Financial Markets and Economy
JPMorgan Cuts S&P 500 Forecast, Citing Earnings Recession Risk (Bloomberg)
JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut its forecast for U.S. stocks by 9.1 percent, saying heightened market volatility could damage the broader economy and bring about an earnings recession.
Apple just reported the largest quarterly profit in history (Business Insider)
Apple reported $18.4 billion in profit in the holiday quarter of 2015, which is good for the biggest quarterly profit in history.
Tim Cook Blames the Dollar for Not Making More Dollars (Wired)
Today, Apple CEO Tim Cook started off an earnings call with analysts by talking about everyone’s favorite subject: foreign currency markets! Yes, we know you care more about Apple’s plan to vary the hue of your iPhone’s backlight. But Cook took pains to explain that the dollar was to blame for Apple not making more dollars.
They Could Even Buy Ketchup: Investors See No Limit to BOJ Tools (Bloomberg)
Japan stock investors, who’ve had next to nothing to cheer about in 2016, are looking for a little creativity from a familiar ally.
Two United Airlines investors raise stakes to influence company (Business Insider)
United Continental Holdings Inc <UAL.N> on Tuesday said two investment firms have raised their stakes in the airline to engage it on issues ranging from board composition to capital structure and enhancing shareholder value.
United, the second-largest U.S. airline by capacity, said Altimeter Capital Management LP has increased its ownership to 3.1 percent, while PAR Investment Partners LP has taken a 2.4 percent stake.
Traders Are Pulling Money From VIX Funds Like Never Before (Bloomberg)
While stocks are having a chaotic start to the year, investors are withdrawing money from securities that profit from higher volatility at the same time as short sellers are piling into bets that tranquility will return.
U.S. crude drops over 3 percent as focus back on supply (Business Insider)
U.S. crude oil futures dropped more than 3 percent in Asian trading on Wednesday to test the $30 a barrel level again, as profit taking wiped out most of the gains seen in the previous session linked to hopes for output cuts.
U.S. crude
lost 88 cents at $30.57 a barrel as of 2321 GMT after hitting a session-low of $30.30 a barrel. It had ended 3.7 percent, or $1.11, higher at $31.45 a barrel.
U.S. Oil Explorers Seen Reporting $14 Billion in 2015 Losses (Bloomberg)
During the next eight days, independent U.S. oil explorers are expected to report 2015 losses totaling almost $14 billion, the result of the steepest price collapse in a generation.
It's already about March — Here's what to expect from the Fed's big statement tomorrow (Business Insider)
The Federal Reserve is not likely to raise interest rates again this week.
Rather, its policy statement on Wednesday afternoon will be all about clues on how it will handle its next big decision in March.
Why China Stocks May Fall 10% More, Technically Speaking: Chart (Bloomberg)
Chinese stocks may have another 10 percent to go before they find a bottom, several technical indicators suggest.
Bill Gross says you can thank Warren Buffett for Tuesday's stock market rally (Business Insider)
Bill Gross says you can thank Warren Buffett for Tuesday's stock market rally.
Via the @JanusCapital account on Twitter, Gross said on Tuesday: "Buffett, not oil, likely cause of today's rally. $32 billion purchase of PCP closes Friday. Fresh $$."
A.I.G. Opts for Streamlining, Spurning Calls for a Breakup (NY Times)
At American International Group, big is still better, at least for now.
The insurance giant, which became the starkest example of “too big to fail” when it had to be rescued by the government during the financial crisis, is now trying to streamline itself to be more profitable and to fend off activist investors who are calling for it to be broken in three.
Equal-weight S&P 500 Continues to Reflect Risk Aversion (Stock Charts)
Among other ways, chartists can measure the risk appetite in the stock market by comparing the performance of the Equal-weight S&P 500 ETF (RSP) with the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY). RSP represents the average stock in the S&P 500 and the performance of small and mid caps. SPY represents large-caps in the S&P 500 and the performance for the largest stocks. Note that the top fifty stocks in SPY account for 48.77% of the ETF.
Traders Dump Tech ETF, Discounting Any Boost From Apple Results (Bloomberg)
Investors are fleeing technology stocks at a pace not seen in over a year, and Apple Inc.’s earnings today has done little to change their mind.
So far this month, $1.1 billion has left the largest exchange-traded fund tracking technology stocks. That puts January on pace for the biggest monthly outflow since October 2014. Short interest in the ETF also jumped last week to a four-month high, data compiled by Bloomberg and Markit Ltd. show.
