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It might be easy to conclude China’s unprecedented retreat from Treasuries is bad news for America. After all, as the biggest overseas creditor to the U.S., China has bankrolled hundreds of billions of dollars in deficit spending, particularly since the financial crisis. And that voracious appetite for Treasuries in recent years has been key in keeping America’s funding costs in check, even as the market for U.S. government debt ballooned to a record $13.2 trillion. Yet for many debt investors, there’s little reason for alarm.
China Retreat From U.S. Bonds Prompts Shrugs Where Fear Reigned - Bloomberg Business
Sony is looking to launch TVs with its Backlight Master Drive over the next few years. It's a new backlighting system for LCD TVs that tries to fix the color and brightness shortcomings of LCD when compared to OLED. Sony also wants to ensure its future LCD TVs are ready for the incoming wave of HDR content (video that has its dynamic range increased even further: blacker blacks, brighter whites).
Sony aims to reinvent its LCD TVs to match OLED rivals
This calendar is published by the Texas Department of Transportation as part of its traffic safety efforts. It shows how many fatal collisions and traffic deaths happened every day of the year. On average, someone is killed every two and a half hours on Texas streets, and someone is injured every two minutes, according to TxDOT
Why Texas hasn't had a day without a traffic fatality in over 15 years - Business Insider
Occupying a small, second-floor space in the same office park as 3D printing giant Stratasys, a tiny Israeli upstart is trying to sell investors on a future in which physical objects materialize with the press of a button. Nano Dimension is nowhere near achieving that goal, yet somehow has become Israel’s best-performing technology stock in 2015.
Israel’s Best-Performing Tech Stock Hasn’t Sold a Single Product - Bloomberg Business
If the events of last year — from the rise of the Islamic State to Russia's invasion of Ukraine — harbingered the fracturing of the world, then 2015 showed that some wounds can in fact be healed. Historic agreements with Iran, Cuba, and Greece all emerged from months, even decades, of hard-fought, spirited negotiations. Common ground, whether political, economic, or moral, ultimately bested the power of indifference. Other stories showed that public opinion, no matter how seemingly intransigent, can change: In both the United States and heavily Catholic Ireland, for instance, same-sex marriage is now legal. Yet despite this headway, the work of curing what ails the world is not done. This year's Global Thinkers represent how the struggle — from Raqqa to Washington, Athens to Kabul — continues. While some of them are impediments, many more have generated ideas that could promise humankind a better future.
The Year of Changing Our Minds: The Leading Global Thinkers of 2015
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In the German case the important number here isn’t the country’s total population, currently 82 million. It’s the twentysomething population, which was less than 10 million in 2013 (and of course already included many immigrants). In that cohort and every cohort afterward, the current influx could have a transformative effect.
Germany on the Brink - The New York Times
In recent years, China’s growth has come heavily from massive infrastructure investment; indeed, China put in place more cement and concrete between 2011 and 2013 than the United States did in the whole of the 20th century. This growth, too, is unsustainable, and even if it is replaced by domestic services, China’s contribution to demand for global commodities will fall way off.
Why the Fed needs to prepare for the worst right now - The Washington Post
A dramatic market rise followed by an equally spectacular fall, such as a doubling in prices that is followed by a halving in value, is often regarded as a bubble followed by a bust. Seeking out such events, Goetzmann analyzes returns for 42 stock markets around the world from 1900 through 2014. He finds that bubble-and-bust episodes are uncommon, and urges caution in drawing conclusions from the widely-reported and discussed great bubbles of history.
www.nber.org/digest/jan16/w21693.html
Now, what Ghayad and Dickens found is that the Beveridge curves look normal across all ages, industries, and education levels, as long as you haven't been out of work for more than six months. But the curves shift up for everybody if you've been unemployed longer than six months. In other words, it doesn't matter whether you're young or old, a blue-collar or white-collar worker, or a high school or college grad; all that matters is how long you've been out of work.
The Terrifying Reality of Long-Term Unemployment - The Atlantic
While the European Central Bank announced tamer-than-expected quantitative easing measures this month, it also offered a bit of reassurance to those counting on a broader QE program: bank president Mario Draghi said that the ECB was prepared, if necessary, to implement further easing. But is more easing actually likely in the coming year? Credit Suisse believes the answer is “no.” To understand why, it’s important to look at what might have prompted the bank to limit its latest round of easing.
