News You Can Use From Phil’s Stock World

Financial Markets and Economy

Risk rally fades as stocks slip back into the red? (Reuters)

The recovery in riskier assets fizzled out on Tuesday as stocks, oil and the value of China's yuan currency reversed some of their recent rise, a shift that benefited safe-haven assets like the Japanese yen and gold.

Hedge fund investors back equity long-short for 2016: survey (Business Insider)

Equity funds that can profit from both rising and falling markets and rivals betting on macroeconomic trends are expected to outperform in 2016, a Deutsche Bank survey of investors managing $2.1 trillion in assets showed.

When asked to name their three top strategy picks for the year, 40 percent of 504 global hedge fund investors surveyed backed the so-called fundamental equity long-short strategy to lead the performance charts.

FTSE 100 yanked lower as BHP Billiton, oil prices lose ground (Market Watch)

U.K. shares fell Tuesday, slumping for a third session in four, with losses in shares of market heavyweights BHP Billiton PLC and Standard Chartered PLC underscoring festering worries about the health of mining and financial companies.

Best Mid-Cap Fund Manager Sees Korea Winning Battery Trade War (Bloomberg)

The manager of South Korea’s best mid-cap equity fund sees the nation’s battery makers overcoming "protectionism" by China to become stock-market stars this year.

Global Shares Waver as Commodity Prices Slip (Wall Street Journal)

Global stocks edged lower Tuesday after commodity prices retreated from a recent bounce that had spurred a rally in equity markets.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.4% halfway though the session as industrial metals fell and mining companies returned some of Monday’s gains.

Standard Chartered Posts a $2.36 Billion Loss for 2015 (NY Times)

Standard Chartered, an Asia-focused bank based in London, reported on Tuesday an unexpectedly large loss of $2.36 billion for 2015 — the latest in a series of weak performances by global banks — after being pummeled by its exposure to emerging markets and bad loans.

The bank posted a pretax loss of $1.52 billion for 2015, compared with a pretax profit of $4.24 billion the year before, and it confirmed that it would not pay a final dividend for 2015.

All oil price gains are sinking into the abyss (Business Insider)

The oil markets are giving up the gains they posted over the last 24 hours.

U.S. stock futures retreat as oil drops (Market Watch)

U.S. stock futures pointed to a dip at the open Tuesday, with the Dow industrials poised to give back part of Monday’s 229-point gain.

The Divergence Of Small Value (The Irrelevant Investor)

When most investors think about different style boxes, whether it’s large cap growth stocks or small cap value stocks, they probably just take the label at face value. However, if you dig a little deeper, you’ll notice that just because funds share the same name, does not mean they are the same thing. In the graph below, you’ll see three different versions of small cap value stocks.

Why Oil Producers Will Be Over a Barrel for a Long Time Yet (Wall Street Journal)

Oil prices may have rallied on a new International Energy Agency forecast fordemand to erode the excess supply next year and hopes exporters will soon agree to tighten the spigots, but producers shouldn’t get too excited.

U.S. Stock-Index Futures Decline on Renewed Concerns Over China (Bloomberg)

U.S. stock-index futures dropped, signaling equities will retreat after yesterday’s rally, on renewed concern over the Chinese economy and falling oil prices.

Google is shuttering Google Compare: Wall Street Journal (Business Insider)

Google is shuttering Google Compare, its U.S. comparison-shopping site for auto insurance, credit cards and mortgages after one year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The quick reversal is a setback to the Alphabet unit's efforts to use its enormous reach to provide consumers with niche shopping services and financial-services tools, the Journal said.

European shares backtrack from three-week high as oil slides again (Market Watch)

Stocks across Europe slipped Tuesday, pulling back from a three-week high, weighed on by a drop in oil prices and a dreary financial update from mining heavyweight BHP Billiton PLC.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index was off 0.1% at 331.55, but came off session lows as financial, industrial and consumer services shares swung higher. The index on Monday jumped 1.7% to 331.82, the highest close since Feb. 2, fueled by a rally for commodity shares as prices for oil and metals advanced.

