Financial Markets and Economy
Global trade is worse than it was during the financial crisis (Business Insider)
"It is worse than in 2008. The oil price is as low as its lowest point in 2008-09 and has stayed there for a long time and doesn't look like going up soon. Freight rates are lower. The external conditions are much worse."
Bond Investors Looking Out for Stimulus Hint in Draghi Testimony (Bloomberg)
Investors will look next week for a whiff of confirmation from Mario Draghi that they weren’t wrong to push bond yields to record lows in anticipation of fresh stimulus from the European Central Bank.
This chart shows a major change in the way Americans eat (Business Insider)
Americans like to eat out. A lot.
China Lunar New Year holiday retail sales up 11.2 percent year-on-year (Business Insider)
China's retail sales grew 11.2 percent during the week-long Lunar New Year vacation compared with the same holiday period last year, Ministry of Commerce data showed on Saturday.
Revenues of retailers and catering firms grew to about 754 billion yuan ($115 billion) during the Feb 7-13 "Golden Week" holiday, a ministry statement said.
It keeps getting harder to argue the US economy is entering recession (Business Insider)
The "recession" argument keeps losing credibility.
This week’s market bloodbath shows it’s time for governments to do what central banks cannot (Quartz)
After the Great Recession, central banks undertook extraordinary efforts, but with un-extraordinary results.
The US Federal Reserve first backstopped the entire financial system, then printed trillions in reserves and pushed down long-term interest rates. Mario Draghi’s ECB did “whatever it takes” to preserve the euro by buying billions worth of government bonds. And the Bank of Japan’s aggressive monetary policy served as a cornerstone of “Abenomics” by weakening the yen to supercharge exporters.
Tesla Will Get Trampled by the Mass Market (Bloomberg View)
When Tesla confirmed that it will sell its new Model 3 for as little as $35,000 — $25,000 with government subsidies — it seemed like a step toward realizing the "secret master plan" that founder Elon Musk laid out a decade ago: "To enter at the high end of the market, where customers are prepared to pay a premium, and then drive down market as fast as possible to higher unit volume and lower prices with each successive model."
Dividends, Wall Street’s Battered Status Symbol (NY Times)
Companies are cutting their once sacrosanct dividends, leaving investors to determine whether they’re just being prudent or may be in serious trouble.
Politics
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia found dead at West Texas ranch (MySanAntonio)
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead of apparent natural causes Saturday on a luxury resort in West Texas, federal officials said.
Justice Scalia's Death and Implications for the 2016 Election, the Supreme Court and the Nation (Election Law Blog)
Justice Antonin Scalia has died in Texas at the age of 79. Let me begin with condolences to his family, friends, and former clerks who were fiercely loyal to him (and he to them). Whatever you thought of Justice Scalia’s politics and jurisprudence, he was an American patriot, who believed in the greatness of the United States and in the strength of American courts to protect the Constitution’s values as he has seen them. He also wrote the most entertaining and interesting opinions of any Justice on the Court.
Wild GOP debate repeatedly goes off the rails as candidates shred each other on stage (Business Insider)
Donald Trump went after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) late in Saturday night's CBS Republican debate while arguing about Trump's more liberal past.
Cruz said Trump was "very liberal" on social issues, causing Trump to fire back that Cruz was the "single biggest liar."
Europe's Convinced U.S. Won't Solve Its Problems (Bloomberg View)
Europe is facing a convergence of the worst crises since World War II, and the overwhelming consensus among officials and experts here is that the U.S. no longer has the will or the ability to play an influential role in solving them.
Trump's America (Wall Street Journal)
There’s nothing irrational about Donald Trump’s appeal to the white working class, writes Charles Murray: They have every reason to be frustrated with the raw deal they’ve received in recent decades.
If you are dismayed by Trumpism, don’t kid yourself that it will fade away if Donald Trump fails to win the Republican nomination.
Technology
The life-size BB-8 is real and you can get one this year (Mashable)
The rumored life-size BB-8 droid from Star Wars: The Force Awakens is real, everyone, and you’ll be able to roll it around your house later this year.
Health and Life Sciences
Stress Raises Cholesterol More Than You Think (Wall Street Journal)
Christopher Edginton was taking medication and trying to improve his diet when his cholesterol shot up anyway four years ago.
His doctor suggested a new approach. “He said you’ve got to get rid of some things you’re doing, some of the stresses in your life,” recalls Mr. Edginton, a professor at the University of Northern Iowa who regularly traveled internationally and had so many job titles that he had a four-sided folding business card.
Your Brain May Work Differently in Winter Than Summer? (Live Science)
The way your brain works may vary from season to season, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that when people in the study did certain cognitive tasks, the ways that the brain utilizes its resources to complete those tasks changed with the seasons.
Life on the Home Planet
Polluted air 'causes 5.5m deaths a year' (BBC)
More than 5.5 million people worldwide are dying prematurely every year as a result of air pollution, according to new research.
Most of these deaths are occurring in the rapidly developing economies of China and India.
The drinking straw is the most wasteful product in America (City Pages)
Hey, I don't mean to pry, but I couldn't help noticing you're drinking with a straw. Two, actually, those tiny bar ones that don't give you more than a sip at a time.
You ever wonder why we drink from straws? We've got a hand, and a jaw, and a mouth. So what's the straw for? I didn't ask for a straw. You didn't ask for a straw, did you? No one here did.
