Links for July 4 2016

[admin]

I’ve climbed the professional ladder reasonably well. We have the trappings of middle-class success – a nice house in a safe, quiet neighborhood; annual holidays; happy, healthy children; money saved for their college years. But it has come at enormous personal cost to me. My stress level has increased dramatically with added responsibilities at work and my health has deteriorated. People who haven’t seen me for years flinch when we meet again and I’ve attended more than one event at which I have overheard someone remarking on how much I’ve aged. I don’t think I can do this for another 25 years. I often dream of leaving my firm for a less demanding position, with you making up any financial deficit with a job – even a modest one – of your own. I’ve asked, and sometimes pleaded, for years with you to get a job, any job. Many of my free hours are spent helping with the house and the kids, and I recognise that traditional gender roles are often oppressive, but that cuts both ways. I would feel less used and alone if you pitched in financially, even a little.

A letter to … my wife, who won’t get a job while I work myself to death | Life and style | The Guardian

What could be more American than to pop a cold Budweiser, put a hot dog on the grill, slather it with Heinz ketchup, watch the kids chase the Good Humor Ice Cream truck, and maybe catch the latest summer blockbuster? Well, technically, you'd be drinking a beer owned by a Brazilian-Belgian conglomerate, your hot dog may well have come from Smithfield Foods, a Chinese-owned company, the Heinz ketchup partly owned by a Brazilian private equity group, the Good Humor Ice Cream truck part of a British-Dutch conglomerate, and the movie house you visit will likely belong to Dalian Wanda, a Chinese real estate giant that controls more U.S cinema screens than any American company.

The Fourth of July, Brought to You by Belgium, Brazil and China - Bloomberg View

In a note to clients published Thursday, Jonathan Glionna, Barclays' head of US equity strategist research, highlights that the total payout ratio for S&P 500 companies — which includes dividends and share repurchases — has totaled 128% of net income over the last four quarters. Excluding the financial crisis, when net income for S&P 500 companies fell off a cliff, this is a record high based on 40 years of data available to Barclays. And the simplest takeaway is that this implies future returns for the benchmark stock index will be low.

Total stock market payout near a record high - Business Insider

It won't surprise any market-watcher to learn that in the run-up to earnings season, companies tend to lower the bar for top and bottom line performance, thereby giving themselves better odds of exceeding analysts' expectations. However, a new working paper suggests that the sins of omission that occur during the corporate "cheating" season, as it was dubbed by Societe Generale Global Head of Quantitative Strategy Andrew Lapthorne, are far more insidious. Authors Kenneth Froot, Namho Kang, Gideon Ozik, and Ronnie Sadka conclude that managers mislead analysts and shareholders during earnings reports, and that their penchant for massaging expectations downwards may be employed in order to open up a window to buy their stock on the cheap in the near future.

New Study Claims Corporate Executives Intentionally Mislead Investors for Personal Gain - Bloomberg

The suit follows on a survey conducted by Consumer Reports last year, asking meat buyers what they thought they were getting when they picked up a package labeled “natural” at the grocery counter. The majority thought it meant that no growth promoters, such as hormones, had been used; that no antibiotics were administered to the animals; that their feed contained no GMOs; that the animals were free-range; and that no artificial ingredients or colors had been added in processing the meat. The report also found that more than 80 percent of consumers buying “natural” meat products were doing so because they were concerned about overuse of antibiotics and the mistreatment of animals in industrial farming facilities.

The Stomach-Turning Truth Behind Hormel’s “Natural” Pork | New Republic

[admin]

Dr Hojman’s findings, then, suggest that epinephrine and interleukin-6 could be used as anti-tumour drugs. She is not proposing that they should be a substitute for exercise in those who are merely lazy—not least because exercise brings benefits beyond curbing oncogenesis. But people who are too old or too ill to be active might thus gain exercise’s anticancer benefits without the need to get sweaty.

A run a day keeps the tumour at bay | The Economist

Here’s a look at 10 stocks that analysts at investment bank Jefferies think investors should buy, because they declined more than they should have, in the wake of Brexit, or Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. But what about stocks that have suffered even more? Patient investors who jump into a stock or an industry on the rebound can ride the wave and see very strong returns in the long run.

20 beaten-down U.S. stocks expected to rise as much as 98% - MarketWatch

Sebastiano Magnanini was an art thief in Venice, tour guide in Cambodia and roadie for Prince in London – then he was found dead in the Regent’s Canal

Extraordinary life of Italian man found dead in London canal | UK news | The Guardian

Well, according to new research, I could be missing out. A recent study conducted by researchers at Notre Dame, the University of Kentucky, and Penn State found that using brand-name gear can provide a noticeable placebo effect that could boost performance. In other words: If you’ve ever felt like you give better presentation when wearing an expensive designer suit, it might not be your imagination.

How an Expensive Suit Can Make You Better at Your Job - Bloomberg Business

The productivity of U.S. workers has been in a decadelong decline, according to official government measures, a vexing development that suggests continued slow growth for wages and for the overall economy. But are those government figures getting it right?

