Japanese manufacturing activity expanded in December at the same pace as the previous month as new orders grew at a faster rate in a sign the economy maintained momentum at the end of 2015, a revised survey showed on Monday.

Japan December final manufacturing PMI steady at 52.6, orders pick up - Yahoo Finance

The Caixin Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 48.2 in December, from 48.6 in November, contracting for a tenth month and coming in below a Reuters poll forecast for 49.0.

Caixin PMI falls to 48.2 in December, below expectations

"Virtual reality technology will unavoidably change the sex industry, but I feel that it will more likely replace pornography than prostitution," writes licensed prostitute Marly in a company blog post. "I think it will take more than a 'sex simulator' to put me out of business, mainly because I offer so much more than sex."

CES’s Favorite Brothel Wants You to Know Virtual Reality Porn Still Isn’t the Real Thing

Amazon added 3 million Prime members in the third week of December, the company announced Monday, signaling its $99 annual subscription for delivery discounts as well as video and music streaming continues to draw shoppers as spending shifts online. Amazon’s post-Christmas announcement highlighted demand from last-minute shoppers, including a Prime Now order delivered at 11:59 p.m. Christmas Eve in San Antonio. Amazon expanded its same-day delivery service -- Prime Now -- to big cities around the U.S. this year, and Christmas Eve was the program’s busiest day, Amazon said.

Amazon Investors Emboldened by 3 Million New Prime Members - Bloomberg Business

Forget all the hype about 4K at CES last year -- this year's trend is 8K. LG has revealed some of the first details about its 2016 TV lineup, and the highlight is its first production-grade 8K model, the UH9800. The Korean tech giant isn't saying much about what this 98-inch monster will offer or when it ships, but it's safe to say that this won't be an impulse purchase when Sharp's 8K screen costs about $130,000.

LG's 2016 TVs include its first production 8K set

The new display technology takes the form of an 18-inch OLED screen that can be rolled up like a newspaper. If that sounds strangely familiar, it's because the company offered a sneak peak at the technology as far back as July 2014. However, this represents the first time LG is willing to send its foldable display out into the public domain - even if it is still only at the prototype stage. We've also seen similar display technology from the likes of Samsung and Sony in the past, but it looks like LG will be the first to push an example of it out as part of a wider vision at a major consumer electronics show like CES.

LG to show off roll-up OLED display at CES

A judge in Italy has postponed the hearing of a lawsuit until 2019, arguing that he does not have time for the case in the next three years and will not be enslaved by the judicial system. Two business owners caught up in a €200,000 (£148,000) legal dispute have already been waiting since September 2014 to settle their case at the civil court in Taranto, in the heel of Italy’s boot. Judge Alberto Munno scheduled their next hearing for 18 January 2019.

Busy Italian judge defers case until 2019 | World news | The Guardian

Chinese stocks trading in Hong Kong may extend their worst start to a year since 1995, according to Thomas DeMark, who correctly predicted the selloff in the country’s equity market last year. “It’s critical tomorrow,” DeMark, founder of DeMark Analytics, said on Bloomberg Television on Monday in New York. “We are going to have a big risk on the downside” if the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index opens lower and trades below Monday’s intraday low, he said.

DeMark Sees ‘Big Risk’ That Chinese Stocks Will Retreat Further - Bloomberg Business

It has drawn remarkably little attention outside the West Coast, but a massive methane gas leak 25 miles northwest of Los Angeles is wreaking havoc with the community, displacing thousands of families and posing arguably the worst environmental catastrophe since the 2010 BP oil spill along the Gulf Coast.

California gas leak wreaking havoc on environment - Business Insider

The amount of debt that the governments of the world’s leading economies will need to refinance in 2016 will be little changed from last year as nations make strides in cutting budget deficits to a third of the highs seen during the financial crisis. The value of bills, notes and bonds coming due for the Group-of-Seven nations plus Brazil, China, India and Russia will total $7.1 trillion, compared with $7 trillion in 2015 and down from $7.6 trillion in 2012.

Biggest Economies Face $7 Trillion Debt Refinancing Tab in 2016 - Bloomberg Business

China's money supply is also catching fire. Growth of 'real true M1' has spiked to 10pc, a giddy shot of caffeine not seen since the post-Lehman spree. Combined credit and local government bond issuance is surging at a rate of 14pc. The Communist Party cranked up fiscal spending by 18.9pc in November.

