Links for 8/25

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My read of the evidence is that good, secure, fulfilling jobs are declining as we head deeper into the second machine age, not spreading throughout the economy.

MIT Business Professor: 'Good, Secure, Fulfilling Jobs Are Declining' - Business Insider

This brings up a climate where many investors are looking for new stock ideas, and the stocks that trade under $10 often have some incredible calls for upside when analysts get behind them.

11 Analyst Stock Picks Under $10 With Massive Upside Potential - Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD) - 24/7 Wall St.

Forget Trojan horses -- it's the cats you have to worry about. Security engineer Gene Bransfield has developed WarKitteh, a tech-laden collar that turns feline companions into scouts for WiFi hackers. The innocuous-looking accessory hides a Spark Core board that maps wireless networks and their vulnerabilities wherever the pet wanders.

Smart collar turns your cat into a WiFi hacking weapon

Microsoft seriously wants users let go of older Internet Explorers and move on -- so much so that the company has even set a deadline. Starting on January 12th, 2016, Microsoft will stop issuing security updates and providing tech support for any IE browser other than the most recent one (that's IE 11, for the unaware).

Microsoft wants you to say farewell to ye olde Internet Explorer

From Ancient Greece to Mary Shelley, it's been an abiding human fear: A new invention takes on a life of its own, pursues its own ends, and grows more powerful than its creators ever imagined. For a number of today's thinkers and scientists, artificial intelligence looks as if it may be on just such a trajectory. This is no cause for horror or a premature backlash against the technology. But AI does present some real long-term risks that should be assessed soberly.

Intelligent Machines Scare Smart People - Bloomberg View

Perennial bear Marc Faber said Monday that markets have recovered from a "fully oversold" condition and a rebound in stocks was now underway, but warned that new highs in equities were unlikely.

Super bear Marc Faber: A 'rebound is underway' - Yahoo Finance

Jesse Livermore was one of the greatest traders who ever lived. You can read more about him here. Here are his trading rules written in 1940. You will find that many of them still apply today, proving that very little changes in the market over time.

Jesse Livermore's trading rules still hold true almost 75 years later - Yahoo Finance

Wall Street is freaking about Stanford economist Anat Admati's new book on the future of banking, saying "her ideas are wildly impractical, bad for the American economy and not to be taken seriously," in a New York Times piece by Binyamin Applebaum... In "The Banker's New Clothes: What's Wrong With Banking and What to Do About It," Admati argues (along with coauthor Martin Hellwig) that because banks don't use their own money, they take greater risks and, as a result, "they keep crashing the economy."

Admati Bankers New Clothes Book - Business Insider

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Former chess champion Garry Kasparov has failed to take the game's top job from a multi-millionaire who says he was once abducted by aliens.

BBC News - Garry Kasparov loses bid to be chess kingpin

A jobless rate in Australia that surpasses the U.S. level may not seem like a problem for Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. But it may be a sign of the overconfidence that affects central bankers everywhere.

Australia's Jobless Rate Should Worry Fed - Bloomberg View

Call it the end of summer doldrums. According to S&P Capital IQ, since 1980 August has been among the worst of all losing months - averaging a 4.38% decline.

Why the next 3 months are the market’s worst - Yahoo Finance

Fifty-three percent of the owners hired or tried to hire in the last three months and 42 percent (81 percent of those trying to hire or hiring) reported few or no qualified applicants for open positions.

Employers Having Trouble Finding Workers - Business Insider

The share of unemployed Americans competing for each open job hit a six-year low in June, suggesting a labor market tightening that could give way to faster wage growth.

Fresh data shows U.S. jobs market tightening - Yahoo Finance

The price of Brent crude slipped to a 13-month low on Wednesday, pushed lower by reports of oversupply in the markets. However, some market watchers believe that this softness could be signaling something more sinister in the global economy, with a risk that the weakness could spread to other assets.

Could weaker oil be signaling doom for stocks?

Chinese stocks have stormed higher in recent months on the back of stronger economic data, easy monetary conditions and supportive policies from Beijing, intensifying the debate over whether the infamous market laggard can finally break out of its multi-year slump.

Will this be a breakout year for Chinese stocks?

Syracuse University professor Sam Van Aken spent nine years growing a single tree. "The idea is that I could collapse a whole orchard and put it into one tree," he told Business Insider.

