Baltic Dry Index. 942 -26. Brent Crude 51.38
(4) the information contains a
prominent warning that the figures refer to the past and that past performance
is not a reliable indicator of future results;
The FCA Handbook.
After Wall Street’s
wobble, Asian stocks tremble. Could the giant global stock market bubble blow
off in the summer without waiting for the autumn crash season? Black Monday, October 19, 1987, began with a
poor close to the previous week.
Below, our nervous
global stock markets. Crude oil’s continued rally will soon bring added cost
pressure to most stocks, and most inflation figures too. If the oil rally is
war related to a US - North Korea war within weeks, oil prices have much
further to travel. An oil shock might lie just ahead. In massive stock market
bubbles, getting out early always trumps getting out late.
"Liquidation
sometimes is orderly, but more frequently degenerates into panic as the
realization spreads that there is only so much money, not enough to enable
everyone to sell out at the top."
Charles
P. Kindleberger, Manias, Panics and Crashes.
Asia Stocks, U.S. Futures Tumble on Tech Selloff: Markets Wrap
By Adam Haigh
Asian stocks and S&P 500 index futures declined as
disappointing earnings from Amazon.com Inc. weighed on sentiment that had
already been dented by Thursday’s sudden selloff in U.S. technology shares. The
euro rallied to the highest since January 2015 against the Swiss franc.
The dollar halted a rebound on data showing U.S. durable-goods orders
climbed more than expected. The euro extended an overnight rally against the
Swiss franc, surging as much as 0.8 percent to the highest since the Swiss
National Bank removed its minimum-exchange rate on the pair. Stocks in Japan, Australia
and South Korea were lower, while Amazon weighed on Nasdaq 100 Index futures.
Attention remains on corporate results ahead of a report on U.S.
second-quarter growth. U.S. stocks have rallied to records amid signs of solid
economic growth globally and as more than three-quarters of S&P 500
companies have delivered earnings that beat forecasts.
“Investors are becoming increasingly wary over the historically low
volatility levels, with a host of key economic data coming out in the U.S.,”
Hideyuki Ishiguro, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities Co. in Tokyo, said.
“With Amazon’s earnings falling short of estimates, the U.S. market may
readjust its expectations.”
More
Dow ends at record, but tech slump weighs on S&P 500, Nasdaq
Published: July 27, 2017 5:05 p.m. ET
Apple shares drop nearly 2% to weigh heavily on benchmarks
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record on Thursday driven by earnings-fueled gains in Verizon and Boeing, but the broader market finished in negative territory due to a firm slump in technology stocks.The Dow DJIA, +0.39% ended 85.54 points, or 0.4%, higher at 21,796.55, powered by a rally in shares of Boeing Co. and Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, +7.68%
Technology-weighted indexes, however took a beating.
The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.63% closed 40 points, or 0.6% to 6,382, but off its worst levels. At its intraday low during the midday pullback, the Nasdaq was down 104 points, or 1.6%, before paring that steep drop. Apple Inc. AAPL, -1.89% shares weighed on the index with a 1.9% decline.
The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.10% ended off 2.41 points, or 0.1%, to 2,475.42, weighed by those technology declines, health-care and industrials. Gains in telecoms, energy, the consumer sectors, helped to moderate the broad-market gauge’s decline.
The downturn in tech came despite better-than-expected results late Wednesday from social-media giant Facebook Inc. FB, +2.92% The company could be nearing a $500 billion market cap if shares maintain their strength throughout the session. The stock has already jumped nearly 50% thus far this year.
Facebook is one of the so-called FAANG stocks, a reference to the quintet of technology and internet names (Facebook, Apple, Amazon AMZN, -0.65% Netflix NFLX, -3.38% and Google-parent Alphabet Inc. GOOG, -1.45% GOOGL, -1.33% that have powered market returns thus far this year. However, those sharp gains have also raised questions over valuations.
More
We end with something different. Is this yet
another sign, this current long in the tooth recovery has/is approaching the
top? Below, Bloomberg gushes and babbles unashamedly, over the latest Rolls-Royce
offering. I’m somewhat less impressed by
its looks. If I win the lottery, I’ll wait to see what the next decade’s
e-Roller looks like.
