Financial Markets and Economy
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Asian shares slip on worries about a fragile global recovery (Reuters)
Asian shares slipped on Thursday as a fragile recovery in volatile crude oil unraveled, reviving anxiety about the health of the global economy, and Chinese shares skidded.
Another Oil Crash Is Coming, and There May Be No Recovery (Bloomberg)
It’s time for oil investors to start taking electric cars seriously.
US Financial Stress Increases To 4-Year High (Capital Spectator)
Financial stress in the US continues to trend upward, according to four benchmarks published by Federal Reserve banks. The numbers overall suggest that stress in the financial system is at the highest level in three to four years, depending on the index.
Dilemma for U.S. Farmers: Which Crop Will Lose the Least Money? (Bloomberg)
For farmers who grow some of the biggest U.S. crops, choosing what to plant this year has become a bet on which one will lose less money.
Silver Run raises $450 million in IPO to buy energy companies (Reuters)
Silver Run Acquisition Corp SRAQU.O, a new U.S. investment vehicle, raised a greater-than-expected $450 million in an initial public offering on Tuesday aimed at funding the acquisition of energy companies, indicating investors see bargains amid the oil price rout.
Brazil Cut To Junk By All Three Ratings Agencies After Moody's Joins The Fray (Zero Hedge)
Back in December we warned that Brazil faced a "disastrous downgrade debacle" that would eventually see the beleaguered South American nation cut to junk by all three major ratings agencies.
Low oil prices may signal end of economic weakness, not beginning (Market Watch)
Contrary to the popular narrative that a drop in oil prices is presaging a global economic meltdown, the drop in crude may actually be signaling the opposite, that the worst is already behind us, according to one market strategist.
Who Will Buy Yahoo? (Fortune)
Yahoo Inc. is on the block. Again.
The last time we went through this was in 2011, when several private equity firms kicked the tires pretty hard, but ultimately bounced off. This time the board seems more serious, however, last week announcing the creation of an independent committee to explore strategic alternatives. So let’s lay some odds on the reported suitors, for a takeover of Yahoo’s core Internet assets that sources believe could be worth anywhere from $3.5 billion to $6.5 billion.
Short Sellers Circle Woolworths Before Profit Report: Chart (Bloomberg)
Short selling shares of Woolworths Ltd. has been a profitable strategy in the past year as the stock tumbled 35 percent.
The Absurdity of What Investors See Each Day (Fool)
A few months ago I interviewed Ronan Ryan. He's the chief strategy officer at IEX, the trading system profiled in Michael Lewis's book Flash Boys.
Ronan understands the plumbing of how stocks are traded better than anyone I've met. He told a great story of how absurd trading has become.
Hedge Funds: What Are They Good For? (CDA Institute)
Absolutely nothing.
Surprisingly weak economic reading sends stocks, yields diving (Market Watch)
Stocks and Treasury yields plunged Wednesday after an early indicator suggested the services sector had a surprisingly weak February.
Can Things Get Any Worse for Russia? You're About to Find Out (Bloomberg)
For a decade, Dmitri Barinov has been following the volatile economy of his homeland from the safe distance of Union Investment’s offices in Frankfurt. Last year, as other money managers were steering clear of Russia’s broken economy, the Moscow-born Barinov pulled off something of a coup: He persuaded his bosses to take the plunge and buy Russian government bonds. It was a narrow bet, but he ended up winning because the central bank—after implementing the biggest interest rate hike since the Russian financial crisis in 1998 to prop up the collapsing ruble—changed course and aggressively backtracked.
Politics
Why Clinton Is Connecting With Black Voters—and Sanders Isn't (The Atlantic)
Everyone agrees that African Americans are the pivotal demographic in Saturday’s South Carolina Democratic primary. But the Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton campaigns are working to court that group in sharply divergent ways. It’s the difference between huge rallies and small gatherings. Upstate versus Pee Dee. Anecdote versus abstraction.
Trump or Rubio: Now Place Your Bets (Bloomberg View)
One version of the current thinking about the Republican presidential nomination is that things are moving perfectly for Donald Trump. He has three victories now and a close second in the four states that have voted. He’s ahead in polls in many states, and leading big in national polls. This hasn’t changed in months, and there’s no reason to expect it to change soon.
Romney: ‘Good Reason To Believe That There’s a Bombshell In Donald Trump’s Taxes’ (Breitbart)
Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney stated that Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump, Texas Senator Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Florida Senator Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), ought to release their taxes for “the last two years that have already been filed” and that there’s “good reason to believe that there’s a bombshell in Donald Trump’s taxes” on Wednesday’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto” on the Fox News Channel.
Technology
We tried 'Bioweapon Defense Mode' on the Tesla Model X (Business Insider)
One of the cooler features for the Tesla Model X SUV that was announced when the vehicle launched last year is "Bioweapon Defense Mode."
Effectively, this turns cabin air filtration up to 11, according to Tesla. CEO Elon Musk touted the feature prominently at the Model X launch presentation, perhaps because in polluted China — a big potential growth market for Tesla — major-league air-cleansing will be a huge selling point.
Apple will finally bring Siri to Mac with this year's OS X 10.12 (Apple Insider)
Citing unnamed sources, 9 to 5 mac reported on Wednesday that OS X 10.12 will feature a Siri button in the Mac's menu bar. Clicking on it will bring up a prompt in the upper right corner of the screen, allowing a user to speak a command to their Mac.
Health and Life Sciences
How Exercise May Lower Cancer Risk (NY Times)
The relationship between exercise and cancer has long both intrigued and puzzled oncologists and exercise physiologists.
Exercise is strongly associated with lowered risks for many types of cancer. In epidemiological studies, people who regularly exercise generally prove to be much less likely to develop or die from the disease than people who do not. At the same time, exercise involves biological stress, which typically leads to a short-term increase in inflammation throughout the body.
Cognition Link Gives You One More Reason To Eat Chocolate (Forbes)
Like coffee, chocolate has enjoyed some deliciously positive scientific attention in recent years. Studies have linked it to heart health and to brain health–and now, a new one finds that it’s linked to better cognition in those who eat it regularly. And this seems to be independent of other dietary habits, so that eating chocolate is connected with cognition even if people’s diets are otherwise not so great.
Life on the Home Planet
The Sexual Misery of the Arab World (NY Times)
AFTER Tahrir came Cologne. After the square came sex. The Arab revolutions of 2011 aroused enthusiasm at first, but passions have since waned. Those movements have come to look imperfect, even ugly: For one thing, they have failed to touch ideas, culture, religion or social norms, especially the norms relating to sex. Revolution doesn’t mean modernity.
Over Half The Earth Could Have Extreme Heat Waves Yearly By 2075 (Popular Science)
Things are heating up. With climates around the world still changing, deadly heat waves are becoming more common, especially in places like the Middle East which are already struggling with scorching summers. And the forecast isn't looking all that cool for other places either.
Fukushima meltdown alert 'was delayed' (BBC)
The operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant hit by a tsunami in 2011 has admitted that it should have announced sooner that there was a nuclear meltdown at the site.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company denied the meltdown for two months.