Gold Hedging Returns as Harmony, Acacia Lock In Profit Margins (Bloomberg)

Harmony Gold Mining Co. and Acacia Mining Plc agreed to lock in profit margins at some of their African operations in a return to hedging strategies that undermined the industry during the metal’s bull run in the 2000s.

Stocks have been in rally mode — here’s what one strategist thinks is going on (Business Insider)

Investors are looking at the stock market differently.

Global stock rally stalls in Asia as oil slips again (Market Watch)

A global rally fizzled out during Asian trading hours Tuesday, with most share markets finishing in the red as oil prices slipped again.

The Shanghai Composite Index  finished down 0.8% at 2,903.33, although it held above the key 2,900 level and had been down as much as 1.8% intraday.

Standard Chartered Falls 12% as After Full-Year Pretax Profit Plunges (Bloomberg)

Bill Winters took more “painful” steps to turn around Standard Chartered Plc as the bank posted its first annual loss since 1989. The shares fell.

Politics

Rubio inherits establishment support but is on a narrow path to stop Trump (Washington Post)

Mainstream Republican donors and elected officials flocked to Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) on Monday amid a growing sense that he is the last best chance to prevent Donald Trump from running away with the ­Republican presidential nomination.

But Rubio’s path remains narrow and perilous. He has yet to win a state, and a raft of major March 1 contests known as ­“Super Tuesday” offers few obvious chances for him to do so. And if Trump keeps racking up wins, it will become more difficult to blunt his progress.

Meet the Trumpkins: The Donald’s TV Army (The Daily Beast)

Vacuuming up as much media attention as humanly possible—a key element of Donald Trump’s campaign strategy—requires an army of campaign surrogates to represent the big man in an endless stream of cable news appearances and shout-fests.

Technology

Oppo Claims It Can Fully Charge a Phone in Just 15 Minutes (Gizmodo)

Fast-charging systems are making huge jumps in speed and Oppo seems to have reached a massive milestone: It claims it can fully charge an empty smartphone battery in a mere 15 minutes.

Microsoft's HoloLens Start menu detailed in leaked video (The Verge)

Microsoft has been refining the Start menu in each version of Windows, so it makes sense that its new HoloLens operating system will include a tweaked interface. A leaked video for a new Actiongram HoloLens app has provided the best look at the new holographic Start menu so far. Referred to as the "shell," the main Start menu interface includes Live Tiles, access to Cortana, and the regular Wi-Fi, sound, and battery status.

Health and Life Sciences

Talk to Your Doctor About Ways to Trim Health Care Costs (Medicine Net Daily)

Discussing medical costs with your doctor could save you money without affecting your care, according to a new study.

"Almost half the time that costs come up in conversation, either the doctor or the patient come up with some strategy to lower the patient's out-of-pocket cost. And it doesn't take long, usually less than a minute," study author Peter Ubel said in a news release from Duke University in Durham, N.C. 

Vaginal Ring With Drug Lowers H.I.V. Rates in African Women (NY Times)

A flexible and inexpensive ring that is inserted into the vagina, where it slowly releases an antiviral drug, helped protect African women against contracting H.I.V. from their sexual partners, researchers said Monday in reports on two major studies that included more than 4,500 women.

Life on the Home Planet

Pollution link to 40,000 deaths a year (BBC)

Outdoor air pollution is contributing to about 40,000 early deaths a year in the UK, say the Royal Colleges of Physicians and of Paediatrics and Child Health.

They say diesel emissions have been poorly controlled.

Beijing to Raise Threshold on Red Alerts for Smog (NY Times)

The first red alert over air pollution in the Chinese capital almost brought this city to a standstill in December, with schools shut, construction halted and driving restricted. Now, in a swift policy shift, Beijing plans to issue a red alert based on higher thresholds, despite government pledges to better address the toxic air.

Endangered gorilla is first in UK to be born by caesarean (The Telegraph)

A rare baby gorilla has become the first in the UK to be successfully born after an emergency caesarean – performed by a leading gynaecologist.

The operation was carried out after mother Kera, a critically-endangered Western lowland gorilla, was diagnosed with life-threatening pre-eclampsia.