Economy
Stocks Have Rarely Been This Quiet in the Past 50 Years (Adam T.)
The S&P 500 is in one of its longest streaks without a 1% daily move in the past five decades, highlighting how the latest leg of the stock-market rally has been a gradual climb rather than a euphoric surge.
The broad equity gauge hasn’t moved 1% or more in either direction since mid-October, its sixth-longest streak since the end of 1969 and third-longest since the end of 1995, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
The drama in Virginia has escalated again as Governor Ralph Northam declares an official State of Emergency before January 20th’s “Lobby Day” protests.
Citing violence that erupted in Charlottesville during a Unite the Right rally in 2017, Northam said that there are credible threats that “armed militia groups plan to storm the Capitol” during Monday’s rally. In an executive order, he announced he is banning all weapons from Capitol Square for the day.
Dow Futures Point to Fresh Record Highs as Bulls Ride U.S.-China Trade Pact (Thomas R.)
Wall Street futures edged further into record high territory Thursday, while global stocks returned to all-time highs, as investors reacted to details of the U.S.-China trade agreement and bullish signals for the tech sector following stronger-than-expected earnings from the world’s biggest contract chipmaker.
Phrenology revisited (jesper)
It is with tribulation, and in the light of one diode in this world without living light that inside Plato´s cave (come in have a seat) I now declare to the world the sciences of morphology. This extension of topology was known to antiquity and ended inside (first the speculations of physicians over the female body) the racist take of phrenology; skull-measuring techniques.
How we spotted a potential new planet around the sun’s neighbouring star (Thomas R.)
Most exoplanets, bodies orbiting stars other than the sun, are too far away for us to be able to send probes to. So it’s no wonder that the discovery of a possible habitable planet around the sun’s nearest neighbour star, Proxima Centauri, a few years ago generated a lot of excitement. Now we have spotted what we think is a second planet around this star.
A Tale of Two Markets (garyc)
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of QE, it was the age of fiscal foolishness, it was the epoch of the Fed Put, it was the epoch of Greater Fool Theory, it was the season of golden light, and it was the season of fiat darkness.
Reading Sun Tzu in Tehran (WestCoastJan)
Iran is not done. General Hajizadeh, Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, said in a briefing yesterday that the strike “was the starting point of a great operation”. He also underlined that “the strikes were not meant to cause fatalities: We intended [rather] to deliver a blow to the enemy’s military machine”. And the Pentagon is saying, too, that Iran intentionally missed US troops at the bases.
This is tantamount to the Pentagon admitting that Iran can land missiles with extreme accuracy over a distance of several hundred miles – and further, this occurred with not one missile being intercepted by the US forces.
I Was 20 and Broke When My Grandmother Inspired Me to Buy A Home Solo (Thomas R.)
Grandmothers are associated with all kinds of wisdom—they contain lifetimes of knowledge about cooking, sewing, babies. They know how to remove stubborn stains and use bobby pins correctly. Jasmine Smith’s* grandmother Clarice had a different set of skills to pass along: real estate investment and property management. “She was very clear that you had to own property,” Jasmine says.
Finding the Future in Radical Rural America (edelinsk)
It’s time to rewrite the narrative of “Trump Country.” Rural places weren’t always red, and many are turning increasingly blue.
“In Appalachia, so-called “mountain Republicans” comprised an old vanguard of anti- secessionists who thought of themselves as particularly enlightened—heirs, they imagined, to the legacy of Abraham Lincoln. My grandfather belonged (or at least aspired to belong) to that tradition. “
Energy
The Navy’s Smallest Warship Gets a Big Laser Weapon (Thomas R.)
One of the U.S. Navy’s newest and smallest warships is the latest to receive a laser weapon system. The USS Little Rock, which made the news last year after being trapped in Canada by ice, will get a laser during an upcoming deployment sometime this year. The laser is one of the most powerful military lasers yet and should give it the ability to damage or destroy small boats, drones, and aircraft.
Environment
A blob of hot water in the Pacific Ocean killed a million seabirds, scientists say (Thomas R.)
As many as one million seabirds died at sea in less than 12 months in one of the largest mass die-offs in recorded history — and researchers say warm ocean waters are to blame.
The birds, a fish-eating species called the common murre, were severely emaciated and appeared to have died of starvation between the summer of 2015 and the spring of 2016, washing up along North America’s west coast, from California to Alaska.
Rain pelts fire-ravaged Australian states, bringing new risks — and some relief (Thomas R.)
Residents of drought-hit areas who have spent years waiting for rain celebrated its arrival on Thursday. Rain fell in major cities, including Sydney, where water flowed through the streets.
Forecasters predict more rain over the next few days, but they warn it could cause flash flooding in areas of parched land. Years of drought have left some regions so dry that rain just runs off the ground. The massive fires have burned through some of the vegetation that would normally soak up the precipitation.
Gold & Silver
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