Financial Markets and Economy
U.S. Index Futures Signal Rebound as Yuan Fixing Soothes Nerves (Bloomberg)
U.S. index futures jumped, signaling the Standard & Poors 500 Index will rebound from its worst start to a year since at least 1928, as China fixed the yuan higher for the first time in nine days and equities in Shanghai rallied.
Currency Devaluations by Asian Tigers Could Hinder Global Growth (NY Times)
China’s decision to push the value of its currency lower has opened a new front of worry for global investors: a potential wave of currency devaluations among the so-called Asian tigers — South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.
Such an outcome, say a number of foreign exchange specialists, would put a further damper on global growth expectations, which already are being revised downward as China’s once-booming economy retrenches.
U.S. stock futures: Dow eyes triple-digit gain after China ends higher (Market Watch)
U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open, putting the market on track to erase part of the week’s losses.
A rally by Chinese stocks appeared to cheer investors, as they also brace for a key U.S. jobs report that’s due before the open.
Goldman Sachs rethinks its stock market outlook because of something that hasn't happened in at least 48 years (Business Insider)
Just a few weeks ago, analysts were comfortable assuming that oil prices would finally stabilize and perhaps begin to recover in 2016. But that once-reasonable assumption on Wall Street is turning into a disaster.
Goldman Sachs is the latest firm to warn its clients that tumbling oil prices was bad news for stocks.
When will the stock market eliminate your job? (Market Watch)
We’re asking too much of the stock market, and its failures are making us poorer.
This isn’t a gripe about the recent selloff, because the market fails when the S&P 500SPX, -2.37% is up and when it’s down. Specifically, it is failing at three primary functions our society has handed over to the stock market: allocating capital wisely, funding a secure retirement and creating jobs.
Emerging Stocks Pare Weekly Slump as Currencies Rebound on Yuan (Bloomberg)
Emerging-market stocks trimmed the worst weekly drop since 2012 and currencies rose after China suspended a controversial circuit-breaker system that sparked a selloff in mainland shares and moved to stabilize the yuan.
Global stocks, oil stabilize after new year nightmare (Yahoo! Finance)
Gains by Chinese stocks, a steadier yuan and a recovery in oil prices helped calm frazzled investors on Friday, just in time for the first U.S. payrolls report of the year.
China nudged the yuan higher for the first time in nine days, easing fears that it had lost control of the currency. Traders also cheered its decision to dump an unpopular stock market "circuit-breaker" system introduced this week, helping to restore a measure of risk appetite.
Oil prices rebound as China stocks battle back (Market Watch)
Oil prices were in recovery mode on Friday as the Chinese stock market rose and investors hunted for bargains after this week’s selloff.
Oil prices plunged to a more than a decade low on Thursday after the Chinese government allowed the yuan to fall faster than anticipated. The move triggered a rapid stock selloff in China that rattled global markets and fueled fears on the oil market about the health of the world’s second-biggest oil consumer.
Mercedes-Benz sales rise 13.4 percent to 1.87 million cars in 2015 (Business Insider)
Daimler <DAIGn.DE> said sales of its Mercedes-Benz cars reached a new record in 2015, mainly thanks to a 40 percent jump in sales of its C-Class limousine and as China became the luxury carmaker's largest single market for the first time.
The Stuttgart-based carmaker said global sales rose 9.1 percent in December to 178,017 cars, helping Mercedes to its strongest quarterly sales of 495,159 vehicles, Daimler said in a press release on Friday.
China's Stocks Climb After Circuit Breakers Cut, Yuan Fix Steady (Bloomberg)
Chinese stocks gained in volatile trading after the government suspended a controversial circuit breaker system, the central bank set a higher yuan fix and state-controlled funds were said to buy equities.
Oil's recovery has stopped in its tracks (Business Insider)
The price of oil made a comeback this morning.
China's Economic Outlook Is a Concern, Hitachi President Says (Bloomberg)
Hitachi Ltd. is facing pressure to lower the prices of its products in China as growth in the world’s second-largest economy slows.
Fed leans on big balance sheet to soften rate hike impact (Business Insider)
Federal Reserve policymakers appear to have succeeded in their push last month to convince investors the central bank will hold on to its $4.5-trillion portfolio at least until next year, a Fed survey showed on Thursday.
Recent interviews with officials showed they were counting on the Fed's massive bond holdings to blunt some of the impact of interest-rate hikes this year. But they were also concerned that markets did not fully appreciate that the central bank was willing to hang on to the bonds for longer than thought only three or six months ago.
Treasuries Fall for First Time in Seven Days Before Jobs Report (Bloomberg)
Treasury 10-year notes fell for the first time in seven days as China’s currency fixing Friday suggested the nation’s measures to spur the economy this week may be starting to have the desired effect, curbing demand for the safest assets.
U.S. crude edges up, but remains near 12-year lows on China worries (Business Insider)
U.S. crude futures inched up early on Friday but remained near 12-year lows as financial market unrest in China rattled investors already concerned about a world glut in oil.
U.S. crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
was trading 12 cents higher at $33.39 a barrel by 0028 GMT (1928 EDT) after settling at $33.27 on Thursday. In the last session, it hit its lowest since late 2003 at $32.10.
China Woes Send Traders Running From Germany's Once-Mighty DAX (Bloomberg)
You know things are bad for German stocks when even Greece is beating them.