Why Does U.S. Productivity Look So Abysmal? Not Mismeasurement, Paper Says - Real Time Economics - WSJ

[admin]

Global markets are gripped by uncertainty. The Brexit decision in the UK has roiled markets, while the US election is sure to inject volatility in to the stock market. Then there is the fear of a recession on both sides of the Atlantic. Bond yields are at record lows, with more $10 trillion of bonds trading with negative yields. That poses a pretty significant challenge to all the investors out there who have chunky return targets.

Investment returns will fall short of requirements - Business Insider

Everywhere I went, investors pleaded with me to suggest an asset class where they could get double-digit returns.  When I told them that future nominal returns from public equities were more likely to be closer to 5% than 10%, they were disappointed but understood my reasoning.  If world real growth were 2% and inflation were 2% and productivity were 1%, 5% is all you were going to get in earnings."

Investment returns will fall short of requirements - Business Insider

You may not want to hear this but we have to say it again: Don't expect to get outsized returns given today's macro backdrop. That's according to the latest report by Henry McVey, head of global macro and asset allocation at private-equity firm KKR. He cited high price-to-earnings ratios for stocks, reflecting expectations of higher earnings growth in the future, and low yields on bonds, indicating expectations of low or negative inflation. "In particular, we just do not see how traditional pensions, endowments, and individual investors are going to meet their historical returns bogeys in a world when $9.9 trillion of liquid fixed income instruments now have a negative yield," McVey wrote.

KKR: It remains 'adult swim only' in 2016 - Business Insider

You really don't want a root canal, and not just because it's potentially painful. Emptying the tooth of the infected tissue at its heart potentially weakens it, since you can't grow that organic material back or put toxic fillings in its place. Researchers may have a solution, though. They've crafted fillings that get the tooth's own stem cells to regenerate and repair tissue. This doesn't mean that your pearly whites would return to normal, but the substance could heal the tooth enough to spare you a root canal or prevent fillings from going south.

Regenerative tooth fillings could put an end to root canals

A generation is nostalgic for an era that belongs to its parents, indignant in the knowledge of freedoms lost in these creatively “risk-averse” times. But were the 90s “better”, really? A speedy gif-trawl through 1996 alone offers up persuasive evidence: the Prodigy’s Firestarter is No 1; Oasis the biggest band on Earth, selling out Knebworth, twice; Jarvis Cocker is the most famous man in Britain after his Michael Jackson bum-waft at the Brits; Blur, Underworld, the Chemical Brothers and the Manic Street Preachers are everywhere; the nation’s favourite film is Trainspotting; our best TV shows are the gripping human dramas Our Friends in the North and This Life; the idealistic Tony Blair is edging towards Number 10 (and not yet mad with power); England are in the Euro 96 semi-finals.

The 1990s were the best of times … until the Spice Girls ruined everything | Sylvia Patterson | Opinion | The Guardian

[admin]

Last month it was reported that Samsung could be bringing next-generation QLED display technology to its TV range by 2019 or even 2018. QLED essentially combines the core attributes of OLED and Quantum Dot display technology to create a bright, high-contrast picture, whilst reportedly being easier (and thus cheaper) to manufacturer than OLED panels. Now a piece of evidence has emerged suggesting that Samsung is already looking at expanding its QLED efforts. As SamMobile points out, a US patent application for QLED technology was filed by the South Korean tech giant on June 27.

Samsung expands QLED plans - could the Galaxy S10 ditch AMOLED?

No one is buying company stocks — except the companies themselves. Bank of America Merrill Lynch included a chart in its weekly note detailing what the bank's clients were buying and selling in the first half of the year. The only clients who were net buyers in the first six months of 2016 — meaning they bought more than they sold — were firms doing share buybacks, according to Jill Hall and Savita Subramanian, equity strategists at BAML. These companies purchased a net $20.6 million worth of equities so far this year.

There's only one buyer of stocks this year - Business Insider

Europe and America have economies of a similar size, but the aggregate market value of the top 500 European firms is half that of the top 500 American firms. Aggregate profits are 50-65% smaller, depending on the measure used. Of these firms, the median American company is worth $18 billion, with net income of $746m in the past year. The median European firm is worth $8 billion and earned only $440m.

From clout to rout | The Economist

It’s been almost two years now since the renowned Harvard economist Ricardo Hausmann caused a stir in his native Venezuela by posing an uncomfortable question. Why does a country that’s so starved for cash keep honoring its foreign debts? In other words, how does it justify shelling out precious hard currency to wealthy bondholders in New York when it can’t pay for basic food and medicine imports desperately needed by millions of impoverished citizens? “I find the moral choice odd,” Hausmann concluded.

Venezuela Refuses to Default. Few People Seem to Understand Why. - Bloomberg

WhatsApp has become one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. If you're one of the nearly one billion people who use it, find out how you can use WhatsApp on your computer for easier messaging.