Sam Van Aken Tree Of 40 Fruit - Business Insider

Jim Rogers first made his name when he cofounded the Quantum Fund with George Soros. In 2007, he packed up and moved to Singapore where he is essentially shorting the West.

Jim Rogers 14 Best Insights - Business Insider

All bull markets end eventually, either with a whimper or a bang, although no one can say when. The good news is that if you are observant, a number of clues announce the end is near.

4 signs this bull market is on its last legs - Michael Sincere's Long-Term Trader - MarketWatch

Dismal data out of Germany Thursday showed that the country's economy - often seen as the powerhouse of Europe - contracted in the second quarter have not put off a growing number of market participants, who see recent dips a perfect opportunity to buy.

Goldman's Oppenheimer: Time to buy the DAX

However, not all ETFs track indexes track plain vanilla indexes. Here are three somewhat offbeat ETFs that follow different paths.

In with the new: Unusual ETFs in 2014

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I worked for the sort of company typically called a chophouse or boiler-room brokerage. The company was frequently dissolved and reformed under a new name. Perhaps it goes without saying that I did things I should not have done. Some things I hesitate to speak of even now…

Confessions of a former stock broker

But the market has just realized that this Federal Reserve is extremely dovish," he said. "There's recognition that [Fed chief Janet Yellen] is a very liberal economist and she would rather risk some inflation than in any way endanger this recovery that has just begun.

Do markets need to rejig rate expectations?

A college student who is accused of killing his roommate allegedly used Siri to research places to hide a body, according to a news report.

Apple's Siri gives accused killer tips for hiding body

Eurozone strategy is in tatters after economic recovery ground to a halt across the region and France demanded a radical shift in policy, warning that austerity overkill is driving Europe into a depression.

France rebels against austerity as Europe's recovery collapses - Telegraph

Investment veteran Irving Kahn, who has weathered every financial storm since the 1920s, reveals everything he has learned

108-year-old investor: 'I doubled my money in 1929 crash - and I'm still winning' - Telegraph

Wage growth is critical to reverse deflation and for that to happen "it is necessary to have some kind of coordinated mechanism," Kuroda said at a central banking conference here, adding that the Bank of Japan's quantitative easing stimulus is helping Japan escape from a deflationary cycle of falling wages and demand.

Japan's Labor Market Showing 'Significant Improvement' - Business Insider

In its latest regulatory filing, the software giant said it has now stockpiled $92.9 billion offshore and that this money could have cost the company $29.6 billion in taxes, but didn't.

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It is not uncommon for USB sticks to be used as a way of getting viruses and other malicious code onto target computers. Most famously, the Stuxnet attack on Iranian nuclear centrifuges was believed to have been caused by an infected USB stick. However, this latest research demonstrated a new level of threat - where a USB device that appears completely empty can still contain malware, even when formatted. The vulnerability can be used to hide attacks in any kind of USB-connected device - such as a smartphone.

BBC News - USB 'critically flawed' after bug discovery, researchers say

For Euroland, the big picture is that the economy is in its seventh year of depression. On our estimate of a 0.7% contraction in the second quarter, GDP was still 3.2% lower than it was in the first quarter of 2008, when the depression began.

European Depression - Business InsiderMicrosoft's Offshore Cash - Business Insider

The Shanghai A-Share Stock Price Index (SHASHR), which has risen 9.4 percent this quarter to 2,345.83, will show a “clean long-term breakout” if it passes 2,500, while the Hang Seng Index (HSI) has room for further gains after reaching a six-year high last week

Marketfield’s Shaoul Sees China Stock Rally Enduring - Bloomberg

Because the block grant has never been increased or adjusted for inflation, states received 32 percent less in real (inflation-adjusted) dollars in 2014 than they did in 1997.

Chart of the Day: Welfare Reform and the Great Recession | Mother Jones

When the markets are challenging all-times highs, you might expect to see record insider selling by corporate insiders and management. So, what does it tell you if a CEO, board member or other corporate insider is buying shares of the company’s stock on the same week that the S&P 500 hit a new high?

Stocks With Big Insider Buying This Week Include Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY), GNC Holdings (NYSE: GNC) - 24/7 Wall St.

“He clearly signaled strong interest to do what it takes,” said Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia Business School and a former adviser to President George W. Bush. Hubbard attended the Aug. 22 speech and said he expects Draghi to conduct QE.

