldwide decry execution of Saudi cleric (Reuters)
Saudi Arabia's execution of a leading cleric from the Shi'ite Muslim minority drew protests from around the world against the ruling Al Saud family and threatened to further intensify a wave of sectarian conflict in the Middle East.
Lebanon's Supreme Islamic Shi'ite Council called Saturday's execution of cleric Nimr al-Nimr a "grave mistake", and the Hezbollah group termed it an assassination as Shi'ites took to the streets in protest from Tehran to Kashmir.
Saudi Arabia executed 47 people including Nimr, whom the government accused of inciting violence against the police. His supporters, however, said he was a peaceful dissident who advocated greater rights for the kingdom's Shi'ite minority.
Millions of Foreign Visitors Overstay Visas: Precisely How many? No One Seems to Know; Does Obama Care? (Mish Shedlock)
In the wake of terrorist activity in Europe and mass shootings in San Bernardino, Calif., that left 14 people dead and 22 wounded, some may be wondering: Are we tracking those in the US on Visas, and if so, how?
The answer, despite Federal laws that require tracking visa entrants, is the U.S. Doesn’t Know How Many Foreign Visitors Overstay Visas.
Sipping Champagne on the Titanic: Twenty Billionaires Own More Than the Bottom Half of Americans (AlterNet)
The new Institute for Policy Studies report "Billionaire Bonanza: The Forbes 400 and the Rest of Us" is out. I printed a copy, started reading and promptly threw it against the wall in fury and disgust.
How can the wealthy be so cruel?
[Photo Credit: Samot/Shutterstock]
China’s Homeless Find Shelter Under McDonald’s Golden Arches (NY Times)
He woke to the cry of the morning janitor. “Put your shoes on!” she said. “Put your shoes on!” She rattled a chair. “This isn’t your house! Sit up!”
Munich Police Probe Terror Links as Railroad Stations Reopened (Bloomberg)
Munich police remain on high alert after foreign security agencies warned Germany of a suicide terror plot by Islamic State militants before the New Year’s holiday. The Bavarian capital’s main railroad station and a train hub in the city’s Pasing district were evacuated for about five hours overnight to thwart an attack.
