Financial Markets and Economy
Are $20 Per Barrel Oil Forecasts Reasonable Or A Knee-Jerk Reaction To Price Plummet? (Forbes)
Oil price forecasters have often been said to make sheep look like independent forecasters, and no few eyebrows are raised when new short-term projections appear, especially if they seem to be merely reflecting current conditions.
GoPro Cuts 7% of Staff, Sees Revenue Short of Estimates (Bloomberg)
GoPro Inc., the struggling maker of action cameras, released a preliminary 2015 sales forecast that fell short of analysts’ projections, sending its shares tumbling by as much as 30 percent.
The company, which is cutting 7 percent of its workforce, said in a statement Wednesday that fourth-quarter revenue will be $435 million, well below the average analyst estimate of $510.9 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Former president of the Minneapolis Fed JUST left office and he's already trolling Finance Twitter (Business Insider)
Narayana Kocherlakota is back!
The US picked a rotten time to start exporting crude oil (Quartz)
After months and months and years and years of lobbying, America’s oil industry finally got Congress to lift a ban on oil exports in December. The Wall Street Journal notes (paywall) that the first such sanctioned shipment got loaded up on New Year’s Eve in Texas and that plenty more are on the way.
But with crude oil prices testing decade-plus lows (they’re approaching $30 per barrel at the moment), it’s not exactly a black gold bonanza.
10 stocks including Netflix and Williams Cos. that led the stock market drop Wednesday (Market Watch)
The S&P 500 Index fell 2.5% on Wednesday, bringing the year’s decline to 7.5%.
Russia Stock Swings Widen as Oil Rout Dims Investor Outlook (Bloomberg)
Price swings in Russian equities have risen to the widest in four months as a selloff in oil dimmed the outlook for Europe’s biggest crude exporter, which already has been battered by international sanctions and the ruble’s plunge.
The bright spot of the world economy is looking 'sluggish' (Business Insider)
In their forecasts for 2016, a lot of analysts and economists have relied on one cheery narrative to counteract the negativity in global markets.
The story goes that despite the oil price crash, China's troubles, and American manufacturing's possible recession, the American consumer is strong enough to prop up the economy.
Beige Book portrays Jekyll & Hyde economy (Market Watch)
The Federal Reserve’s business contacts reported a mixed picture, with the manufacturing, agricultural and energy sectors continuing to struggle while consumers and housing remain on solid ground.
The Fed’s Beige Book, released Wednesday, found modest growth in 9 of its 12 districts.
Brent Oil Falls Below $30 for the First Time Since April 2004 (Bloomberg)
Brent oil dropped below $30 a barrel for the first time since April 2004 on speculation Iranian shipments will soon climb.
Crashing oil prices aren't the only reason Qatar might suddenly be worried about money (Business Insider)
The impending closure of Al Jazeera America is baffling in some respects.
Qatar turned into one of the Middle East's rising countries through a smart and patient "soft power" strategy.
The kingdom spread its influence through global investments in real estate and news media, an outsized interest in high diplomacy, and the hosting of major global events like the World Cup.
What to watch for in Intel earnings (Market Watch)
Intel Corp. is set to report fourth-quarter earnings after the market closes on Thursday.
Analysts are anticipating the third strong quarter in a row for the world’s largest chipmaker, with J.P. Morgan on Tuesday upgrading the stock to overweight and setting a $40 price target, which implies growth of more than 22% from Tuesday’s closing price.
The Peer-to-Peer Loan Industry Has Been Getting Slammed (Bloomberg)
So far, 2016 has not been a good year for peer-to-peer, or marketplace, lenders.
Stocks are getting crushed (Business Insider)
After opening higher on Wednesday, stocks are nosediving in late-afternoon trading.
This is why Obama is bullish on the economy (Yahoo! Finance)
President Obama didn’t change anybody’s mind on the state of the economy during his 2016 State of the Union speech. But he did clarify who the winners and losers are. And whether you’re an economic winner or loser determines whether you’re upbeat or gloomy about the nation’s future.
Oil Market's Last Bastion of Strength Is Now Crashing: Chart (Bloomberg)
Tanker rates were the thing that boomed while oil prices crashed. Now it would appear the party is over, or at least the music has stopped.
