Financial Markets and Economy
Economic Growth in U.S. Cracking Under Strain of Global Slowdown (Bloomberg)
The U.S. may not be immune from the global slowdown after all.
Citigroup, Wells Fargo gird for loan losses as oil price dives (Business Insider)
U.S. banks stockpiled their defenses against rising loan losses on Friday as oil prices dived below $30 a barrel and global equity markets fell sharply.
FX Traders, Take Heart: Even Keynes Lost His Shirt (Bloomberg View)
Currency markets almost bankrupted the greatest economist of his generation.
Global markets have had an absolutely terrible week (Quartz)
After a brief respite yesterday (Jan. 14), global stocks have gone right back into a nosedive. The S&P 500 is off about 2.3% in early trading, and another poor performance would cap what has been a rotten week around the globe. “Sell everything,” indeed.
Woeful earnings threaten to intensify stock-market bloodbath (Market Watch)
The prospect of four straight quarters of earnings declines is staring investors in the face on top of the worst multiweek selloff for stocks in years, and the worst start of the year ever.
Oil Prices Have Never Been Cheaper Compared With Gold: Chart (Bloomberg)
By one measure, oil prices have never been cheaper.
New census data reveal the fastest growing states in the US (Business Insider)
The Census Bureau says the US population increased 0.79% from July 2014 to July 2015. North Dakota was the biggest gainer for a fourth straight year on a percentage basis as its population rose 2.3%. Florida saw the biggest change in population, adding 365,703 people. Meanwhile, West Virginia's population fell 0.25% to pace the decliners.
Stock Market Ends Sharply Lower as Worries About Economy Surface (NY Times)
It may be time for everyone to take the markets seriously again.
As stock prices started tumbling in the first trading days of the year, many Wall Street professionals were tempted to describe the declines as the sort of adjustment that the market has gone through in recent years before moving higher.
These are the worst S&P 500 stocks of 2016 (Market Watch)
Equity investors have taken it on the chin this year, as the S&P 500 Index is down 8.7%, following last year’s decline of 0.7%.
U.S. Junk Bond ETFs Fall to Lowest Level Since 2009 as Oil Drops (Bloomberg)
Exchange-traded funds that hold U.S. junk bonds dropped to their lowest levels since 2009 as the global growth fears that clobbered stock markets also raised doubts about whether companies’ would continue to generate as much cash to pay their debt obligations.
This is the biggest mistake investors can make right now (Business Insider)
Markets all over the world have been getting rocked, and it would be easy for investors to hit the panic button and sell their stocks.
Big mistake, say the veterans.
History shows that panicking during bouts of volatility is the most classic mistake an investor can make.
U.S. Stocks Extend Worst Start on Record With Weekly Tumble (Bloomberg)
The cost of being a bull on New Year’s has never been higher.
Oil Price Falls as Global Growth Anxiety Weighs on Markets (NY Times)
Global markets sank sharply on Friday as crude dipped below$30 a barrel on concerns about China and a potential flood of new oil from Iran.
The recent turmoil, across stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies, reflects investors’ growing anxiety about global growth. The swirl of forces are interconnected, so the volatility in one area can quickly spread to other countries and other markets.
Here's how the best-performing hedge fund of 2016 is crushing it (Business Insider)
Horseman Capital Management, the London-based hedge fund led by Russell Clark, is the best-performing hedge fund in 2016.
Horseman Global, a $965 million fund comanaged by Clark and Bobby Turnbull, is up 10.49% through Wednesday, according to HSBC.
Buffett on track to lose $2 billion in Friday rout (Yahoo! Finance)
Warren Buffett is having a VERY bad day.
S&P Cut Spurs Worst Slump in Polish Currency Since 2011: Chart (Bloomberg)
Polands zloty extended declines by 1.5 percent within 20 minutes of Standard & Poors downgrading the countrys credit by one level.
Big investors see lousy U.S. environment but no 2008-style collapse (Business Insider)
With signs of a bear market in U.S. stocks emerging, some of the world's biggest investors say the buying opportunity is not here yet and instead believe further drops of 10 to 20 percent are a possibility.
However, they do not envision a repeat of a 2008-style crash, even if stocks are in for more pain in coming months.
HSBC Says Be Cautious When Owning One of Wall Street's Most Beloved Sectors (Bloomberg)
If HSBC is the doctor, it just labeled the health-care sector as high risk.
Oil rig count drops by one (Bloomberg)
One oil rig went offline in the US this week, according to data from driller Baker Hughes.
The yield-curve indicator is not flashing…yet (Morning Star)
Wall Street is at its gloomiest since 2009. China's slowdown, plummeting commodity prices, and flattening corporate profits have frayed nerves. Star bond-fund manager Jeff Gundlach stated late last year that if oil prices got down to $40 per barrel, that would indicate that "something is very, very wrong with the world." Oil's price as I write this is $30.14. Royal Bank of Scotland went further, issuing the direst client warning I have ever seen from a mainstream investment firm. RBS says that 2016 "looks like 2008." It advises to "sell (mostly) everything."