Draghi Pushes ECB Closer to QE as Deflation Risks Rise - Bloomberg

After concerns about U.S. surveillance and a monopoly probe of Microsoft, there is some good news for China’s homegrown operating system (OS): a desktop version may be ready in October. Ni Guangnan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering told the People’s Post and Telecommunications News that the OS will be first seen on desktop devices and later expanded to smartphones and other mobile devices.

China To Launch OS, Challenge Microsoft And Google - Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) - 24/7 Wall St.

We reiterate our call for 2,000 on the [S&P 500] (which we believe will be achieved in coming weeks) and our year-end 2014 price objective of 2,100

The ugly truth about this bull market

More than 600 people traveled to Switzerland to die between 2008 and 2012, and the numbers doubled over those years, researchers reported Tuesday.

Seeking Death: 'Suicide Tourism' to Switzerland Doubles

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Thus, it would be helpful for the overall stance of policy if fiscal policy could play a greater role alongside monetary policy, and I believe there is scope for this, while taking into account our specific initial conditions and legal constraints.

Draghi’s speech at Jackson Hole | FT Alphaville

It is often said that the price behavior of copper can be an early tell on what the market’s next move will be. The reasoning is relatively simply (perhaps too much so). Because copper is used in nearly all aspects of economic activity, ranging from homes and electronics to factories, it is most sensitive to global-growth expectations and turning points in business cycles.

Copper's warning, gold's scolding - MarketWatch

America's shale boom has raised hopes of a revival in U.S. manufacturing, in part fueled by cheaper energy. But U.S. factories still are losing ground to rivals in Asia and Europe. Much of the problem stems from steel, trucks, car parts, industrial machinery and furniture.

U.S. Factories Keep Losing Ground to Global Rivals - Yahoo Finance

The fight started on a United Airlines flight because one passenger was using the Knee Defender, a $21.95 gadget that attaches to a passenger's tray table and prevents the person in front of them from reclining.

United flight diverted after two passengers fight over a seat recline - Business Insider

The euro zone's single currency hovered around a one-year low against the dollar on Tuesday as investors continued to dump the euro in anticipation of extra liquidity in the region. However, one analyst has warned of a crowded trade that could spell pain for some investors if this downward move isn't treated with caution.

Euro trade gets crowded—could it bring pain?

24/7 Wall St. reviews the so-called backlog of service and product orders from companies to see what the future looks like. Quite simply, these are future revenues on the books via orders, but they generally have yet to be paid for entirely or they have yet to be fulfilled. It turns out that some companies actually have a backlog that is close to a year or more worth of revenues.

Companies With Over $1.2 Trillion in Backlog Orders - 24/7 Wall St.

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Leading investment bank UBS says the payback time for unsubsidized investment in electric vehicles paired with rooftop solar and battery storage will be as low as six to eight years by 2020, potentially triggering a massive shift in the energy industry.

UBS Analysts: ‘Large-Scale Power Stations Could Be on a Path to Extinction’ : Greentech Media

In the latest sign of Chinese developers' desperation to unload inventory into a weak property market, China Vanke Co is offering discounts of up to $325,000 to home buyers who shop on Alibaba's Taobao, an e-commerce platform.

Developers offer hefty discounts in strained China homes market

After all, many small investors will not soon forget the market collapses of 2000/2001 and 2008/2009, which robbed them of their confidence in stocks. And in fact, the S&P has taken more than 16 years to get from 1,000 to 2,000—yielding a mere 6.2 percent annualized compound return, including dividends, from then to now.

The strange dynamic that’s guiding stocks higher

U.S. consumer confidence this month reached its highest point in nearly seven years, boosted by strong job gains. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its confidence index rose for a fourth straight month to 92.4 from 90.3 in July. The August reading is the highest since October 2007, two months before the Great Recession officially began.

Consumer Confidence Climbs to Nearly 7-Year High

The euro was close to cracking on Wednesday as feverish speculation of further policy stimulus in the euro zone drove bond yields to all time lows and gave a fillip to stocks globally.

Euro close to cracking on ECB talk, shares on the up - Yahoo Finance

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"OLED technology delivers the most vibrant and natural on-screen display that can be currently done with available technology," said Chris Green, principal technology analyst at the Davies Murphy Group consultancy. "Combine that with 4K - which takes us to a new level of definition and sharpness - and you suddenly have a television that is pretty much like looking out of the window."