Super low oil prices could be a godsend for chocolate manufacturers (Business Insider)
Low oil hasn't exactly been ideal for lots of folks.
Why a Russian-Saudi Deal on Cutting Oil Output Remains Elusive (Bloomberg)
With oil trading near $30 a barrel, calls for orchestrated output cuts to quell global oversupply have intensified this week. Trouble is, none of the worlds largest producers, most notably Russia and Saudi Arabia, have shown theyre ready to make a move.
Facebook's price-earnings ratio near record low ahead of fourth-quarter report (Yahoo! Finance)
A recent drop in Facebook Inc's stock has left the online social network trading at earnings multiples near record lows as it prepares to hand investors its fourth-quarter report. Along with fellow technology leaders Netflix Inc, Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc and Amazon.com Inc, Facebook has been among Wall Street's top stocks in recent years, but a market selloff sparked by plummeting oil prices has pulled it down 7 percent so far in 2016.
Stocks are rallying (Business Insider)
Stocks are rallying on Tuesday and the Dow is having its biggest day since early December.
Hess is slashing its capital spending and oil exploration budget by 40% from last year (Quartz)
US oil prices are suddenly on the rebound, rising more than 3% today (Jan. 26) on news that a Russia-OPEC deal to cut global production might be closer than previously thought. But that won’t be enough to undo some of the damage done to the oil industry because of low prices.
The Dollar Keeps Rising, for Good or Evil (NY Times)
Just the other day I got an email in which Ron Paul, libertarian icon, former member of Congress from Texas and father of the Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul, eagerly proclaimed that his “final prediction of a dollar collapse is about to become reality.”
Politics
Donald Trump to skip Thursday’s Republican debate (Market Watch)
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign said the GOP front-runner plans to skip the Fox News debate Thursday in Des Moines, the final one before the Iowa caucuses, in the latest turn in its long-running dispute with the TV network.
Cruz and Rubio Try Too Hard (Bloomberg View)
Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, the two candidates who are putting up the biggest fight against Donald Trump's surprise surge in Iowa, aren't supposed to have much in common. One is a hard-line right-wing maverick with a gift for alienating people; the other is an apple-polishing establishment candidate. Yet there's something they share: An inability to get people to raise their posters in the air.
Technology
How The Tech That Took Away Your Work-Life Balance Is Working To Reinstate It (Fast Company)
Chat and project-management platforms like Slack and Basecamp blurred work-life boundaries. Here's how they are putting them back.
Most of work doesn't have to be done in an office anymore. And in many situations that's a good thing. Technology enables remote work when regular routes are shut down (like during a snowstorm). Between a smartphone and home-based WiFi, most workers can at least answer email and get basic stuff done. Add a little Slack chat or Basecamp project management, and many of the daily tasks can be tackled.
Health and Life Sciences
Linking Arthritis to Old Injuries (NY Times)
The condition known as post-traumatic arthritis develops after about half the cases of traumatic joint injury. These cases make up about 12 percent of all osteoarthritis cases, according to the National Institutes of Health, making post-traumatic arthritis a leading cause of disability, especially in wounded soldiers.
Is it better to run outside or on a treadmill? (BBC)
Runners have always had a view on whether treadmill running is easier than doing it outdoors. Michael Mosley weighs up his options.
For those of us who rather optimistically made a New Year's resolution to do a bit more exercise, running is the obvious and popular option. But is it better to do your running outdoors, in the wind and rain, or to go down to your local gym and work up a sweat on the treadmill, while surreptitiously admiring your reflection in a giant mirror?
Life on the Home Planet
World’s 'doomsday' clock will stay at three minutes to midnight (The Verge)
In its symbolic look at the likelihood of armageddon, members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced today that they are keeping the world's so-called Doomsday Clock at three minutes to "midnight" — a metaphor for the end of the world as we know it. The clock has been set at 11:57PM since January 2015, when it was moved down from five minutes to destruction. It's the closest the clock has been to midnight since the Cold War in the 1980s.
Hundreds Of Armor-Clad Scots March The Streets Of Shetland (The Huffington Post)
Scotland's annual Up Helly Aa festival took place in the town of Lerwick on the Shetland Islands on Tuesday, marking the end of the yule season and midwinter's darkest days. The popular celebration of the influence of Scandinavian Vikings dates back to the 1880s and continues to attract hundreds of spectators.
