Financial Markets and Economy
S&P 500 Futures Signal More Gains for Equities at All-Time High (Bloomberg)
U.S. stock-index futures edged higher, signaling optimism over the strength of the U.S. economy will help equities at record levels eke out more gains.
Stocks, Oil Prices Start Week Firmly (Wall Street Journal)
Stocks and oil prices started the week higher after Friday’s U.S. jobs report reassured investors about the health of the world’s largest economy.
World’s Biggest Commodity User Pares Imports on Sluggish Growth (Bloomberg)
China’s imports of energy, including crude oil, coal and natural gas, slipped in July amid sluggish signs of growth in the world’s largest commodity consumer. Copper purchases also slowed.
U.S. stocks poised for more highs, as feel-good factor from jobs data lingers (Market Watch)
Wall Street stocks could aim at more records on Monday, with futures moving moderately higher as investors continue to take inspiration from last week’s solid U.S. jobs data.
There is nothing left to fight the coming economic storm (Business Insider)
The ability of policymakers to stimulate economic growth is dwindling rapidly, and both central banks and governments around the world are running out of options, according to new research from analysts at Barclays.
There's a Big Dollar Crunch Brewing in Markets (Bloomberg)
Turmoil in money markets thanks to financial reform.
Bond Market’s Big Illusion Revealed as U.S. Yields Turn Negative (Bloomberg)
For Kaoru Sekiai, getting steady returns for his pension clients in Japan used to be simple: buy U.S. Treasuries.
Japanese stocks lead jump in Asian markets (Market Watch)
Strong U.S. jobs data sent Asian stock markets higher on Monday, with the yen’s decline driving sharp gains in Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average.
Oil Bear Market Attracts Record Bets on Further Price Slide (Bloomberg)
Hedge funds have gone all-in on lower oil prices, counting on seasonal weakness to play out again this year.
More cheer for the bulls as tech stocks, financials take the baton and lead the rally (Market Watch)
One worry about the stock market has been that its star sectors have been utilities, telecoms and other defensive plays, but that concern may be fading.
Fed's Powell urges patience on U.S. rates, citing growth risks (Reuters)
The U.S. economy is at increasing risk of becoming trapped in a prolonged phase of slow growth that points to the need for lower interest rates than previously expected, Federal Reserve policymaker Jerome Powell was quoted as saying.
Russia sees no grounds for new talks on oil output freeze yet (Reuters)
Russia, the world's top oil producer, sees no grounds for new talks on freezing oil production yet but is open to negotiations, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Monday.
He told reporters: "If other countries raise the issue of a freeze, we are ready to discuss this."
Can a North Dakota Oil Town Break the Boom-Bust Cycle? (The Atlantic)
Downtown is back to normal. There are little cafés, gift shops stocked with knick knacks, and a J.C. Penney’s. The Miss North Dakota parade recently marched down Main Street. On a recent Tuesday night, a city commission considered Cugini Italian Bistro’s application for an alcoholic beverage license.
OPEC plans informal production talks for September (Market Watch)
OPEC will hold informal talks at an energy conference in September, the cartel’s president said Monday, as oil-producing nations worry over a recent downturn in the crude market.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is always discussing ways to stabilize the market, said Qatar’s energy minister, Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada, who is serving as the 14-nation oil cartel’s president this year.
U.K. Stocks Inch Higher After Weekly Gain as Miners, Banks Rise (Bloomberg)
Gains in lenders and commodity producers pushed U.K. stocks higher, after the FTSE 100 Index’s fifth weekly advance in six.
Japan, China, U.S. Ports Seen at Highest Risk for Catastrophes (Bloomberg)
Ports in Japan, China and the U.S. face the greatest financial risk from natural disasters because of their vulnerable locations and increasing cargo volumes, a risk-management firm said.
An Economic Myth of Olympic Proportions (Project Syndicate)
According to Olympic legend, hosting the Games is an economic boon for the chosen city and country. In reality, the Games are more often a boondoggle, as Rio de Janeiro is finding out.
Why You Should Study the Hell Out of Yourself as a Trader (Trader Feed)
What if you knew that, at times, you were a great trader?
Politics
Why Donald Trump Appeals to Evangelicals (The Atlantic)
Why do conservative Christians like Donald Trump?
It’s a question that has stumped pollsters, religion scholars, journalists, and pundits throughout this U.S. presidential election cycle. At first, some self-described evangelicals were skeptical of Trump, especially those who regularly attend church. But as of this summer, an estimated 94 percent of Republicans who identify as evangelicals say they’d support Trump over Clinton, with very little difference in the level of support among those who go to church every week and those who don’t.
About A Third Of Bernie Sanders’ Supporters Still Aren’t Backing Hillary Clinton (Five Thirty Eight)
One of the big questions heading into the Democratic National Convention late last month was whether Hillary Clinton could rally Bernie Sanders supporters to her side. Before the convention, many Sanders supporters said that they would support Clinton in a two-way matchup against Donald Trump, but when pollsters offered them third-party candidates as an option, they abandoned her.
Technology
This tiny chip could be the future of robot vision (The Verge)
For robots to operate in the physical world they need a decent pair of eyes. Usually, this is job is taken care of using LIDAR — a technology that bounces light off nearby surfaces to create a 3D map of the world around it. LIDAR is just like radar in its basic mechanics, but because it uses light, not radio waves, it's much more accurate; able to pick out individual leaves on a tree when mounted on a plane, or track the movements of cyclists and pedestrians when fitted to a self-driving cars.
Meet The Umbrella That Will Make Sure You Don’t Ever Lose It (PSFK)
Jonas is a smart umbrella created by Japanese company Fantastick who will make sure you never lose it. This umbrella has charm and personality, but more importantly has features that will help make sure you never lose it, which is pretty important for an $105 umbrella. Jonas comes with a paired mobile app, and it warn you if its been left behind, along with directions back to him.
Health and Life Sciences
"Neural Dust" Could Enable a Fitbit for the Nervous System (Scientific American)
A technology with the potential to blur the boundaries between biology and electronics has just leaped a major hurdle in the race to demonstrate its feasibility.
A team at the University of California, Berkeley, led by neuroscientist Jose Carmena and electrical and computer engineer Michel Maharbiz, has provided the first demonstration of what the researchers call “ultrasonic neural dust” to monitor neural activity in a live animal.
In Pursuit of Patient Safety (Science-Based Medicine)
Advocates of CAM* (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) have long argued that mainstream medicine is a dangerous undertaking using toxic drugs and invasive interventions that often do more harm than good, while the various quackeries huddled under the CAM umbrella are said to use natural interventions that aid the body in healing itself. A recent BMJ article naming medical errors as the third leading cause of death in the United States was trumpeted as proof of that claim and predictably enough unleashed a maelstrom of pearl-clutching commentary from the CAMsters.
Life on the Home Planet
Suicide bomber kills at least 63 at Pakistan hospital (Reuters)
A suicide bomber in Pakistan killed at least 63 people and wounded dozens more in an attack on mourners gathered at a hospital in Quetta, according to officials in the violence-plagued southwestern province of Baluchistan.
Is Phelps the Greatest of All Time? (The Daily Beast)
He is the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, with 19 gold medals and 23 medals overall—including his first gold at Rio in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay on Sunday night. At 31, he is swimming’s biggest star and a household name all over the world. And Michael Phelps is also the first male swimmer in U.S. history to compete in five Olympic games.