Top Precious-Metals Forecasters Say Forget Gold, Go to Palladium (Bloomberg)
Investors may not want to get too used to this months surprise rally in gold.
Growth funds dumping Apple stock as iPhone sales seen sagging; value-managers moving in (Business Insider)
Major U.S. growth mutual funds have been among the largest sellers of Apple Inc <AAPL.O> shares over the past six months, fueling speculation that the company’s days of supercharged growth have come to an end.
Amid concerns that iPhone sales may be set to drop, the $77.3 billion American Funds Capital World Growth & Income Fund <CWGIX.O> has sold all of its 1.7 million Apple shares since the end of June, according to Lipper data. The $9.3 billion Hartford Capital Appreciation Fund <ITHAX.O> sold 1.4 million shares over the same period, reducing its position by 91 percent.
Fed: Industrial Production decreased 0.4% in December (Calculated Risk)
Industrial production declined 0.4 percent in December, primarily as a result of cutbacks for utilities and mining.
Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts – Metals Rally, Miners Spanked on Stock Option Expiry (Jesse's Cafe Americain)
Gold managed to hold a rally around 1090 and silver at 14 almost on the nose.
Some of the miners were spanked, in what could have been related to the January stock option expiry. Or not.
Politics
But as is their wont, the right wing has cleverly decided to use a postmodern approach to reinterpret this constitutional right as a license to impose their own beliefs on others. Just as the Second Amendment is now used to inhibit the exercise of the First Amendment, radical right-wing legal strategists have devised a plan to use the First Amendment to impose their religious beliefs on their fellow Americans. They cleverly call it a crusade for “religious liberty” when it is, in fact, an attempt to deny individuals the right to live their lives free from religious coercion.
Putin's Pointers for U.S. Democracy (Bloomberg View)
It may seem funny to Americans when the rulers of Russia speak in condescending terms about the workings of U.S. democracy. Many laughed along when Hillary Clinton joked that President Vladimir Putin's ability to "stand up and say 'I will be your next president'" had "a certain attraction to it." Yet recent criticisms of the U.S. system by Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov could be food for thought.
A New York State of Patriotism (The Atlantic)
At a key moment in the GOP presidential debate on Thursday night, Ted Cruz criticized Donald Trump for his “New York values.” When pressed by the moderator to define the term, Cruz stopped short of insulting the entire Empire State. But he noted pointedly that “not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan.”
Trump’s rejoinder was effective, all the more so for being predictable: He invoked 9/11—“the smell of death” in the streets—and the spirit of the New Yorkers who came together to rebuild the city. He spoke with feeling, and he pretty deftly closed off Cruz’s line of attack.
Technology
Watch The ATLAS Robot Do Simple Chores Slowly (Popular Science)
With an electronic tether descending from the ceiling above, the ATLAS robot at the the Institute for Human & Machine Cognition (IHMC) in Florida looks like a cybernautic riff on an old deep sea diver. Initially developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is one of the most advanced humanoid robots in the world, recently placing second in the DARPA Robotics Challenge. And yet, it still can’t figure out how to hold a broom quite right.
iPhone 'Night Mode' Will Transform Your Health (Forbes)
A feature in the next version of Apple’s mobile operating system will improve health by helping you sleep better.
Night Shift for iOS 9.3 filters light from electronic displays so it won’t disrupt your body clock. Based on the time and location, an iPhone or iPad will shift on-screen color away from blue when it’s dark outside.
Health and Life Sciences
Drug cuts marijuana use, but comes with nasty side effects (Futurity)
Combining the drug topiramate with psychological counseling curbs marijuana use among young smokers significantly more than counseling alone, according to new small study. But the results come with a caveat: Many study volunteers couldn’t tolerate the side effects.
There is no FDA-approved medication for treating cannabis dependence and misuse. And the benefits of counseling treatment, such as motivational enhancement therapy (MET), aren’t enough to help many patients, researchers say.
Potatoes and Pregnancy (NY Times)
A new study suggests that the more potatoes in a woman’s typical diet, the more likely she is to develop gestational diabetes, a serious complication of pregnancy.
In a 10-year study, researchers found 854 cases of gestational diabetes in 21,693 pregnancies among women participating in a larger health study. The women completed food questionnaires every four years, which gave the researchers a picture of their long-term habitual diet.
Life on the Home Planet
To fight homegrown terrorism, U.S. police must build trust (Futurity)
A new report says the United States needs to expand community policing efforts to fight violent extremism at home—and to keep those efforts separate from police counterterrorism programs.
Building trust with Muslim-Americans will be a key challenge, according to the analysis.