When Doves Cry: The End of QE in the ECB - The Financialist
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Drunken-driving charges against a woman in upstate New York have been dismissed based on an unusual defence: her body is a brewery. The woman was arrested while driving with a blood-alcohol level more than four times the legal limit. She then discovered she has a rare condition called “auto-brewery syndrome”, in which her digestive system converts ordinary food into alcohol, her lawyer Joseph Marusak said.
Woman whose body turns food into alcohol beats drink-drive charge | US news | The Guardian
Chronic procrastinators have low self-esteem, low self-worth. They are high on self-consciousness, high on self-handicapping. Experimentally, they handicap, they do worse, and they know it too. That’s an experiment we did. Procrastinators were poorer in self-regulation, and they knew that they were poor in this, as well. And relationships suffer. So there’s nothing positive.
Procrastination is bad for your health - Vox
The key to beating stress is to care less – and if that means wearing your pyjamas to the corner shop, so be it
Drowning in commitments? It's time to stop giving a damn | Life and style | The Guardian
10 attractively valued Dividend Champions/Aristocrats for 2016. The primary appeal for these selections is safety, above-average current income and long-term dividend income growth. Bonus: 5 attractively valued Dividend Champions/Aristocrats based on fair valuation related to cash flow.
10 Undervalued Dividend Champions For 2016: Be Greedy When Others Are Fearful | Seeking Alpha
Why is Middle America killing itself? The fact itself is probably the most important social science finding in years. It is already reshaping American politics. The Post’s Jeff Guo notes that the people who make up this cohort are “largely responsible for Donald Trump’s lead in the race for the Republican nomination for president.” The key question is why, and exploring it provides answers that suggest that the rage dominating U.S. politics will only get worse.
America’s self-destructive whites - The Washington Post
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Citigroup Inc. Chief Economist Willem Buiter placed about a one-in-three chance on the U.K. voting to exit the European Union, as Prime Minister David Cameron struggles to wring concessions from his EU partners.
Citigroup's Buiter Sees One-in-Three Chance of U.K. Exiting EU - Bloomberg Business
Here's some welcome news. The Fed is bringing back an old tool to regulate leverage in the financial market: increased margin requirements. And in even more welcome news, these requirements will apply to everyone, not just banks:
Good News: The Fed Is Finally Going After Leverage in the Shadow Banking Sector | Mother Jones
“There is no evidence of anything rolling over in the US. Europe is clearly recovering and the M3 money supply in Germany is growing at almost 10pc, which normally means stronger activity,” he said. Bank of America said panic selling had triggered its “contrarian buy signal”, since 88pc of global equity indexes are now trading below their 200-day and 50-day moving averages. The "Bull & Bear" index is at an ultra-negative level of 1.3.
RBS cries 'sell everything' as deflationary crisis nears - Telegraph
Albert Edwards, strategist at the bank Société Générale, said the west was about to be hit by a wave of deflation from emerging market economies and that central banks were unaware of the disaster about to hit them. His comments came as analysts at Royal Bank of Scotland urged investors to “sell everything” ahead of an imminent stock market crash.
Beware the great 2016 financial crisis, warns leading City pessimist | Business | The Guardian
The interest rate in central banks is rising on Twitter. The number of people following the top 10 monetary authorities on the social-media website jumped 51 percent to just over 2 million in the year to mid-October, according to a survey by Central Banking Publications.
Central Bankers Enjoy Twitter Party as Followers Jump by Half - Bloomberg Business
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Note: Only 124 thousand public sector jobs have been added during the first thirty five months of Obama's 2nd term (following a record loss of 702 thousand public sector jobs during Obama's 1st term). This is less than 8% of the public sector jobs added during Reagan's 2nd term!
Calculated Risk: Public and Private Sector Payroll Jobs: Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama
Edwards attacked what he said was the “incredible conceit” of central bankers, who had failed to learn the lessons of the housing bubble that led to the financial crisis and slump of 2008-09. “They didn’t understand the system then and they don’t understand how they are screwing up again. Deflation is upon us and the central banks can’t see it.”
Beware the great 2016 financial crisis, warns leading City pessimist | Business | The Guardian
Intel is backing away from a major resistance zone. This area sits between $34.75 and $35.50 and is now looking very much like a major peak following this morning's downside gap open. Intel had been clinging to support near the December lows the last two sessions, but this area is getting blown out now. In the near term, investors should expect considerable downside. Intel is leaving behind multiple layers of very heavy supply that will prove nearly impossible to take out without a fresh base. A drift down to major support near the $31.90 area may provide the footing needed to begin base construction.