BBC News - LG to put 'the first 4K OLED TVs' on sale in September

The maverick scientist has long argued that sugar is as harmful as cocaine or tobacco – and that the food industry has been adding too much of it to our meals for too long. A convert hears more about his theory

Robert Lustig: the man who believes sugar is poison | Life and style | The Guardian

If you think we are reading too much into Draghi’s off-the-cuff comments, you must remember that this is a tactic that Draghi has used before to spectacular effect — his 'whatever it takes' speech in London in July 2012 was unscripted. His remarks then were the single most significant factor in changing investor sentiment towards the euro area.

The Key Part Of Mario Draghi's Jackson Hole Speech - Business Insider

Despite very low policy rates, the cost of capital actually rose in stressed countries in this period, meaning monetary and fiscal policy effectively tightened in tandem

Europe Inflation Expectations Decline - Business Insider

While growth is allowing the US to reduce its aggregate debt ratio, slump is causing Europe’s ratios to ratchet higher. There is no reward for hair-shirt policies. Calvinism is best kept in the Presbystery. Europe’s relapse is entirely self-inflicted. It is the result of policy failure by the European Central Bank, by the European Commission, by the Eurogroup (much of it under Jean-Claude Juncker), and above all by the German finance ministry, the body that is ultimately responsible for EMU crisis strategy.

Germany is itself a victim of EMU’s austerity fanatics – Telegraph Blogs

But these numbers are likely to reverse next year, with foreclosures spiking again. And it has nothing to do with recent-vintage loans, which actually have performed as well as any in decades. Instead, a series of temporary relief measures and legacy issues from the crisis will begin to bite in 2015, causing home repossessions that could present economic headwinds. In other words, the foreclosure crisis was never solved; it was deferred. And next year, the clock begins to run out on that deferral.

Mortgage Foreclosures 2015: Why the Crisis Will Flare Up Again | New Republic

The changes are clever in their design,” Madson said. “They do not actually result in an increase in total electricity costs, and in some cases they actually [result in a decrease]. But they kill the possibility of reducing the bills by installing solar." He added, "How can they charge $500 a day to read the meter?

Is This $500-per-Day Service Charge Designed to Kill Solar in Australia? : Greentech Media

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There’s also massive growth thanks to the Affordable Care Act and aging baby boomers who need more care. And outside the U.S., there’s brisk growth in medical spending across emerging markets as residents win access to better care. That combination of growth and stability is powerful. But equally compelling is that many picks also trade for bargain valuations or offer good dividends for those willing to buy and hold.

This one stock sector can withstand all the ‘bubble’ talk - MarketWatch

When experts talk about future solar cells, they usually bring up exotic materials and physical phenomena. In the short term, however, a much simpler approach—stacking different semiconducting materials that collect different frequencies of light—could provide nearly as much of an increase in efficiency as any radical new design. And a new manufacturing technique could soon make this approach practical. Semprius has come up with three key innovations: a cheap, fast way to stack cells, a proprietary way to electrically connect cells, and a new kind of glue for holding the cells together. In its designs, Semprius uses tiny individual solar cells, each just a millimeter across. That reduces costs for cooling and also helps improve efficiency.

Startup Demonstrates Ultra-efficient Stacked Solar Cells | MIT Technology Review

The cabinet reshuffle taking place at the heart of the French government will restore confidence and help to maintain the course of reform plans, according to Jean-Claude Trichet, the former president of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the former governor of the Bank of France.

Trichet: French govt now has 'clear line and course'

A nine year-old girl in the US has killed her shooting instructor by accident while being shown how to use a high-powered submachine gun.

BBC News - Arizona shooting: Girl, nine, kills gun instructor

Japan has no option but to fuel inflation to reduce its borrowings, while the challenge is to avoid the hyperinflation that engulfed Germany’s pre-World War II Weimar Republic and impoverished its people, according to Fumio Nakakubo, who joined UBS from BlackRock Inc. this year. The yen must drop to about 120 per dollar to spark the increases in consumer prices needed to reduce Japan’s debt load, he said.

Yen at 120 Seen Needed by UBS Wary of Weimar Redux: Japan Credit - Bloomberg

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All told, Cramer can understand why investors may think year to date declines in Red Robin, Noodles & Co., Potbelly, Bloomin' Brands and Chuy's are worth a look. However, Cramer wouldn't pull the trigger.

