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Stock performance has been weak for the past 15 years. If history is a guide, it's likely to stay weak for at least another 10 years. Why? Because stocks are still fantastically expensive relative to most of recorded history. And in the past, when stocks have been this expensive — or close to this expensive — performance over the next decade has been lousy.
History suggests stocks are overvalued - Business Insider
Companies looking to get the government to set rules that just happen to benefit their bottom lines often seek out wonks looking to supplement their pay who will make arguments on their behalf in a dispassionate way. The resulting work isn’t submitted to academic journals, which means it doesn’t need to go through a rigorous peer-review process—or any peer review at all. So it should surprise absolutely no one to discover that Litan and co-author Hal Singer’s work supported the Capital Group’s nyet position on the administration’s proposed protections.
Elizabeth Warren challenged the Brookings Institution over industry-backed research. There’s more where that came from
If households save to accumulate a target level of wealth, either to live off in retirement or to bequeath, then an increase in wealth (because say equity markets rise) will see a lower required savings rate; and vice versa with declines in wealth raising the savings rate. In turn, a rise in the savings rate, or what is the same thing a fall in the consumption rate, will lower aggregate demand in the economy. This dependence of the savings rate on wealth is widely recognized, including by various members of the FOMC.
Savings rate increases - Business Insider
And the best thing about the Surface Book? As well as offering desktop-class performance thanks to its Skylake internals and dedicated Nvidia GPU, a 12-hour battery life and a full version of Windows 10 Pro, the display can be removed. Microsoft made jaws drop when it revealed that the Surface Book's 13.5in display, which has a 3,000x2,000 resolution, can be detached, something which sees the firm imagining a hybrid device like none seen before. Microsoft hasn't just made a tablet with a detachable keyboard, it's designed a whole new hinge and attachment mechanism, something its long list of OEM partners have so far failed to do.
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The flu season arrives so predictably, and affects so many of us, that it’s hard to believe that scientists have had very little idea why cold weather helps germs to spread. Over the last five years, however, they have finally come up with an answer that might just offer a way to stem the tide of infection – and it revolves around a rather grim fact about the ways that your sneezes linger in the air.
BBC - Future - The real reason germs spread in the winter
First, the Fed says things aren't strong enough to hike rates. Second, we see China putting up very weak numbers. Third, we have major industrial companies like Caterpillar (CAT - Get Report) say things have slowed down. Fourth, we have housing weakening while non-residential construction surveys show a definite pause in building. Fifth, we have major mineral and mining companies like Alcoa (AA - Get Report) say things have gotten quite weak in basic metals. Sixth, we have Delta (DAL - Get Report) yesterday talking about a developing wide-body airplane glut. Seventh, that great job-creating engine, oil and gas, has gone almost full stop because of a huge glut in anything energy. Finally, eighth, the coup de grace: We have the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart (WMT - Get Report) , singing the blues about the need to stop the death by a thousand cuts of weaker same-store sales.
Investing Moves for a No-Growth World; ETF Distortion: Jim Cramer's Best Blogs - TheStreet
At the opposite end of the spectrum, the chief information officer of San Jose called for vendors to develop Wi-Fi phones for the homeless. “What a powerful concept to give a homeless person a Wi-Fi calling smartphone that can charge by solar power, albeit slowly, and has data about city services stored on it -- suddenly we have transformed that person’s life,” said Vijay Sammeta, in a panel discussion at a carrier Wi-Fi event here.
Cellular, Wi-Fi clash heats up - Electronics Eetimes
The NEXT FUNDS Nikkei 225 Leveraged Index ETF–which uses derivatives to provide twice the daily performance of the Nikkei 225 Index–is up 260 percent since launching and despite a big dip over the past two months. That's actually more than two times the return of the index–a phenomenon in leveraged ETFs known as the compounding effect.
Here’s Why Japanese Investors Have Gone Ga-ga Over That Leveraged ETF - Bloomberg Business
The 2015 deficit fell to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product, the lowest since 2007 and less than the average of the last 40 years. Last year's deficit was $483 billion, with a deficit-to-GDP ratio of 2.8 percent. Accounting for calendar adjustments, the 2015 fiscal year deficit was $445 billion.
U.S. fiscal year budget deficit narrows to $439 billion | Reuters
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Cramer said in today's rapid-fire news cycle, most institutions have just minutes to scan a company's earnings release, compare numbers against expectations, then cobble together a reason why there was a "beat" or a "miss" before moving on to the next stock. But without listening to the company's conference call for context, these instant analyses are often dead wrong.
Jim Cramer's 'Mad Money' Recap: Why 'Headline Investing' Is Irrational - TheStreet
The broad take-away is that the majority of gains have happened when the market wasn’t trading,” Pearkes said in an interview Wednesday. “If you are only trading between 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. and going out flat every night, you are missing a huge amount of the overall moves the index is making.
Most stock market gains are made when you’re asleep - MarketWatch
A major cause of low core inflation is the high rate of unemployment. Labor market reforms in recent years, mainly in southern Europe, have made inflation more sensitive to the level of unemployment. High unemployment now means low inflation, and the reforms have potentially lowered the level that unemployment has to fall to before wages and consumer prices start to rise.
