Financial Markets and Economy
Stock Exchange Prices Grow So Convoluted Even Traders Are Confused, Study Finds (NY Times)
Computer-driven American stock markets have become so complex that at any moment in time more than 800 different pricing possibilities are being offered to trading firms across 12 official exchanges, according to new research attempting to explain the tangled system.
Currency Volatility Drops to 1-Month Low as Economic Data Shift (Bloomberg)
Foreign-exchange volatility fell to the lowest in a month as U.S. economic data assuaged concern about a slowdown in the world’s largest economy.
U.S. economic activity expanded, but conditions mixed: Fed (Business Insider)
U.S. economic activity continued to expand in most districts from early January to late February but conditions varied considerably across regions and within sectors, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday.
EM Looks Terrible—Time To Buy (ETF)
From 2008 through 2015, the S&P 500 Index returned 6.5% per year, providing a total return of 66%. During the same period, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index lost 2.8% a year, providing a total return of -21%. It managed to underperform the S&P 500 Index by 9.3 percentage points a year, and posted a total return underperformance gap of 87 percentage points.
There's a bull market in uncertainty (Business Insider)
It's been a volatile start to 2016 for the markets and the only thing we seem to know for sure is that no one knows anything.
Gold’s ‘golden cross’ is not a golden ticket for bulls (Market Watch)
Gold prices produced a rare bullish “golden cross” technical pattern this week, the first of its kind in over 1 1/2 years, but it might be flashing more of a yellow light than green for gold bulls.
Seeing Economic Patterns That Don't Exist (Bloomberg View)
What if history moves in big, slow waves? What if patterns of growth and decline, or equality and inequality unfold over decades or centuries? Can we observe these waves and make history into a science? The answer is probably “no.”
I’m not saying that no such patterns exist. They might! But if they do, it will be very difficult to prove. Instead, we may end up getting fooled by random movements in the stock market, the economy or whatever it is we’re looking at.
Asia Stock Rally Continues as Oil Holds Above $34; Ringgit Gains (Bloomberg)
Asian stocks extended gains at levels last seen at the start of the year as crude oil maintained its rally, while bonds in the region declined after a run of data burnished optimism over the U.S. economy.
Charting the Only Two Dow Stocks at Fresh New 52 Week Highs (Afraid to Trade)
Despite all the bearishness and selling we’ve had in the broader US Stock Market, only two Dow Jones stocks carved out fresh new 52-week highs as we begin March 2016.
It Just Got Even Harder to Trust Financial Advisers (Bloomberg)
There's a phrase no one wants to read in a sweeping report about the financial advisers who handle their savings: economy-wide misconduct.
Chinese financial players shake up Hong Kong office market (Business Insider)
Mainland Chinese financial institutions have expanded their physical footprint in Hong Kong's prime business district at their fastest pace in five years, driving up rents and underscoring how Beijing's policies are reshaping the city.
Oil and Gas Drillers in the U.S. Ready to Party Like It's 1859 (Bloomberg)
The energy business in the U.S. is about to travel 150 years back in time.
Politics
Republican Race Begins for Carson's Voters (Bloomberg View)
Ben Carson has finally dropped out of the Republican presidential race. He won eight delegates and peaked at 11 percent of the vote in Alaska, of all places.
Carson’s campaign succeeded in one way, at least: using the publicity of a presidential run to raise millions of dollars in donations from the conservative marketplace. (The candidate himself broke off the campaign trail at the height of his popularity to sell some books.)
How Donald Trump Can Beat Hillary Clinton (The Atlantic)
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s Super Tuesdays put them on a collision course this fall. Betting markets make Clinton the strong favorite, given Trump’s high unfavorables, his incendiary comments about minorities, and the fact that members of his own party seem eager to disavow him. But Trump’s strengths and grand strategy make him considerably more dangerous in a general election than people seem to think.
Technology
The Next Trillion Dollar Tech Business? (James Altucher)
Back in the ’90s, my dream was to go to graduate school to learn about virtual reality.
Virtual reality was just beginning then. My dream job: to build an AI-based model of emotions so that the characters you find in a virtual reality could respond to you with “real” emotions.
What Happens When Global Trade Goes Virtual (Bloomberg View)
You remember globalization, right? It was huge back in the 1990s and 2000s. Worldwide trade in goods and services grew and grew. So did financial flows.
Health and Life Sciences
How A High-Fat Diet Can Increase Cancer Risk (Forbes)
The fact that our diets affect our risk for various diseases is not new–in fact, science has shown that what we eat is linked to everything from diabetes to dementia to cancer. Colon cancer is one that’s known to be especially dependent upon what we put in our bodies and to body weight. And now, a new study in Nature discovers more about why a high-fat diet is linked to colon cancer risk–it has to do with how stem cells in the gut accrue molecular damage over time. This is not at all a suggestion to cut out fat, but perhaps more a reminder to keep an eye on fats, and to choose the ones we do eat wisely.
Life on the Home Planet
This futuristic 'vertical village' is like a jungle stretching 36 stories into the sky (Business Insider)
The organic, curvilinear designs of an Avatar universe may be closer than we think.
Indian agroecologist Amlankusum and Paris-based Vincent Callebaut Architectures have released plans for a vertical "eco-neighborhood" called the Jaypee Green Sports City. The compound, which would theoretically be built outside of New Delhi, is named "Hyperions" and consists of a set of six 36-story towers connected by common green spaces, walkways, and shared eco-conscious utilities.
Stephen Curry Is Not a Human Being (Slate)
I love LeBron James, but I can understand if you don’t. He’s the best athlete of his generation, the smartest player in the NBA, and a fantastic teammate. He’s also big and burly and runs over people. He flops and whines. Leaving Cleveland for Miami wasn’t really a dick move. But it was kind of a dick move.
Or, to put it another way: LeBron James is a human being. He is not Michael Jordan, who won all of the championships he was supposed to win.
