Financial Markets and Economy
Renewed Cold Extends U.S. Natural Gas Rally to 7-Week High (Bloomberg)
Cold weather creeping back into forecasts for the eastern U.S. extended a natural gas rally to a seven-week high.
Pfizer hikes U.S. prices for over 100 drugs on January 1 (Business Insider)
Pfizer Inc <PFE.N>, which plans a $160 billion merger with Ireland-based Allergan Plc <AGN.N> to slash its U.S. tax bill, on Jan. 1 raised U.S. prices for more than 100 of its drugs, some by as much as 20 percent, according to statistics compiled by global information services company Wolters Kluwer.
Pfizer confirmed a 9.4 percent increase for heavily advertised pain drug Lyrica, which generated $2.3 billion in 2014 U.S. sales; a 12.9 percent increase for erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, which had 2014 U.S. sales of $1.1 billion; and a 5 percent increase for Ibrance, a novel breast cancer drug launched last year at a list price of $9,850 per month, or $118,200 per year.
China's Currency But Emerging-Market Peers' Problem: New Yuan (Bloomberg)
In an echo of the Nixon administrations missive when a depreciating U.S. currency was roiling its trading partners, the yuan may be Chinas currency but its increasingly the problem of others — and especially its emerging-market peers.
What you need to know on Wall Street today (Business Insider)
The US labor market is on fire.
In December the US economy added 292,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 5%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Still, there is one part of the economy which continues to bleed jobs: mining.
Blackstone Becomes No. 1 NYC Real Estate Buyer, Sees More Deals (Bloomberg)
Blackstone Group LP jumped to the top spot in real estate acquisitions in New York last year, with purchases that encompassed Manhattan’s biggest apartment complex and stakes in a group of office properties including the Starrett-Lehigh building on the Hudson River.
Dow Industrials Cap Worst-Ever Start to Year (Wall Street Journal)
Volatility returned to markets with a vengeance in the first week of 2016, and traders are bracing for still larger swings in the coming weeks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 167.65 points, or 1%, to 16346.45 on Friday, leaving it down 6.2% for the week in its worst-ever five-day start to a year.
These stocks would have made you a big winner in a brutal week (Market Watch)
It was the week that was. In fact, it was the worst calendar-year opening week for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 stock benchmarks ever. What a way to start 2016.
Twitter stock drops below $20 for first time ever (Business Insider)
Twitter stock hit a new low on Friday, as investors beat down shares of the social media company below the $20 level for the first time ever.
Investors Pull $8.8 Billion From World Equity Funds in 2016 Rout (Bloomberg)
The worst start to a year for global financial markets sparked the biggest weekly outflow of cash from equity mutual funds since September.
S&P 500 earnings are way cleaner today than they were during the financial crisis (Business Insider)
When a company announces quarterly earnings, analysts and investors often focus on the non-GAAP or adjusted earnings number.
If you think oil is cheap in dollars, it’s even cheaper in gold (Market Watch)
Oil futures are trading at prices not seen in more than a decade. But they look even cheaper relative to gold and stocks.
Fed's Williams Sees Balance Sheet Taking Six Years to Normalize (Bloomberg)
It will take the U.S. central bank at least six years to reduce its bloated balance sheet back to more a normal size, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williamssaid, as officials take a gradual approach to withdrawing crisis-level stimulus.
This chart puts the scale of the stock market plunge into perspective (Business Insider)
The markets have had an ugly start in 2016.
Gold Bars Fetch Most Barrels of Oil Since Late 1980s: Chart (Bloomberg)
With oil prices reeling from an oversupply and gold getting a boost from demand for a haven, Brent crude is the cheapest relative to the precious metal in a generation.
After dreadful week, stocks look for reason to bounce (Yahoo! Finance)
Investors who were bloodied in the year-opening stock rout will be hard pressed to find any salve next week. With prospects dimming for a strong start to earnings season, and worries about slow growth in China continuing to overhang the market, even a price-driven rally may not last beyond a day or three, say longtime market watchers. "This is a tsunami of negative psychology being driven by China," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors in New York.
Wall Street analysts lower Apple price targets (Business Insider)
Apple Inc has lost about $50 billion of its market value in the first four days of the year, forcing some Wall Street analysts to adjust their view on the iPhone maker.
At least five analysts cut their price targets on Apple's shares on Friday, in response to reports of slowing shipments of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus.
Dollar Strengthens as Strong Jobs Growth Backs Fed Rate Plans (Bloomberg)
The dollar rose after a report showed U.S. jobs growth exceeded forecasts, backing the case for the Federal Reserve to continue raising interest rates this year.
Charting the Markets: Turbulent Week Ends With U.S. Jobs Report (Bloomberg)
Emerging markets rebound, the dollar resumes its rise and gold loses its luster.
Politics
Obama's Gun Show Misfire (Bloomberg View)
Obama seemed flummoxed for much of the event. His reputation as a hyper-rational "Spock" who fails to understand the everyday anxieties of his constituents has always been a caricature. He is both rational and intuitive, skilled at seeing the world from another's perspective. (If he were not, rest assured that Barack Hussein Obama, named after his Kenyan father, would not reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.)
The Danger of Putin Losing in Syria (The Atlantic)
Last September, Russia deployed dozens of jets to Syria to rescue the ailing regime of Bashar al-Assad. Vladimir Putin aimed to protect one of Moscow’s few foreign allies and gain leverage for the coming peace negotiations over the Syrian Civil War. Russian media presented the mission as a heroic attempt to save the civilized world from Islamic terrorism. In Washington, however, Putin was widely seen as wading into a quagmire.
Technology
We’re starting to see the first signs of a tech slowdown (QZ)
For months, investors have been warning of a coming bloodbath for unicorns—the nickname for startups deemed to be worth $1 billion or more.
That hasn’t happened yet, but we are starting to see the first signs of a tech slowdown. In the fourth quarter of 2015, startups collectively raised $27.3 billion globally, a huge decline from the $38.7 billion raised in the previous quarter, according to data from research firm CB Insights.
This Cute Robot Will Teach You To Keep Your New Year's Resolutions (Fast Company)
MOTI uses a reminder and reward system to get you forming good habits.
By mid-January, there's a decent chance your New Year's resolution will be a distant memory. But a new gadget, based on the latest behavioral science about how our brains form habits, might change that.
Arcimoto Wants You to Forget About Cars Altogether (Bloomberg)
The future of electric vehicles doesn't have to look like Tesla sedans and Faraday Future race cars; it can be something much simpler and city-friendly. At least that's what the people behind Arcimoto are betting on, an electric love child of a commuter's bicycle and a multi-ton car—just don't call it a golf cart.
Health and Life Sciences
How The Global Hive Mind Is Teaming Up To Find A Cure For Alzheimer's (Fast Company)
Since late computer scientist John McCarthy came up with the term artificial intelligence back in 1955, there's been plenty of scientific research and experimentation around achieving that goal. But we're still a long way off from fully reproducing the complexities of the human mind, despite all the exciting AI-related experiments we are witnessing at Google (autonomous cars), Facebook (facial recognition), Microsoft (language translation) and Amazon (voice recognition).
Life on the Home Planet
Climate and politics could test Arctic people (Futurity)
People in the Arctic appear to have an inherent ability to adapt to climate change, perhaps because they are so used to accepting a climate that is changeable and uncertain.
“Arctic populations are often identified as being highly vulnerable people, but that’s not necessarily what the research shows,” says James Ford of of the geography department at McGill University.
