Financial Markets and Economy
Where the S&P 500 Becomes Cheap (Ritholtz)
Stocks look “too cheap to ignore” once the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index falls to between 16.5 to 17 times earnings, John Stoltzfus, Oppenheimer & Co.’s chief market strategist, wrote Monday in a report. When the S&P 500 set this year’s low on Feb. 11, the price-earnings ratio dropped to the bottom of that range.
This SAC Alum Stands Out in Hedge Fund Rankings (Bloomberg)
Call them Cohen cubs.
Yahoo’s Decision to Explore a Sale Exposes a Weak Board (NY Times)
It’s hard to believe, but after all these years, the Yahoo board is still a contender for America’s worst corporate board.
Pfizergan Discount Looks Increasingly Odd (Bloomberg)
It's a bit self-serving for a CEO to call weakness in his company's stock price "baffling," as Allergan CEO Brent Saunders did on the company's fourth quarter earnings call Monday. But Saunders may have had a point.
JPMorgan's ‘London Whale’ Surfaces to Say '12 Loss Not His Fault (Bloomberg)
Bruno Iksil, the former JPMorgan Chase & Co. trader who became known as the “London Whale” as his unit began generating more than $6.2 billion in losses in 2012, surfaced on Monday to say he isn’t responsible for the debacle.
Is Today's Market More Volatile Than in the Past? (Fool)
"With the bigger presence of media talking about the markets and the hyperactivity of trading by computers, do you see this higher volatility as a more permanent reality for the markets?"
A great move in the S&P 500 but like running in place (Dragonfly Capital)
You know when you used to go to the gym back in January as part of your New Year’s resolution. You would try some of the weight machines and classes but always end up back on the treadmill. There you start by walking and it is hard at first, ready to quit. But then you get a rhythm and start really rolling. You got a strong workout and put up some great stats, but despite the mini computer saying you ran 5 miles you were the same place as when you got on the machine.
Shared delusions (The Research Puzzle)
It shouldn’t be too controversial to say that an investment program ought to be grounded on reasonable expectations. Asset owners and the asset managers who serve as their agents should proceed together with realistic notions of the possible outcomes — and the probable ones.
What Happens To Stocks After They Make A Big Comeback? (The Irrelevant Investor)
The S&P 500 is now positive in February, after being down 6.7% earlier in the month. Although this slight gain can quickly evaporate (and has as I’m typing), I wanted to see if a theme emerged when stocks behaved this way.
JPMorgan Trading Revenue Tumbled 20% So Far in 2016, Pinto Says (Bloomberg)
JPMorgan Chase & Co.s investment bank has seen revenue from sales and trading drop about 20 percent so far in 2016 from a year earlier, according to the divisions chief, Daniel Pinto.
Politics
Why I'm more worried about Marco Rubio than Donald Trump (Vox)
When not delighting in the epic meltdown of establishment Republican Party politics, many people I know — my wife, my boss, etc. — are expressing terror at the notion that Donald Trump might actually become president of the United States.
I'm more sanguine. Not out of any particular love for Trump, but because he's actually running on a much less extreme agenda than his "establishment" rival Marco Rubio, who's offering a platform of economic ruin, multiple wars, and an attack on civil liberties that's nearly as vicious as anything Trump has proposed — even while wrapping it in an edgy, anxious, overreaction-prone approach to politics that heavily features big risky bets and huge, unpredictable changes in direction.
The Megatrends Trump and Sanders Misunderstand (Bloomberg View)
To hear Donald Trump tell it, the biggest problems with the U.S. economy can be stopped at the border, where immigrants and cheap foreign goods threaten American livelihoods. Or to hear Bernie Sanders tell it, the source of the middle-class's affliction is a powerful Wall Street and K Street oligarchy.
Technology
You Can Now Play Laser Tag With Your Smartphone (Popular Science)
I can't find a single person who hates laser tag. I've asked a bunch of people, and they all get excited about it. Whether it's the fact that you get to point a fake gun at another human being with no remorse, or just an affinity for neon, laser tag is nearly universally regarded as awesome.
Watch the Next Generation Atlas Robot Get Bullied By A Mean Human (And Stay On His Feet) (Gizmodo)
Boston Dynamics has a new video showing off the latest version of Atlas—the badass humanoid robot. And it’s pretty incredible. The most striking thing about this new version is the amazing balance Atlas achieves. I’ve never seen a humanoid robot with this kind of agility.
Health and Life Sciences
How To Change Your Brain For The Better (Forbes)
Our personalities, thought patterns and emotional responses are wired into our brains, says Richard Davidson, Ph.D., author of The Emotional Life of Your Brain, but you can change your brain. Here are several exercises that will help rewire the neural pathways to help you think more positively, become more self-aware, focus better, understand social cues, ease your emotional triggers and grow more resilient.
If you'd like to have a more positive outlook, Davidson suggests filling your home and workspace with upbeat reminders of happy times, like photos of your family or vacations. So that you don't habituate to them, he also suggests to change the photos every few weeks.
Life on the Home Planet
Climate change blamed for fastest sea rise in 28 centuries (Futurity)
Global sea level rose faster in the 20th century than in any of the 27 previous centuries, a new analysis shows.
Fukushima: Five Years Later (Popular Science)
A 50-foot wall of water spawned by the quake exploded over Daiichi’s seawall, swamping backup diesel generators. Four of six nuclear reactors on-site experienced a total blackout. In the days that followed, three of them melted down, spewing enormous amounts of radiation into the air and sea in what became the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
Ten Million Cats Show How Big Japan's Aging Problem Is: Chart (Bloomberg)
The number of cats kept as pets is on the way to overtaking that of dogs in Japan, while the number of children continues to drop steadily.
A British tech entrepreneur is selling his New York City townhouse for $26 million (Business Insider)
British tech entrepreneur Jos White has just listed a four-bedroom townhouse for $26 million, reports the Wall Street Journal.
White, currently a partner at Notion Capital, bought the light-filled home on a quiet, tree-lined block in Greenwich Village for $7.25 million back in 2009. Originally built in 1915, the three-story building has an English flare and quirky interior touches, like a disco ball in the master bedroom.