Europe starting to look more like Japan - Business Insider
As a free-market loving individual, it pains me to see so many of my fellow travelers claim the Fed has artificially suppressed interest rates since the onset of the crisis. Recently, I was disappointed to see George Will and Bill Gross repeat these claims. They have made these claims before, but I was hoping after all these years they would begin to question the premise of their views. But alas, it did not happen.
Macro and Other Market Musings: A Plea to My Fellow Free Marketers
Real borrowing costs are highest in weak eurozone countries such as Spain (where inflation is lowest), and lowest in the strongest (where inflation is highest), leading capital and skilled labour to flow to the eurozone’s stronger economies. The Spanish government cannot boost government spending to counter this effect and the eurozone lacks fiscal mechanisms to compensate weaker member-states for it.
Gain or more pain in Spain? | CER
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For every ten students, one will attempt suicide, one will become mentally ill, two will become alcoholics, two will slam doors and jettison the violin out the window, three will work as violinists, and perhaps one will become a soloist.
How to Make a Virtuoso Violinist | The New Republic
The gender pay gap is widening again because men’s earnings are growing this year at twice the rate of women’s. The median weekly earnings for full-time male workers was $889 in the third quarter, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That’s a 2.2% increase from a year earlier. Meanwhile, full-time female workers’ earnings were $721, up 0.8% from a year earlier.
The Gender Pay Gap Widens as Men’s Earnings Grow Twice as Fast as Women’s - Real Time Economics - WSJ
Even looking out 10 years, markets are expecting little more than 1 percent inflation on the index the Fed uses for inflation... We're caught in a vicious cycle. Incomes are too low, therefore investments are too low. ... We need to get out of that cycle
Economy 'caught in a vicious cycle': Larry Summers
Headlines scream about earnings “beats” and “misses,” but one-time events that have little to do with a company’s core business or its success can skew a company’s earnings in any given quarter. That is why it can be useful to look at sales instead. You can take this a step further and focus on the growth of sales per share, since this will “bake in” any dilution to investors from the issuance of more shares, as well as any decline in the share count brought about by stock repurchases.
10 earnings winners include Netflix, Adobe and Lennar - MarketWatch
Harvard Medical School checked the performance of their doctors on 24-hour shifts. They were shocked. Interns towards the ends of their shifts made 36% more serious errors. Of consultants who regularly worked 24-hour shifts, 74% showed signs of burnout or depression. The research found that shorter shifts and more informed placement of recovery days got much better results.
Six myths about sleep: if you got up early to read this, you’re in trouble | Paul Kelley | Comment is free | The Guardian
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10-23-2015, 08:57 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-23-2015, 08:58 PM by admin.)
You can even make a pretty good case that Japan is closer to potential output than we are. So if Japan isn’t deeply depressed at this point, why is low inflation/deflation a problem? The answer, I would suggest, is largely fiscal. Japan’s relatively healthy output and employment levels depend on continuing fiscal support.
Rethinking Japan - The New York Times
Interestingly, the casinos that give Macau such a sinful reputation are also one of the prime drivers of the territory’s longer life expectancy. Not only is Macau is the fourth-wealthiest territory in the world, but it also has the fastest-growing economy, reports the CIA World Fact Book.
BBC - Travel - The Chinese secret to living a long life
Unlike Vitamin C, which studies have found likely does nothing to prevent or treat the common cold, zinc may actually be worth it. The mineral seems to interfere with the replication of rhinoviruses, the bugs that cause the common cold. In a 2011 review of studies of people who'd recently gotten sick, researchers looked at those who'd started taking zinc and compared them with those who just took a placebo. The ones on the zinc had shorter colds and less severe symptoms.
What vitamins should I take? - Business Insider
Using a specialty pharmacy is considered an advantage for a big drug company because they can be used to bypass insurance companies that may want patients to use a lower-cost drug than the one a doctor prescribes.
Accusations highlight special pharmacies - Business Insider
The EU Fiscal Compact requires Portugal to cut its public debt from 127pc to 60pc of GDP over twenty years, under pain of sanctions, with parallel cuts in Italy, Spain, France, and Belgium that feed on each other and are likely to trap monetary union in a contractionary vortex for another generation.
Defiant Portugal shatters the eurozone's political complacency - Telegraph
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10-25-2015, 03:28 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-25-2015, 03:29 AM by admin.)
Indeed, on some level the small size of Nordic countries cuts the other way. A place as small as Denmark might worry more reasonably than the United States that highly skilled individuals would simply flee to avoid taxes, or that companies would refuse to do business there. Due to America's larger size, this kind of concern about the possible downside of high tax rates would be attenuated.