Once promising, 5 stocks give Cramer indigestion

Some experts believe that the group's power is virtually unprecedented, at least among jihadist organizations. According to Janine Davidson and Emerson Brookings of the Council on Foreign Relations, ISIS sits atop "a volume of resources and territory unmatched in the history of extremist organizations." The group controls approximately 60% of Syria's oil fields and several oil producing assets in Iraq.

ISIS World's Richest Terrorist Group - Business Insider

While the Russian president reiterated a pledge early yesterday to do all he can to bring peace to the war-torn Donetsk and Luhansk regions, officials in Ukraine said he was doing just the opposite. Russian soldiers have joined rebel fighters in mounting a counterattack, opening a new front against Ukrainian troops who are being shelled “intensively” from across the border, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said.

Putin’s Good Cop Claim Hollow in Kiev as Rebels Widen War - Bloomberg

Hundreds of thousands of corporate computer servers, routers and other Internet devices worldwide remain vulnerable to the Heartbleed Web-security flaw nearly six months after it was disclosed, security researchers say.

Heartbleed Hack Still a Threat Six Months After Discovery - Bloomberg

Within a decade, declining prices of solar systems and batteries combined with the rise of electric vehicles may start sending internal combustion engines to the junk yard, analysts say.

Are the world’s cars on the cusp of going solar?

Rising stress in China’s $6 trillion shadow banking industry is testing central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan’s resolve to limit monetary easing as risks to the government’s growth target climb.

PBOC Resolve Tested as Shadow Banking Industry Sours - Bloomberg

"The equity bubble has disguised the mountain of net debt piling up on U.S. corporate balance sheets," Edwards writes. "This is hitting home now QE has ended. The end of the buyback bonanza may well prove to be decisive for this bubble."

Albert Edwards Warns Of Slowing Buybacks - Business Insider

If you own a stock and it refuses to go higher when the market rallies over several days, you should probably sell it.

Sell strategy used by too few investors

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There were ten houses built in China using 3D printing earlier this year. This project could soon bring 3Dhouse printing to the popular Maker movement and building contractors.

Next Big Future

The recent financial crisis has taught us to pay attention to dark corners, where the economy can malfunction badly

Where Danger Lurks -- Finance & Development, September 2014

Following Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's footsteps, European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi appears to be implementing his own three-pronged plan to rescue the euro zone economy.

Coming to Europe: A ‘Three arrow’ strategy?

President Vladimir Putin faces possible further curbs on debt sales and access to technology as European Union regulators review the arsenal of measures at their disposal to sanction Russia.

Putin Faces Debt to Import Curbs as EU Weighs Sanctions - Bloomberg

Investors are eagerly awaiting Friday's employment report, as they look to learn how many jobs were created in August. Economists polled by Reuters are looking for nonfarm payrolls to increase by 210,000. But while the market will likely cheer news of further employment gains, some experts warn that a too-hot report could take the wind of the market's sails—as "good news is bad news" proves to be the market meme that just won't die.

The truth about this week’s biggest market mover

Six years after he lost control of the largest mortgage lender in the U.S., and days after news that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles plans to sue him, the Countrywide Financial Corp. founder is baffled by a new effort to punish him, proud of past triumphs and incensed by criticism.

Angelo Mozilo Speaks: No Regrets at Countrywide - Bloomberg

Morgan Stanley strategist Adam Parker and economist Ellen Zentner believe that the conditions are just right for the bull market to keep going for years. "Our best guess is that an S&P 500 peak of near 3000 is possible should the U.S. expansion prove to have five or more years left to it, based on 6% per annum EPS growth through that time frame and a 17x price-to-earnings ratio," Parker writes.

Morgan Stanley S&P 500 3,000 - Business Insider

So far, the sanctions imposed on Russia don’t seem to have caused a major disruption to its $2 trillion economy. Now some are urging the EU to wield what may be the most powerful sanctions weapon at its disposal, the same one it used against Iran in 2012: locking Russia out of the Swift interbank payments system.

Banning Russia From the Swift Payment System Would Really Hurt - Businessweek

The United States, more than any other nation, faces pressure from space terrorism and random trash and debris floating in orbit

DailyTech - Space Terrorism is a Looming Threat For the United States