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A roundup of what The Globe and Mail's market strategist Scott Barlow is reading this morning on the World Wide Web.

The Shanghai Exchange madness continued overnight, but in the opposite direction. The index fell more than six per cent intraday and a big chunk of the stocks were halted after hitting limit down.

I'm not convinced the bizarre, mega-volume activity in Shanghai will spread outside the country so I'm just watching in slack-jawed bemusement.

"China's stocks sink most since 2009 as turnover jumps to record" – Bloomberg

"Five charts that show China's stock boom is unprecedented" – Bloomberg

A fascinating Bloomberg report suggests that cratering energy prices will put downward pressure on all global commodities. The argument is that energy costs are a major factor in mining and agricultural operations and cheaper energy costs will lead to lower prices for copper, corn, wheat, and everything else.

"Because energy accounts for as much as half the cost to produce food and metals, all sorts of commodities will keep dropping, according to Societe Generale SA and Citigroup Inc. With inventories ample and slowing economies eroding demand, cheaper oil lowers the price floor for mining companies and farmers to remain profitable."

"Cheap oil also means cheaper commodities amid surpluses " – Bloomberg

The Financial Times' Alphaville blog's Izabella Kaminska is, as usual, three months ahead of everyone else. In a Monday post, Ms. Kaminska assesses the likelihood that lower energy prices will slow the flow of U.S. dollars into the emerging markets, and cause a currency mismatch problem in global debt markets. The post dovetails nicely with the recent Bureau of International Settlements report suggesting that U.S. dollar corporate debt in emerging markets poses a major risk for the global financial system.

"But we are, nevertheless, at a point where the fall in oil prices is beginning to stifle an important channel of U.S. dollars to foreign markets, markets which happen to be increasingly exposed to dollar strength due to their acquisition of major dollar denominated liabilities throughout the years when financing in the currency was cheap. Many of which liabilities, we should add, are not captured by BIS capital flow data due to the use of offshore subsidiaries."

Investors should watch for volatility in emerging markets currency trading.

"These are not the dollars you're looking for" – Kaminska, FT Alphaville

See also: "Why the slumping loonie's worst days are yet to come" – Kawa, Report on Business

Netflix executive Ted Sarandos made the jarring argument that Nielsen ratings ruined the quality of television. Focus on ratings caused programmers to produce immediately palatable content rather than produce quality shows that took time and effort to appreciate.

"[Mr. Sarandos] pointed to Seinfeld, a beloved show today, but which was not actually not a hit for four seasons. 'The first couple of episodes of every show are clunky,' he said. 'Look how many shows don't get past the third [episode]. The ratings discussion has been very negative' for the quality of TV."

"Netflix makes the case that ratings ruined TV" – Quartz

Tweet of the Day: "@katie_martin_FX Wuuuut? RT @STI_Detection: We train dogs to detect sexually transmitted infections, patrolling streets, stations and airports around the U.K."

Diversion: "NASA's coolest and strangest airplanes of the future" – Sploid

Follow Scott Barlow on Twitter @SBarlow_ROB

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