A roundup of what The Globe and Mail's market strategist Scott Barlow is reading today on the Web
In possibly the most dystopian analyst research report ever written … ,
"Technology is creating a world of almost no scarcity, unlimited scalability and where value of conventional labour inputs is rapidly eroding. Essentially, AI is replacing IQ while automation and robotics are replacing 'muscle power'… humans today, are the equivalent of extinct working horses of late 19th – early 20th centuries."
Equating the financial crisis to the stock market crash of 1929 is not do-able in all particulars, but a similar, technology-driven change in the nature of employment and labour in the coming decades is a completely defendable hypothesis, as the torrent of discussion involving Universal Basic Income highlights.
"Dystopian trading amid the eroding value of the 'salt of the earth'" – Keohane, FT Alphaville
"Towards a new golden age" – (June, 2014) Pieria
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European mining stocks are taking another beating this morning as a sign of both credit tightening in China and fears that global deflationary pressures are building again,
"U.S. Stocks Poised to Drop, Dollar Gains After Fed: Markets Wrap" – Bloomberg
"@tbiesheuvel Bad day for the miners " – (chart) Twitter
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UBS is bullish on lithium and graphite after a discovery of new, cheaper battery technology for electric vehicles,
"UBS Evidence Lab tore down the first mass-market electric vehicle and discovered a cheaper than expected battery powertrain, that is expected to get cheaper still in coming years … We prefer the lithium volume opportunity, given higher leverage to rapid battery demand growth than graphite. On the other hand, graphite spot prices sit below incentive prices, underpinning our positive graphite price profile. "
"@SBarlow_ROB UBS: Lithium and Graphite Driving Disruption " – (research excerpt) UBS
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Today in Canadian heresy, Scott Feschuk goes after Tim Hortons with a figurative baseball bat,
"Okay, Canada: It's time for the hard truth about Tim Hortons" – Maclean's
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Crude prices continue to struggle. Oil weakness caused a lot of damage in domestic equity markets yesterday, but it was interesting that the loonie was largely unaffected,
"Oil hits six-week low as OPEC fails to curb oversupply" – Reuters
"@MaleehaMBCC #gasoline inventories above 5yr average highs during summer driving season. #refiners " – (chart) Twitter
"There's something weird about the loonie's latest climb" – Barlow, Inside the Market
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Tweet of the Day: "[To be honest it] seems like people have been unable to make money on market upside recently, emotionally swinging to must mean crash coming." – Twitter
Diversion: "The Seduction of Pessimism" – Collaborative Fund
Scott Barlow