Financial Markets and Economy
One depressing chart shows just how much global growth is suffering (Business Insider)
Global growth has been a massive issue that has puzzled economists and policymakers alike in the years since the financial crisis. Growth in the Chinese economic powerhouse has slowed , and forecasts for growth in economies across the world have been cut consistently.
Global Stocks Edge Up on U.S. Data (Wall Street Journal)
U.S. stocks opened the week lower, even as global stocks inched higher, encouraged by a recent rally on Wall Street and the U.S. economic data that stoked it.
Fed's U.S. Labor Market Conditions Index Shows Weakness: Chart (Bloomberg)
The Labor Market Conditions Index being released by the Federal Reserve Monday condenses 19 different labor data points, including payrolls and unemployment, into an index that correlates strongly with the economic business cycle.
Fed’s New Bank Critic Keeps Heat On? (Wall Street Journal)
Neel Kashkari, the new president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, is positioning himself as an unlikely regulatory threat to the nation’s biggest banks.
Global Stocks Rise, Europe Rebounds As Oil Halts Decline (Zero Hedge)
In a quiet start to the week following last week's surprisingly strong rebound which followed a stronger than expected jobs report (perhaps to demonstrate that good news is once again good news), Japan stocks continued to sink as the USDJPY dropped to fresh lows, while commodities declined for a fifth day as the supply glut from crude to copper weighed on prices, dragging down commodity currencies. European equities rose, rebounding from a one-month low.
ECB to Keep Up Forceful Action on Price Risks, Praet Says (Bloomberg)
The European Central Bank will keep acting “forcefully,” if needed, to counter the risk of low inflation in the euro area becoming entrenched, Executive Board member Peter Praet said.
Global investment banking fees fall 29 percent in first-quarter, worst since 2009 (Business Insider)
Global investment banking fees fell 29 percent in the first quarter of 2016 from a year earlier as market volatility put a brake on dealmaking and equity and debt capital markets activity, Thomson Reuters data published on Monday showed.
Global fees for services ranging from merger and acquisitions advisory services to capital markets underwriting reached $16.2 billion by the end of March, the slowest first quarter for fees since 2009.
Alaska Air to buy Virgin America for $2.6 billion (Reuters)
Alaska Air Group Inc said on Monday that it would buy Virgin America Inc (VA.O) for $2.6 billion to compete more effectively with larger airlines and become the top carrier on the U.S. West Coast.
The deal appears to end what Alaska Air Chief Executive Officer Brad Tilden called a "hard-fought competition" to purchase Virgin America. JetBlue Airways Corp (JBLU.O) had also made an offer.
Ruble Declines Most in Emerging Markets as Oil Curbs March Rally (Bloomberg)
The ruble was the biggest loser among emerging-market currencies on Monday, dragged lower by falling oil prices as Societe Generale SA said investors are calling time on a rally that saw it outpace peers as energy markets stabilized through March.
The Future of Money (Two Minds)
The cartels and state organs are frantically trying to co-op, outlaw, corral or control this disruptive technology.
Iran ramped up production massively last month — and oil took a huge dive (Business Insider)
Oil took a big dive on Monday morning as Iran announced its latest figures on oil production, and a series of familiar problems weighed on the price of the world's most crucial commodity.
Huge data leak reveals the hidden wealth of the rich and famous (Engadget)
In one of the biggest data leaks ever (even larger than the NSA wires leak in 2013), Panama-based legal firm Mossack Fonseca has seen 2.6 terabytes of its private data leaked to journalists. Shared with German newspaperSuddeutsche Zeitung, it was then spread to a wider network of journalists globally — 370 reporters from 100 media organizations have looked into the leak for a year. The research has already unearthed that 12 national leaders, including monarchs, presidents and prime ministers, have been using offshore tax havens, including a $2 billion paper trail that leads to Russia's Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, FIFA's attempts to clean itself up faces fresh criticism after the leak appears to connect executives being investigated to members of the ethics committee itself.
Makers took big price increases on widely used U.S. drugs (Reuters)
Major drug companies took hefty price increases in the U.S., in some cases more than doubling listed charges, for widely used medications over the past five years, a Reuters analysis of proprietary data found.
Dont buy Facebook stock until May (Market Watch)
Investors hoping to buy shares of Facebook Inc. may want to wait until after the company reports first-quarter earnings on April 27, when one analyst predicts the stock will dip below current record highs before recovering and charging toward $145 within the year.
The Hidden Economics of Porn (The Atlantic)
Humans have been creating images of sex and genitalia for millions of years, but it is only in the past few centuries—since the 1600s, according to historians—that these representations started meeting academics’ preferred definition of pornography, which involves both the violation of taboos and the intention of arousal. The first efforts to make money off of this new endeavor could not have come long after that.
Politics
Who Will Win Wisconsin? Here Are Six Credible Predictions (Bloomberg)
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are well on their way to the magic delegate numbers they need to clinch their parties’ presidential nominations (1,237 for Republicans and 2,383 for Democrats), but a few roadblocks remain. The biggest of these, arguably, is Wisconsin, where primary voters go to the polls on Tuesday. Despite sizable delegate leads for the front-runners, many indications suggest the Badger State will go not to them but to the current runners-up, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Here's a sampling.
Bernie Sanders' ghost tweeter keeps his Brooklyn accent (Reuters)
Last August, Bernie Sanders sat on a Craigslist-bought beige couch in his Washington office plotting to steal the social media spotlight from 10 Republicans taking the stage for the first televised debate of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Ties between Germany and Russia enter new chill (Reuters)
At an hour-long meeting in Moscow on March 23, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov irritated his German counterpart by raising the case of a German-Russian girl who said she was raped by migrants in Berlin earlier this year.
Technology
Coding on tape – computer science A-level 1970s style (BBC)
The chances of walking into a UK school without any computer equipment in today's world are practically zero.
But 45 years ago things were very different.
Scientists to open MASS-CLONING factory this year to clone cows, pets and HUMANS (Express)
The ambitious and futuristic facility hopes to be mass-producing one million cows every 12 months by 2020.
Not only will it clone cattle, but the factory, which will be located in the northern Chinese port of Tianjin, will also cater to more specific needs by genetically engineering police dogs and thoroughbred race horses.
Health and Life Sciences
Do cancer cells prefer fat to sugar? (Futurity)
Cancer cells are defined by their ability for uncontrolled growth, one cell quickly becoming two, and two becoming many.
“It’s a fascinating process,” says Gary Patti, associate professor of chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis. “Imagine creating two copies of yourself every few days, instead of just maintaining the one you have. In the past 15 or 20 years, people have become really interested in how a cell does that.”
Monsanto-Linked Study Finds No Monsanto-Linked Herbicide Glyphosate In Breast Milk (Forbes)
The herbicide glyphosate does not show up in breast milk, according to findings from a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The study, however, is weighted with conflicts of interest that include having three Monsanto employees as authors. The first two authors also have received grants from Monsanto, and the costs of the chemical analyses for the study were covered by Monsanto. This study is not, however, the only one reporting this outcome.
Life on the Home Planet
Why babies all over the world are now sleeping in boxes (BBC)
It's a tradition that dates back to the 1930s. Every new mother, regardless of background or income, gets a baby box from the government. The box contains a stash of supplies – bibs, bodysuits, nappies, a sleeping bag, outdoor gear, bathing products – as well as a small mattress. Putting the mattress in the bottom of the box creates the baby's first bed.
Misconceptions: Investigating the Minds of Mass Killers (NY Times)
These lone killers usually don’t fit into an existing category of mental illness, and there’s usually little evidence that early treatment would have helped.