Rolls-Royce Unveils Its Grandest Car Yet, the Phantom VIII
It’s been 14 years since
Rolls updated its flagship chariot, and the result is worth the wait.
By Hannah Elliott, Elisabeth Behrmann, and Thomas Seal
27 July 2017, 21:00 GMT+1
Rolls-Royce has introduced the Phantom VIII.
This is Rolls-Royce’s largest and grandest car ever, born from the same line as those used by Elvis and Queen Elisabeth II and 50 Cent, plus myriad tycoons and oligarchs the world over. The revamped saloon will cost 375,000-euro ($440,000).
This is Rolls-Royce’s largest and grandest car ever, born from the same line as those used by Elvis and Queen Elisabeth II and 50 Cent, plus myriad tycoons and oligarchs the world over. The revamped saloon will cost 375,000-euro ($440,000).
Unveiled to the public in London today, just days after the U.K. moved
to ban combustion vehicles by 2040, the 2018 Rolls-Royce Phantom is only the
second modern version of the flagship state car that Rolls first introduced in
1925. BMW Group unveiled the first truly modern Phantom in 2003 and used it
until 2011; Phantom VIII is the first time since then that the car has been
updated completely. In the years before 2003, Rolls was producing the Phantom
VI on an incredible run from 1968 to 1990.
The car’s longevity is a testament to its design, which has withstood
the test of time with grace and aplomb. That success is, in turn, a challenge
to the Rolls-Royce designers who labored to birth the new one in Goodwood,
England. The half-million-dollar Phantom is Rolls’s biggest money-making series
around the world. In this rare air, there is no margin for error.
“Rolls-Royce will start to go electric in the next decade,” Torsten
Müller-Ötvös, the brand’s chief, said in an interview. “You need to have then
an effortless charging situation,” as its wealthy clientele isn’t in the mood
to spend more than “a couple of minutes” topping up batteries.
From
my first experiences with the car, it looks like the team can rest easy.
Everything about the Phantom VIII is smooth, especially how it looks. Giles
Taylor, the director of design for Rolls-Royce, deserves much credit here for
accomplishing what many have not—creating a new iteration of an old car so that
it feels fresh but familiar. His Phantom VIII manages to look both modern and
majestic.
During
the private preview in New York, Taylor said he wanted the car to look as
though it’s surging forward as a boat would emerging from the water. It does:
The new super-clean stainless steel grille is recessed and pushed up higher
than previous generations so that the Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament virtually
catapults forward. The front end of the car is shorter and the back is
longer than previously, as well. All the styling lines in the rear circle
forward and lead the eye back through to the front wheel. The rear glass
is raked more aggressively than on Phantom VII, which adds to the general idea
of forward thrust.
----
The intricate details of every component inside the car are too numerous and mind-numbing
to list here, but suffice to say they adorn the car like jewels. The rear light
cluster has tiny Double-RR badges etched in; the high-gloss picnic tables and
chrome dials make the rear feel like a theater (yes, there are movie screens);
the center of the wheels always point right-side up even as the car drives.
Taylor even made the wood paneling across the back of the front seats to evoke
the famous Eames Lounge Chair.
More
Experts
give several reasons why past performance is no guarantee of future results.
The most frequently cited is that any outstanding track record turned in by a
money manager is the result of the market favoring his particular investment
style. One implication of this is that any such performance is entirely
unpredictable—as is the time period that such good fortune may or may not last.
Crooks and Scoundrels Corner
The bent, the seriously bent, and the totally doubled over.
Today, more on that great fatal fire of London 2017. The Police are
about to go after the Council and Tenant Management Organisation for “corporate
manslaughter.” But what about the London Fire Brigade who fatally told the
tenants to remain-in-place. Without that disastrous, recklessly wrong advice,
there’s a high probability most of the deaths could have been avoided. If it
was “manslaughter,” who was it that really caused the manslaughter? But have the police managed to establish any Mens Rea?
July 27, 2017 / 6:49 PM
British police suspect corporate manslaughter over tower blaze - BBC
LONDON (Reuters) - British police investigating the Grenfell Tower fire
that killed at least 80 people in London last month said there are grounds to
suspect that corporate manslaughter may have been committed by the local
council, the BBC reported on Thursday.