The US dollar crushed New York City tourism this holiday season (Business Insider)
New York City's tourism industry got crushed by the dollar over the holidays.
The Good News for China Is Hundreds of Stocks Oversold: Chart (Bloomberg)
The Chinese stock market’s 17 percent nosedive in 2016’s first eight trading days hasn’t been nearly as bad as last year’s biggest selloffs, but by one measure, it has been far worse. And that may be good news.
Why Parallels Between Netflix and Amazon Should Worry Media Titans (NY Times)
Imagine you run a global media conglomerate. Say you’re Robert A. Iger, the chief executive of Disney, or Brian L. Roberts, of Comcast, or perhaps you’re slightly lower down on the ladder of behemoths — the boss of Twenty-First Century Fox or Time Warner, perhaps. In any case, you own a lot of valuable stuff: movie studios, broadcast and cable TV networks, perhaps a broadband infrastructure, maybe some theme parks with roller coasters and a few impressive castles.
Shares of Twitter Are Hitting New Lows (Bloomberg)
Shares of Twitter are hitting new lows today, down more than 3 percent to trade below $19 a share.
SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts – Hard Time Killin' Floor (Jesse's Cafe Americain)
The bubble in US financial paper continued deflating again today despite an early morning attempt to rally stocks higher.
Politics
Obama's Legacy Depends on Hillary Clinton (Bloomberg View)
Since before he took office, President Barack Obama has been compared to Ronald Reagan. His progressive supporters hoped he would move politics to the left as much as Reagan had moved it to the right. Obama’s last State of the Union address shows that this transformation remains incomplete.
That he has moved public policy in his direction is undeniable. The liberal coalition has expanded, and his party has become correspondingly bolder: His speech showed that too.
Donald Trump, Ted Cruz return to debate stage following digs by Obama (Market Watch)
If Thursday night is anything like Tuesday night, Campaign 2016’s already-shrill rhetoric could get an octave higher.
The Republican presidential contenders return to the debate stage at 9 p.m. Eastern Thursday, two days after President Barack Obama not-so-subtly ripped policies promoted by at least two of them in his final State of the Union address. In the debate, the GOP hopefuls will get a prime-time opportunity to hit back at the president and other Democratic critics, as well as sharpen their attacks on each other.
Technology
Gear for the Next Level of Mobile Games (NY Times)
With state-of-the-art graphics, enhanced functions and multiplayer options, gaming on a tablet or smartphone is not always as simple as tap and swipe anymore. That means getting the most out of mobile games can require new equipment. Here are some noteworthy recommendations.
Touch-screen controls can be tricky; one slip of the thumb and it’s game over.
Health and Life Sciences
Scientist makes case to edit embryos (BBC)
A scientist has been making her case to be the first in the UK to be allowed to genetically modify human embryos.
Dr Kathy Niakan said the experiments would provide a deeper understanding of the earliest moments of human life and could reduce miscarriages.
The regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), will consider her application on Thursday.
This self-healing ‘gel’ is stiff like a sugar cube (Futurity)
Scientists have created a new composite material that is half liquid, but it doesn’t leak when cracked.
And it can quickly heal, over and over. Like a sponge, it returns to its original form after compression.
The material called SAC (for self-adaptive composite) consists of what amounts to sticky, micron-scale rubber balls that form a solid matrix. Researchers at Rice University made SAC by mixing two polymers and a solvent that evaporates when heated, leaving a porous mass of gooey spheres.
Life on the Home Planet
The Good News on Global Warming: We've Delayed the Next Ice Age (Bloomberg)
Global warming caused by fossil fuel emissions is blamed by scientists for intensifying storms, raising sea levels and prolonging droughts. Now there’s growing evidence of a positive effect: we may have delayed the next ice age by 100,000 years or more.
The conditions necessary for the onset of a new ice age were narrowly missed at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research near Berlin wrote Wednesday in the journal Nature.
A Legionnaires' Disease Outbreak in Flint (The Atlantic)
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder announced Wednesday that Flint, Michigan, and the surrounding Genesse County have seen a spike in Legionnaires’ disease over the past year, killing 10 people and compounding the area’s growing water-supply crisis.