Economic sweet spot of 2016 before the reflation storm - Telegraph

The epic dollar rally has come and gone. The world's currency will drift down over coming months, and that will be a reprieve for the likes of Brazil, Turkey, South Africa, Indonesia, and Colombia. Those at the wrong end of $9 trillion of off-shore debt in US dollars may breath easier: they will not escape. The MSCI index of emerging market stocks will return from the dead, clawing back most of the 28pc in losses since last April, but only to lurch into a greater storm

Economic sweet spot of 2016 before the reflation storm - Telegraph

For all its swings this year, the stock market ended 2015 close to where it started. And 2016 won’t be any better. At least that’s the view of the market's Rodney Dangerfields, the nickname I like to give to stock newsletter writers with great records who I like to check in with for an annual forecast.

14 Hot Stock Picks for 2016 from Top Newsletter Gurus - Yahoo Finance

The Chinese yuan plunged to a five-year low in offshore trading and the gap between it and its mainland counterpart widened sharply on Wednesday, reflecting growing expectations of further weakness in the currency as China's economy slows and capital outflows accelerate amid a stock slump.

Offshore Chinese yuan plunges to five-year low amid slowdown, stock slump

Xiaomi's first ever laptop has hit pre-order, and it could well be the bargain of 2016. That's quite a big claim, of course, given that 2016 has only just begun. But the reveal of Xiaomi's much-anticipated entry to the laptop market shows an extremely capable device for a scarcely believable price.

Xiaomi's bargain laptop hits pre-order

Since the dawn of the new year, however, investors have become much more concerned that a larger devaluation may be in the works, either through the choice of the Chinese authorities, or because the outflow of private capital is getting out of hand. Some bears in the currency markets believe that China could soon be suffering from a genuine exchange rate crisis, in which its enormous foreign exchange reserves could be quickly drained.

The Chinese devaluation threat — again | Gavyn Davies

What it does suggest, however, is that private sector capital outflows have been very large recently. Market sources reckon that private capital outflows may be running at $10bn a day, slightly more than occurred during the crisis last August. Official foreign exchange reserves have declined by $213bn, from $3,651bn last July to $3,438bn at the end of November, and will probably have dropped further when the December figures appear on Thursday.

The Chinese devaluation threat — again | Gavyn Davies

China is due to report foreign-currency reserves on Thursday, with the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey predicting a $23 billion decline in December. Government data next week are forecast to show Chinese exports shrank for a sixth straight month in December. The private Caixin Media and Markit Economics Chinese services gauge fell to a 17-month low, according to a report released Wednesday.

China Markets in Turmoil as Weak Yuan Fixing Sparks Stock Tumble - Bloomberg Business

On Tuesday, the company released their annual ranking of the best diets of 2016, and for the sixth time in a row, they named the DASH diet as their number one choice. DASH stands for "Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension," or high blood pressure. While the diet focuses on a meal plan that helps lower or prevent high blood pressure, it is a diet for everyone.

This is best diet of the year from US News - Business Insider

Dragging ourselves to work sick—a behavior social scientists call “presenteeism”—costs employers $160 billion a year in lost productivity, according to research published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Avoid spreading sickness with this handy guide to the best desk disinfectants, immunity-boosting snacks, and other advice for staying germ-free. Be well!

How Not to Get Sick at Work - Bloomberg Business

"The correlations between soda and obesity are extremely strong," said Nestle. According to the Centers for Disease Control, roughly one-third of all the calories Americans get from added sugars are from soda and sugary drinks. They get the other two-thirds from processed foods like snack bars, cakes, breads, and ice cream. And the science suggests that cutting calories, especially in the form of sugary beverages, has the potential to have a far larger effect on weight than exercise.

USDA dietary guidelines limit sugar intake - Business Insider

Our poor nutrition has contributed to a generations-long national weight gain. Today two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese. Half are afflicted with chronic conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure that can often be prevented with better diets.

How Americans Got So Fat, in Charts - Bloomberg Business

David Kostin and his team at Goldman have assembled a list of stocks with the most upside in his new chartbook for the first quarter. These are stocks whose current price is incredibly low compared to Goldman Sachs' analysts' price targets. The list includes huge names like Apple and Ford, along with companies from the much maligned energy sector. We've put together the list of the top 9 stocks, all with upsides to Goldman's target above 44%. In addition, we've thrown in a comment from executives during their last quarterly earnings call.

GOLDMAN: Best values in stock market - Business Insider

The market volatility resulting from this shift of expectations—the “tantrum”—was felt particularly strongly by emerging-market economies.  Emerging markets also experienced sharp outflows of financial capital (“hot money”), as international investors sought greater safety.  The U.S. economy did not seem to be much affected by these developments, as growth continued in late 2013 and 2014, but some emerging-market economies came under stress, especially the so-called “fragile five”:  Turkey, Brazil, India, South Africa, and Indonesia.