9 questions about Denmark, Bernie Sanders’s favorite socialist utopia - Vox
People who took capsules containing Bifidobacterium longum 1714 reported less stress and fared better on memory tests, study finds
Probiotic bacteria may aid against anxiety and memory problems | Science | The Guardian
The two key assumptions underlying the last policy easing decisions by the European Central Bank (ECB) are still being tested. The first assumption was that the ECB's purchase of the euro area government securities would improve the banks' balance sheets by holding up the prices of bonds, which is the main asset class held by the banking sector. Improved balance sheets and negative interest rates on bank deposits were then supposed to make banks more willing to lend to businesses and households to spend and invest. Here is an interim report on all of these points.
Migrant crisis, low lending, VW: time for whatever it takes by ECB
Headlines scream about earnings “beats” and “misses,” but one-time events that have little to do with a company’s core business or its success can skew a company’s earnings in any given quarter. That is why it can be useful to look at sales instead. You can take this a step further and focus on the growth of sales per share, since this will “bake in” any dilution to investors from the issuance of more shares, as well as any decline in the share count brought about by stock repurchases.
10 earnings winners include Netflix, Adobe and Lennar - MarketWatch
The tightest labor market in 23 years and soaring profits at some large companies sounds like a recipe for higher wages and more spending. Not in Japan, where much of the action in the job market is in low paying part-time positions and insecure contract work.
Japan's Tightest Labor Market in Decades Hasn't Boosted Spending - Bloomberg Business
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One start time doesn’t suit everyone. Too many people believe starting early is the sign of a good employee: up at 5am, gym at 5.30, work at 7. But these early-rising “larks” are extremely rare (and smug). And they’re welcome to catch – and eat – worms. Highly productive, creative workers sleep well and arrive later. Early starts leave almost everyone reaching for coffee to wake up and alcohol to go to sleep.
Six myths about sleep: if you got up early to read this, you’re in trouble | Paul Kelley | Comment is free | The Guardian
Even looking out 10 years, markets are expecting little more than 1 percent inflation on the index the Fed uses for inflation... We're caught in a vicious cycle. Incomes are too low, therefore investments are too low. ... We need to get out of that cycle
Economy 'caught in a vicious cycle': Larry Summers
Political corruption is eating our democracy out from the inside. Most Americans know that. But democratic and economic health can’t be easily disentangled. As it diminishes our public sphere and drowns out the myriad of citizen voices, it also sucks the energy and vitality from our economy. This causes pain to business owners.
Even corporate America wants campaign finance reform to stop crony capitalism | Zephyr Teachout | Comment is free | The Guardian
Camp Nou in Barcelona at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. With the ball at his feet, his famous left foot caressing it as he ponders his next move, Diego Maradona balances on the toes of his right foot surveying the scene ahead of him. Front and centre stands Belgium midfielder Franky Vercauteren with five of his team-mates fanning out in formation behind him. The visual suggestion is clear: such is the reputation for skill of the young genius on the ball that it might take up to six men to stop him. The essence of Maradona captured in one frame, there is no little irony in the fact that all is not quite what it seems.
The Joy of Six: iconic sports photos | Barry Glendenning | Sport
As there was after Mr. Putin’s action in Ukraine last year, there has been a chorus of commentary on his supposed strategic genius. He is acting decisively, seizing the initiative and creating facts on the ground — so the narrative goes, in contrast with the West’s feckless pursuits in Syria. The opposite is true. Five years ago, Russia was in a much stronger position, both at home and in the world. Today, Mr. Putin is playing defense, doubling down on bad decisions guided by an outdated theory of international politics.
The Myth of Putin’s Strategic Genius - The New York Times
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The current generation of U.K. pensioners is better off than ever before, according to new research by an influential think tank, and for the first time those that are retired have incomes higher on average than the rest of the population.
Never had it so good? Pensioners better off than workers
A program of quantitative easing is in place -- the ECB has been buying 60 billion euros worth of assets each month -- and the signs are that this has helped. But expectations of inflation remain too low, and Draghi said he was concerned about new downside risks in the outlook.
Draghi Is Right to Plan More Monetary Stimulus - Bloomberg View
It may be tempting to link this fall in yields to the actions of central banks, but this would be to confuse cause and effect. Lower yields have been associated primarily with lower real interest rates, rather than a decline in inflation expectations, while the decline in policy rates reflected the fact that maintaining stable inflation with output at potential required ever lower short and long-term real rates. In other words, the ‘neutral’ real rate of interest had fallen.
Causes and consequences of persistently low interest rates | VOX, CEPR’s Policy Portal
Some supermarket ready meals contain almost twice as much sugar as a can of Coca-Cola. A study of the contents of pre-prepared supermarket meals shows a wide range of products with worryingly high levels of sugar. A joint investigation by The Telegraph and the campaign group Action on Sugar found a sweet and sour chicken dish sold by Sainsbury’s contained 61.2g of sugar - equivalent to almost 13 teaspoons of sugar
Supermarket ready meals contain double as much sugar as can of Coca-Cola - Telegraph
Portugal has entered dangerous political waters. For the first time since the creation of Europe’s monetary union, a member state has taken the explicit step of forbidding eurosceptic parties from taking office on the grounds of national interest.
Eurozone crosses Rubicon as Portugal's anti-euro Left banned from power - Telegraph
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