Intel (INTC) Is About to Drag the Semis Even Lower: Must-See Charts - TheStreet
LG Display also exhibited 65-inch and 77-inch UHD OLED TV panels that claim to offer the ultimate picture performance in terms of contrast, color accuracy, and viewing angle. The 65-inch and 77-inch OLED TV panels, featuring a High Dynamic Range (HDR) function with its perfect black and improved luminance, claim to provide unbeatable picture quality and the same level of color gamut seen in professional monitors used to edit theatrical films.
18-inch rollable display showcases future potential of OLEDs - Electronics Eetimes
Volkswagen AG managed to temper a December sales slump in the U.S. as it grapples with its diesel-emissions scandal. Just one day after the U.S. Justice Department sued the company for cheating on federal standards, the German automaker reported a 9.1 percent decline in deliveries of its namesake brand to 30,956 vehicles from 34,058 a year earlier. The result was less than November’s 26 percent plunge and the 20 percent drop predicted by TrueCar Inc., an auto-pricing research company.
Volkswagen's U.S. Sales Slump in December Amid Emission Scandal - Bloomberg Business
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"There's 60 different ways at least that alcohol can make you unwell or kill you," he told me over a glass of water. "It's not just the obvious things like liver disease.
Michael Mosley: The truth about alcohol - BBC News
Far from “mourning the loss of his mate”, the male kangaroo pictured in “heartbreaking” viral photographs with its injured female “companion” might have been responsible for her death while attempting to mate with her, experts say. The images, taken on a bushland property in River Heads, Queensland, Australia, show a male eastern grey kangaroo holding the head of a dying female, in front of her joey.
Kangaroo in 'grieving' photos may have killed while trying to mate, scientist says | Science | The Guardian
Video-streaming service provider Netflix's subscribers will no longer be able to use proxies to watch content not available in their home country. Subscribers often resort to proxies, or servers that facilitate access to Internet content not available locally, to watch Netflix's popular shows such as "House of cards" and "Orange is the New Black."
Netflix to block proxy access to content not available locally
The potential for video is even more staggering with this 250-megapixel sensor capable of capturing a resolution of video footage 125 times the size of Full HD (1920 x 1080) and 30 times that of 4K video (3840 x 2160).
Canon's 250-megapixel sensor is exciting and here's why
A few dozen people who were given brain implants that delivered targeted shocks to their mind's memory center scored better on memory tests, DARPA announced at a conference in St. Louis last week.
Brain implants for memory - Business Insider
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I ticked off the big four: Earnings, China, the Fed, Oil. I mean, they are the big four, aren't they? She asked, can any of them get better? I said anything's possible. China puts together a good streak of some kind of number. Earnings could turn out to be better. Oil might stabilize, although I don't know why, and the Fed might blink. But I said I didn't think any of the Big Four is about to get better, so to speak. She assessed it like any good trader. Hmm, oh well, but you can't wait until they all get better, and at this point you can't even wait for one of them to get better, because we are so oversold and you will miss the whoosh, the sudden explosion upward when the unexpectedly positive occurs. Because it so often has, in the 30 years we've talked stocks.
Why the Smart Money Is Buying; Unchecking the Boxes: Jim Cramer's Best Blogs - Pg.2 - TheStreet
The latest scientific research, published in the journal Nature, suggests that air pollution now kills more people a year than malaria and HIV combined, and in many countries accounts for roughly 10 times more deaths than road accidents.
Shock figures to reveal deadly toll of global air pollution | Environment | The Guardian
This freedom is something Morricone has often been afforded by the directors he has worked with – he once remarked that part of the reason Sergio Leone’s westerns were so slow was that certain scenes were extended in order to accommodate his soundtrack, a luxury that seems almost unthinkable in today’s film industry.
Ennio Morricone: back in the saddle | Music | The Guardian
Tea drinkers, in contrast, had longer and more restful slumbers. Verdict: Tea offers many of the benefits of coffee, without the sleepless nights – a clear win... Overall, people who drink three cups a day appear to have a 37% lower risk of depression than those who do not drink tea.
BBC - Future - Tea or coffee: Which drink is better for you?
Here’s a technical analysis look at the current state of the selloff across developing markets. 1. About 40 percent of the stocks in China’s benchmark gauge are oversold with relative strength indexes below 30.
Five Charts Show How Bad the Emerging-Market Stock Rout Really Is - Bloomberg Business
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