China Has the Tools to Arrest Stock Slide (Bloomberg View)
Doing the right thing for the long term sometimes causes short-term pain.
That could be the case over the next few weeks after China's decision on Thursday to abandon the circuit breakers that it had implemented to limit destabilizing volatility in its stock markers. Fortunately, there are steps the Chinese government can take to ensure that the pain is temporary and contained.
Too Much Love for Europe Stocks Proves Costly Amid Global Drop (Bloomberg)
European stocks may be paying a price for being the darling of equity investors.
Politics
Obama: 'I Won't Campaign' With Candidates Who Don't Support Gun Control (The Atlantic)
In an op-ed in The New York Times on Thursday, President Obama vowed to not “campaign for, vote for or support any candidate, even in my own party, who does not support common-sense gun reform.” At a town hall event hosted by CNN that night, he explained why.
”Yeah, I meant what I said,” Obama said when asked about the op-ed by moderator Anderson Cooper. “And the reason I said that is this: The majority of people in this country are a lot more sensible than what you see in Washington.” Obama singled out the National Rifle Association as one of the “loudest, shrillest voices” against gun control and told the audience “[that] the way we break the deadlock on this issue is when the NRA doesn't have a stranglehold on Congress in this debate.” To that end, the president said, “I want to throw my shoulders behind those who want to solve problems, and not those who want to get high scores from an interest group."
Trump likes to sleep in his own bed and it may cost him votes (Reuters)
U.S. presidential candidates are spending long days on the campaign trail and their nights in a succession of budget hotels, often in small towns. Not Donald Trump.
After nearly every rally, the billionaire real estate developer hops into one of his planes or helicopters and returns to New York so that he can sleep in his own bed in his marble-and-gold-furnished Trump Tower apartment in Manhattan.
In November and December, Trump held six rallies in Iowa, visited a local production plant and held one town hall, flying home each night. His nearest rival for the Republican nomination, Ted Cruz, has zigzagged around the state, holding around a dozen town halls and twice as many "meet-and-greet" sessions, and bedding down between stops in hotels.
Technology
Polaroid Snap Prints Digital Photos Instantly (Popular Science)
This digital camera can also spit out instant prints of your photos.
Polaroid is best known for the instant-film camera it popularized during the 1970s, the SX-70. The camera made it easy for anyone to be a photographer because it only had one button, and it spit out film that instantly developed right after the photograph was snapped. It's been decades since the SX-70 was released, but Polaroid thinks that it can rely on some of the legendary appeal of the SX-70 to attract new, younger customers to the brand.
Microsoft's Making Its Own SIM Card to Provide Contract-less Cellular Data (Gizmodo)
It seems Microsoft is developing its own SIM cards that will allow Windows 10 devices to access a range of different cellular data networks without the need for a contract.
The Verge has noticed that Microsoft has just released a new app called Cellular Data. It explains that the service will allow you to “connect with – and pay for – a mobile data plan on your Windows 10 device using only your Microsoft account information. That means no fixed contract and no long term commitments to a mobile network operator.”
Health and Life Sciences
Single Parents Struggle Most to Get a Good Night's Sleep: Study (Medicine Net Daily)
Single parents — moms in particular — operate on fewer hours ofsleep and have poorer sleep quality than adults in other types of families.
That's the central finding of a U.S. government report, released Wednesday, on the sleep habits of Americans by gender and family type.
First Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in New York Open (NY Times)
New York joined the ranks of nearly half the states on Thursday in allowing the use of medical marijuana with the opening of eight dispensaries statewide, serving a variety of tinctures, concentrates, vapors and other forms of the drug.
How many patients actually received medicine from those dispensaries, however, was uncertain; several locations around the state had customers who entered, but it was not clear if any actually bought the drug, or were qualified to do so under the state’s strict guidelines. On Thursday, officials at the state’s Department of Health said that only 51 patients had been certified for the program thus far, though that process only began on Dec. 23 and requires the approval of a physician who has registered with the state.
Life on the Home Planet
Migrants struggle in sub-zero temperatures (BBC)
Medics working at refugee aid camps in the Balkans say they are seeing a spike in the number of migrants falling ill as freezing temperatures arrive.
It has fallen to as low as -11C in the region.
The medical charities International Medical Corps and Medecins Sans Frontieres say most patients are suffering with respiratory problems such as bronchitis and flu.
World's Biggest Dam Has `Extremely Dangerous' Low Water Levels (Bloomberg)
Water levels at Kariba dam, the world’s largest, are at “extremely dangerous” lows that could force a shutdown of its hydro power plants, said Zambian Energy Minister Dora Siliya.
Poor rainfall and overuse of water by Zambia and Zimbabwe, the southern African countries that share the reservoir, have caused its levels to drop, with electricity generation already reduced by more than half. As of Dec. 28, Kariba was 14 percent full, compared with 51 percent a year earlier, according to the dam’s regulator.
South Korea fires back at Kim Jong Un with blast — of pop music (Market Watch)
As world leaders debate their responses to North Korea’s nuclear test — sanctions, dialogue, or even military force — South Korea has begun its own retaliation with powerful blasts of pop music.
At midday Friday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s birthday, Seoul fired up banks of high-wattage speakers along its border to broadcast criticism of Kim’s leadership and other subversive messages into the country. Also on the playlist: recent South Korean hit songs.