How to use WhatsApp on your computer - Business Insider

[admin]

Well-known Wharton professor of finance Jeremy Siegel says that a rebound in earnings amid low interest rates could add up to a huge rally for the stock market. "If we get a good second half of the year earnings-wise, then I think the market could be up 10 to 15 percent, " Siegel predicted in a Friday interview on CNBC's "Trading Nation." Siegel says that widespread investor perceptions that the market is richly valued are largely due to weak earnings that were engendered in part by the massive decline in oil prices. With energy earnings set to rise nicely and the global macroeconomic environment stabilizing, he says earnings may be ready to rise by 10 to 12 percent. If that materializes, then "given the low interest rates, the market does not look expensive" — particularly with "all the central banks acting very, very dovish."

Siegel: Stocks may jump 15% in the 2nd half of 2016 — here’s why

At its current record level, the P/S ratio leads us to one of two conclusions: 1) Investors are extremely optimistic about future economic and earnings growth or 2) Investors are once again caught up in the frenzy of an equity bubble and willing to invest at valuations well above the norm

Market in 'frenzy of an equity bubble' - Business Insider

today, less-skilled workers often go where jobs are scarcer but housing is cheap, instead of heading to places with the most promising job opportunities, according to research by Daniel Shoag, a professor of public policy at Harvard, and Peter Ganong, also of Harvard. Continue reading the main story One reason they’re not migrating to places with better job prospects is that rich cities like San Francisco and Seattle have gotten so expensive that working-class people cannot afford to move there. Even if they could, there would not be much point, since whatever they gained in pay would be swallowed up by rent.

How Anti-Growth Sentiment, Reflected in Zoning Laws, Thwarts Equality - The New York Times

And when zoning laws get out of hand, economists say, the damage to the American economy and society can be profound. Studies have shown that laws aimed at things like “maintaining neighborhood character” or limiting how many unrelated people can live together in the same house contribute to racial segregation and deeper class disparities. They also exacerbate inequality by restricting the housing supply in places where demand is greatest. The lost opportunities for development may theoretically reduce the output of the United States economy by as much as $1.5 trillion a year, according to estimates in a recent paper by the economists Chang-Tai Hsieh and Enrico Moretti.

How Anti-Growth Sentiment, Reflected in Zoning Laws, Thwarts Equality - The New York Times

They're known as the Bishan 10 - and they're possibly Marina Bay's most famous residents. They've starred in a David Attenborough documentary, and their affairs frequently make the local news. Facebook groups are dedicated to them, and academics study them. They're a family of ten smooth-coated otters, and like many celebrities, they exude an aura of mystery, occasionally making an appearance to the delight of their many local fans. Like true stars though, when they do show their faces, they're extremely comfortable in front of the camera.

Singapore's celebrity urban otter family - BBC News

[admin]

Now, it's clear what Facebook Live is for. It's replacing the last stronghold of television: live events. TV is under assault by cord-cutting, where people watch their favorite shows online and dispense with a cable subscription altogether. Last September, TV ratings started to see a catastrophic year-over-year decline, and Nielsen ratings show a slow but steady decline in the amount of TV watched by nearly all demographic groups over the last five years.

Facebook Live and the death of TV - Business Insider

America's largest companies have had negative profit growth for three straight quarters.  On Monday, when the aluminum giant Alcoa unofficially kicks off the second-quarter earnings season, analysts expect it will report a fourth-straight quarterly decline in year-over-year profits.  But the broader S&P 500 could be different. Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, thinks that the first quarter may have marked the inflection point of the earnings recession, defined as two straight red quarters.

The earnings recession may be about to end - Business Insider

Import prices in Japan have collapsed by 20pc over the last year, 5.5pc in Germany, and 5pc in the US, despite the recovery oil prices. Mr Redeker said China’s attempt to export its problems though devaluation is a key reason why inflation expectations are crashing to record lows across the developed world. This in turn is driving bond yields to historic lows almost daily, with 10-year borrowing costs down to -0.58pc in Switzerland, -0.28pc in Japan, -0.16pc in Germany, 0.14pc in France, 0.78pc in Britain, and 1.4pc in the US.

World faces deflation shock as China devalues yuan at accelerating pace

An initial flood of interest from airlines has turned into a slow drip, and Airbus is leaning heavily on one customer, Emirates, for sales. Not a single U.S. carrier has bought one, and Japanese airlines, among the biggest cheerleaders for huge planes, have taken just a handful. Airbus has delivered 193 A380s—early on it predicted airlines would buy 1,200 supersize planes over two decades—and has only 126 in its order book, to be built over the next five years or so

Airbus Is Running Out of Buyers for Its Enormous A380s - Bloomberg

A Nigerian refugee thought to have fled the terrorist group Boko Haram with his wife has died after being attacked by an “ultra” football fan in a small Italian town. Emmanuel Chidi Namdi, 36, died of injuries he sustained when a local man, who had reportedly been racially abusing Namdi’s wife, attacked him in the town of Fermo, in central Italy. Amedeo Mancini, 35, allegedly referred to the 24-year-old woman as a “monkey”, and attacked Namdi when he attempted to defend her, according to Italian media reports. Namdi fell into a coma and was pronounced dead on Wednesday.

Refugee who fled Boko Haram for Italy killed by 'ultra' football fan | World news | The Guardian