August 10
Stocks are up Monday for the start of the week, ending the seven-day losing streak. The S&P500 was up 1.3% at the close. The Nasdaq climbed 1.2%, and the Dow was up 1.4%. Dean Foods stock dipped 2.9% after its second quarter sales disappointed. Sysco reported lower profit but beat expectations, giving the stock a 1.8% boost. Oil scraped higher Monday, adding 2.5% and taking crude to $44.96 a barrel.
Google launches parent company. Google is starting Alphabet, a new parent company for Google and “a collection of companies.” Larry Page will be running Alphabet and Sundar Pichai will become CEO of Google. Alphabet will replace Google as the publicly traded entity. Wall Street Journal
Atlanta Fed president says interest rate rise is “close.” Fed President Dennis Lockhart told the Atlanta Press Club in a speech Monday “the point of liftoff is close.” Hikes should be gradual, but more frequent than every other meeting. Reuters
Ferguson in state of emergency, again. Protesters took to the streets in Ferguson, Mo. on the one year anniversary of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. Violence broke out last night, and several demonstrators were arrested. A teenager was shot by police and is in critical condition after he allegedly shot at law enforcement. CNN
Twitter stock climbs with NFL deal, insider buys. Twitter shares are up 9% Monday afternoon after the social media company signed a new deal with the NFL. Twitter and the NFL have partnered since 2013, but the new deal means even more content for Twitter. Interim CEO Jack Dorsey helped by grabbing more than 31,000 shares last week. The stock is down 22% this year. Last Friday large shareholder Chris Sacca made public his support for Dorsey as CEO. Forbes, Mashable
Fed vice chairman says September not a guarantee. Federal Reserve vice chairman Stanley Fischer hinted Monday that interest rates may not rise in September. Fischer said he still wants to see inflation and employment at “more normal levels.” “Not everything is rosy and the Fed still has a lot of data to parse over the next five weeks before the next Fed meeting,” he said. MarketWatch
Warren Buffett grabs biggest deal yet. Berkshire Hathaway is buying Precision Castparts for $32 billion. Berkshire has held a 3% stake in the aircraft and oil industry parts maker for more than two years. Precision has underperformed the S&P 500 by nearly 30 percentage points over the past five years, making it a ripe takeover target. Wall Street Journal (paywall)
Junior Seau remembered. Sydney Seau, daughter of legendary linebacker Junior Seau, commemorated her father after the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction last weekend. Seau recorded her speech in a hotel room, as the Hall of Fam doesn’t allow others to give full speeches on the behalf of deceased inductees. Junior Seau committed suicide in 2012 at age 43. He was later found to have a degenerative brain condition linked to repeated hits to the head. New York Times (paywall)
Interest rates traders in line for pay hikes. After nearly a decade in the shadows, rate traders are hot thanks to expectations that the Federal Reserve is about to raise rates. One recruiter estimates pay is 10% higher for the group which has shrunk by one-third since 2008. Did someone say talent war? Financial Times
The unflappable Donald Trump defends record on women. But he’s not apologizing for his remarks about Fox News host Megyn Kelly in an interview with CNN on Friday. Trump said she had “blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her…wherever.” He claims he didn’t intend to be rude just to describe her level of anger on “Meet the Press,” Trump added: “When I was attacked viciously by those women, of course, it’s very hard for them to attack me on looks, because I’m so good looking. But I was attacked very viciously by those women.” Wall Street Journal (paywall)
You won’t believe this:
To smoke or not to smoke, that is the question. According to a new study, ol’ Billy Shakespeare may have been a pothead. Tobacco pipes from Shakespeare’s garden had cannabis and nicotine residue. And the poet’s Sonnet 76 does mention “invention in a noted weed.” This may explain a lot about “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Buzzfeed
EPA dumped 3 million gallons of contaminated water. The EPA accidentally polluted the Animas River in Colorado with more than 3 million gallons of water contaminated with arsenic, lead, and other metals. The water came from the abandoned Gold King Mine and colored the river an unnatural shade of orange. The cheese-colored water is flowing into New Mexico and will travel to Utah. Newsweek
The traffic light celebrates its 101st anniversary. Installed this month in Cleveland, Ohio — site of the first Republican presidential debate. Vox
Photo: Peter Alfred Hess