- Sunday political talk shows barely cover Hurricane Maria’s devastation of Puerto Rico
The entire island is without power, a dam is in danger of bursting, and Sunday political talk shows talked about it for less than a minute
- The great nutrient collapse
The atmosphere is literally changing the food we eat, for the worse. And almost nobody is paying attention.
- When Congress hauls in Equifax CEO Richard Smith to grill him, it can start by asking why he put someone with degrees in music in charge of the company’s data security.
NYSE WADL (Weekly Advance Decline Line)
- (Economist) There are now 400 extreme weather events every year, four times as many as in 1970.
- And let’s not forget Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a pioneering climate denier.
- (WPO) The Pacific bluefin population has been depleted by more than 97 percent from its historic high, because of overfishing.
- (Bloomberg) China is working on a timetable to end production and ban sales of fossil fuel cars in electric vehicle push.
- (Economist) Republicans only want to tax profits earned at home, removing the incentive to stash foreign earnings. Cutting taxes on profits earned abroad would be a pointless giveaway. The government may as well write shareholders a cheque.
- (CNN) In other news: 6 in 10 Americans don't have $500 in savings.
- Facebook (after several denials) says Russians may have bought $100,000 in political ads.
- (NYT) Russian fingerprints are on thousands of fake Facebook and Twitter accounts that posted anti-Clinton messages
- For sale/rent a SEX robot which "moans" when its boobs are massaged. If technology is replacing the oldest profession what jobs are next??
- House prices in the US show a negative correlation with predicted climate change risk, according to property analysts Zillow, demonstrating the attraction of living by the sea.
- In little more than a month, the price of a share in Swiss National Bank increased by 50 per cent. No one knows why.
- (Economist) Since 1970, the number of disasters worldwide has more than quadrupled to around 400 a year.
VLCC Tanker Rates
- (WAPO) North Korean missile flies over Japan, sharply escalating tensions and eliciting an angry response from Tokyo..
- (FX Street) State Farm, Liberty Mutual and Allstate are the insurers most exposed to losses from Hurricane Harvey.
- (Guardian) Kenyans producing, selling or even using plastic bags will risk imprisonment of up to four years or fines of $40,000 (£31,000) from Monday, as the world’s toughest law aimed at reducing plastic pollution came into effect.
- (FT) The Chinese population in Africa is now in decline as workers return to China because of falling commodity price.
- (FT) The UK generated more electricity from wind turbines than from burning coal last year — a first.
- Trump’s high-level business advisory groups have fallen apart.
- Trump has abandoned plans to create an infrastructure advisory council.
- Japan, the world's third-largest economy expanded by a much stronger-than-expected annualized rate of 4.0% in April-June -- its longest uninterrupted run of growth in a decade,
- (Scientific American) The world can expect 3 to 7% less crop yield for each degree rise in temperature
- World's most populous city Shanghai just registered highest
temperature of 40.9C (105 F) in recorded history.
- U.S. Housing starts rose for the first time in four months in
June, increasing 8.3% to an annual rate of 1.215 million.
- The euro zone's public deficit dropped in the first quarter
of the year to its lowest level in nearly a decade, driven by a widening
surplus in Germany.
- China has raised its 2017 annual GDP projection to 6.8% YoY
from 6.6 % previously.
- US and retail sales fell for a second straight month.
- U.S.
business inventories rose 0.3% after an unrevised 0.2% decrease in April.
- Sales
fell 0.2%, the biggest decline since July 2016, after being unchanged in April.
- U.S. Consumer prices were
unchanged in June.
- Chances of a U.S. rate hike
in December fell to 47% from 55%.
- All this points to tame inflation and subdued expectations
of strong economic growth in the second quarter.
- CAD derived extra support after the Bank of Canada raised
its overnight rate target by 25 bp to 0.75%.
- Drill, baby, drill. Baker Hughes says the worldwide rig
count for June was 2,041, up 106 from May and up 634 from June 2016