Tantrums and hot money: How does Fed policy affect global financial stability? | Brookings Institution

As Carlson notes, data show that investors repeatedly make the same basic mistakes, like buying right after an asset's price has run up, and selling as it's crashing. These are seven big things the pros know to avoid that the rookies don't:

Traits of unsuccessful investors - Business Insider

UC Berkley students Antoine Balaresque and Henry Bradlow set out to eliminate back in 2013 when they began creating what would become Lily, a drone that automatically follows you around after you toss it into the air. The genius of Lily lies in how dead-simple it is to use. After you toss the drone up into the air, you're free to concentrate on whatever you'd like Lily to record video of you doing, thanks the small circular tracker that you can stow away in your pocket or wear on your wrist. Lily stays in constant communication with that tracker, which, along with some clever machine learning technology, allows the drone to always keep you in the shot even as you move around.

Lily drone saw $34 million in pre-orders from 60,000 people - Business Insider

in recent work economist Hélène Rey (see here and here) has found evidence of a “global financial cycle,” a tendency of risky asset prices around the world to move together.  In particular, she and others find that international investors appear subject to sharp swings in sentiment: During “risk-on” periods, according to this research, financial capital flows into emerging markets, leading to increases in risky asset prices, faster credit growth, and more leverage.  This process can reverse sharply during high-volatility “risk-off” periods, with possibly adverse economic as well as financial effects.  Although various factors can cause changes in market risk preferences, Rey and others find that U.S. monetary policy is one trigger of such shifts, with easier Fed policy tending to be followed by greater risk appetite and vice versa.

Tantrums and hot money: How does Fed policy affect global financial stability? | Brookings Institution

Smartphones have already replaced cameras, navigation systems, calculators, flashlights and many other devices in most users’ lives. Next up: The tape measure.

Your smartphone may soon be able to measure space - MarketWatch

Last summer the mayor of a forgotten corner of Brazil went on the run, accused of skimming millions from public funds. Lidiane Leite bragged about how much money she had on Instagram and directed staff back at the office via social media. Known as the WhatsApp mayor, she became an emblem of Brazilian corruption.

The party-loving mayor who went on the run - BBC News

Tablo is a device that solves this problem by recording broadcast TV and letting you play it back whenever you want. And, whereas traditional DVRs connect to a single TV via an HDMI cable, Tablo uses Wifi to let you stream those recorded shows on any (compatible) device you want. You could watch on a TV connected to a Roku, your iPhone, your laptop — the list goes on. Nathan McAlone And since Tablo records the shows to any external hard drive you plug in, the amount of shows you could record is theoretically endless.

Tablo lets you watch broadcast TV with the ease of Netflix

Oil prices CLG6, -2.43%   plummeted 60% between June 2014 and January 2015 to widespread acclaim that lower gas prices would act as a huge economic stimulus. When the big spending boost failed to materialize, we were told to be patient: Lower oil prices work with a lag. Almost a year later, we’re still waiting for consumers to spend that oil-price-tax-cut even as spending has slowed in the face of a renewed decline in energy prices.

And the award for the worst forecast of 2015 goes to... - MarketWatch

Recent studies have shown what any reader could have been easily guessed: Reading fiction — especially literary fiction — makes people more empathetic. According to a 2014 Carnegie Mellon study, reading fiction activates the same regions of the brain as real-life experience. A 2013 study found that people scored higher on tests of empathy and social intelligence after reading literary fiction.

I read 164 books in 2015 and tracked them all in a spreadsheet. Here's what I learned. - Vox

Luther preferred to see the whole world burn and Christian Europe split into armed camps rather than yield an inch on abstruse points of doctrine. And burn they did. The killing did not end until the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. By then the Thirty Years War had left a fifth of Germany dead.

The world's political and economic order is stronger than it looks - Telegraph

Russia's Vladimir Putin has gained little by overthrowing Europe's post-war order, and seizing a piece of recognized Ukrainian territory by armed force. He has kept Crimea but his attempt to foster revolt in the Donbass through agitators and proxies has fizzled, and in the process he has transformed what was previously a neutral Ukraine into a hostile rampart of the West. His hopes of dividing the Atlantic alliance have come to nothing. Europe has just renewed sanctions. They are biting deep. The country is shut out of Western capital markets. Unless oil recovers, the Kremlin will have exhausted its reserve fund by 2016, and will face a fiscal crisis by mid-2017.

The world's political and economic order is stronger than it looks - Telegraph

The warnings for weak earnings have been telegraphed for quite a while. But the expectations seem to be only getting worse. Estimates for Q4 earnings having been coming down in recent weeks, largely due to the persistent weakness in the prices for commodities like oil.

Q4 2015 earnings preview - Business Insider