Opening Bell: 9.19.16

Twitter Sued by Investor for Failing to Deliver on User Growth (Bloomberg)
Shareholder Doris Shenwick claims Twitter executives misled investors on its growth prospects in November 2014, promising an increase in monthly active users to 550 million in the “intermediate” term and more than a billion in the “longer term.” The company failed to deliver on either estimate and concealed that it had no basis for those projections, the complaint said. As of June 30, the company had 313 million monthly active users, according to its website.

‘Trust Your Gut’ Might Actually Be Profitable Advice on Wall Street, Study Says (Dealbook)
To investigate his hypothesis, Mr. Coates and his colleagues worked with 18 traders at a hedge fund in London in 2012. The subjects, all men, were high-frequency traders, buying and selling bond futures and other products. Using heart rate monitoring equipment, Mr. Coates and his colleagues assessed the traders’ ability to silently count their own heartbeats without touching their chest or any pulse point. A control group of 48 men who were not traders was also tested for their ability to monitor their heart rates. Over all, the hedge fund employees were substantially more accurate than the control group, suggesting that on balance, the high-frequency traders were more attuned to their own bodies than the general public. The hedge fund, which was not identified, gave Mr. Coates and his colleagues access to the traders’ employment history, including their profits and losses, and tenure in the industry. And among the traders, more accurate heartbeat awareness was correlated with profitability. That is, the better a trader was at sensing his own heart rate, the more successful he was at high-frequency trading.

Private Investment Firms Seek Record Funds for Real Estate Debt (Bloomberg)
Heightened scrutiny of U.S. commercial real estate lending is paving the way for lightly regulated investors to gain a bigger toehold in lucrative deals. Private funds are seeking a record $32 billion for commercial-property debt as buyout firms, real estate investment trusts and hedge funds expand lending. These companies, which typically charge higher interest rates, can move quickly on large loans that may be seen as too speculative for banks.

Funds Dump Gold at Fastest Pace Since May (Bloomberg)
Speculation is mounting that Fed officials, in a statement scheduled for release on Sept. 21, will signal that higher U.S. interest rates are on the way. That’s bad news for gold, which thrives as an alternative asset. Through Friday, the metal had surged 24 percent for the year as the policy makers declined to raise borrowing costs.

Senior Busted In Shuffleboard Rage Incident (TSG)
A dispute on a Florida shuffleboard court turned violent yesterday when an 81-year-old man allegedly punched a fellow pensioner and struck him with his shuffleboard cue, according to court records. The confrontation Wednesday afternoon occurred at the Pinellas Park Senior Center, which includes an open-air pavilion with 16 shuffleboard courts. Police charge that octogenarian Herbert Hayden “had a verbal argument that escalated into a physical altercation.” Hayden allegedly punched the victim, James Sutton, in the face and “hit him with his shuffleboard cue causing damage to both cues.”

A Fed Insider Warns of the Risk of Low Rates (WSJ)
Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren has a well-established reputation as one of the Fed’s leading doves—advocates of easy-money policies aimed at spurring faster economic growth. But more recently he has developed strong concerns that easy money could be letting markets get out of hand the way they did before the financial crisis. And he’s publicly urging his colleagues to act before it gets too late. “It’s not costless to get the unemployment rate very low,“ Mr. Rosengren said in an interview Sept. 9. “The tools we have are quite blunt,” so it’s better to get ahead of potential problems, he said.

Tesla says lawsuits could delay SolarCity deal (Reuters)
Elon Musk-led Tesla Motor Inc (TSLA.O) said on Monday its proposed acquisition of SolarCity Corp (SCTY.O) could be delayed due to shareholder lawsuits challenging the deal. Four lawsuits were filed in Delaware between Sept. 1 and Sept. 16, the company said in a regulatory filing. The lawsuits allege, among other things, that both Tesla and SolarCity board members breached their fiduciary duties in connection with the proposed merger.

How Tech Companies Disrupted Silicon Valley’s Restaurant Scene (NYT)
Silicon Valley technologists love to explain how they have disrupted the minutiae of daily life, from our commutes to the ways we share family photos. But along the way, they have also managed to disrupt their local restaurant industry. That may not be an issue for tech workers with access to free, farm-fresh cuisine in corporate cafeterias, but for everyone else here it is leaving a void between the takeout cuisine popping up around Palo Alto — picture bento boxes ordered on iPads at a counter — and $500 meals at high-end restaurants. “Restaurants as we know them will no longer exist here in the near future,” said Howard Bulka, a chef and owner of Howie’s Artisan Pizza in Palo Alto and another restaurant in nearby Redwood City. “Palo Alto is just too tough a row to hoe. A lot of people are looking into getting out in one piece or are thinking of leaving the business entirely.”

‘Cannibal Cop’ says he’s a hot dish on the dating scene (NYP)
The ex-cop with the flesh-eating fantasy fetish received nibbles of interest from female fans on social media almost immediately upon getting out of prison in July 2014, when his conviction for planning to kill, cook and eat women was tossed by a judge. “They would say things like, ‘I’m really happy you prevailed’ and ‘Hope you’re doing well,’ ” said Valle. “Many reached out because they are interested in my case. I started chatting more with a few of them and eventually asked some on dates. “Everything is already out there for people to see, so I have no problem answering questions honestly,” said Valle, 32, who lives with his mother in Queens. “I like meeting women who already know everything about me, so I don’t have to suddenly drop this bomb on them.”