The BBC said Kensington and Chelsea Council and the Kensington and
Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation have been told there are grounds to
suspect that each may have committed the offence.
"There are reasonable grounds to suspect that each organisation may
have committed the offence of corporate manslaughter," the BBC quoted a
letter from London police to residents of the tower block as saying.
Kensington and Chelsea Council did not immediately comment on the report
when contacted by Reuters.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-fire-police-idUKKBN1AC2U6
Corporate manslaughter is a criminal
offence in English law, being an act of homicide
committed by a company or organisation. In general, in English criminal
law, a juristic person is in the same position as a natural
person, and may be convicted for committing many offences. The Court of Appeal confirmed in
one of the cases following the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster
that a company can, in principle, commit manslaughter, although all
defendants in that case were acquitted.
Technology Update.
With events happening
fast in the development of solar power and graphene, I’ve added this section.
Updates as they get reported. Is converting sunlight to usable cheap AC or DC
energy mankind’s future from the 21st century onwards?
Carbon nanotubes turn electrical current into light-emitting quasi-particles
Date:
July 24, 2017
Source:
Heidelberg, Universität
Summary:
Light-matter quasi-particles can be generated electrically in semiconducting
carbon nanotubes, report scientists. Strong light-matter coupling in these
semiconducting tubes may hold the key to electrically pumped lasers, they add.
Light-matter quasi-particles can be generated electrically in
semiconducting carbon nanotubes. Material scientists and physicists from
Heidelberg University (Germany) and the University of St Andrews (Scotland)
used light-emitting and extremely stable transistors to reach strong
light-matter coupling and create exciton-polaritons. These particles may pave
the way for new light sources, so-called electrically pumped polariton lasers,
that could be manufactured with carbon nanotubes. These findings, published in
"Nature Materials," are the result of a cooperation between Prof. Dr
Jana Zaumseil (Heidelberg) and Prof. Dr Malte C. Gather (St Andrews).
In recent years, research on organic, carbon-based semiconductors for
optoelectronic components has led to a variety of applications. Among them are
light-emitting diodes for energy-efficient, high-resolution smartphone and TV
screens. Despite the rapid progress in this area, realising an electrically
pumped laser from organic materials remains elusive. To get closer to this
goal, researchers in Heidelberg and St Andrews are working on coupling light
and matter in semiconducting carbon nanotubes -- microscopically small,
tube-shaped structures of carbon.
When photons (light) and excitons (matter) are made to exchange energy
fast enough they form new quasi-particles, known as exciton-polaritons, that
also emit light. Under certain conditions these emissions can take on the
properties of laser light. Prof. Zaumseil explains that exciton-polaritons are
currently investigated as a new way to generate laser-like light from organic
materials and research in this area has increased significantly.
The team of researchers around Prof. Zaumseil and Prof. Gather
previously showed that it is possible to form exciton-polaritons in
semiconducting carbon nanotubes. But they used an external laser to stimulate
the formation of the light-emitting quasi-particles. In their current
experiments, the researchers showed that it is possible to use electricity to
generate these particles. To achieve this, they developed a light-emitting
transistor with a dense layer to semiconducting carbon nanotubes that was
embedded between two metallic mirrors.
Because of the extreme stability and high conductivity provided by the
carbon nanotubes in this device, current densities and thus polariton densities
were orders of magnitude above any previously reported values. Calculations by
PhD student Arko Graf -- one of the two lead authors of the study, show that
the demonstration of an electrically pumped polariton laser is within realistic
reach. As the emission of these light sources can be tuned across a wide range
of the near-infrared spectrum, this work holds particular promise for
applications in telecommunications.
Another weekend and a
weekend of frenzied media speculation on both sides of the Atlantic. In GB, was
it manslaughter, by who to whom. Who really was to blame for the unnecessary Grenfell
Tower deaths? In America, has the US Presidency gone into meltdown? Have a
great weekend everyone.
"To
turn $100 into $110 is work. To turn $100 million into $110 million is
inevitable."
Edgar
Bronfman, Chairman, Seagrams .
The monthly Coppock Indicators finished June
DJIA: 21,350 +196 Up. NASDAQ: 6,140 +235 Up. SP500: 2,423 +166 Up.
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