Opening Bell: 9.27.17
The Massive Hedge Fund Betting on AI (BBG)
Man Group, which has about $96 billion under management, typically takes its most promising ideas from testing to trading real money within weeks. In the fast-moving world of modern finance, an edge today can be gone tomorrow. The catch here was that, even as the new software produced encouraging returns in simulations, the engineers couldn’t explain why the AI was executing the trades it was making. The creation was such a black box that even its creators didn’t fully understand how it worked.
Lawmakers: Trump Calls Public-Private Infrastructure Partnerships ‘More Trouble Than They’re Worth’ (WSJ)
Mr. Trump’s remarks suggest the president could shift away from a strategy that was to have been at the core of his plans for a $1 trillion infrastructure building program. The White House has said it wants to spend just $200 billion in federal money to reach the $1 trillion goal, with the remainder coming from states, cities and local governments.
Cryptocurrency Derivatives? You Bet. This Trader Has 295% Return (BBG)
“Hopefully you can tell from my calm attitude that I’m not in the least bit phased by this,” Smith said. “It will be over in two weeks time, and then the market will start rallying again. Nothing has changed. This just means that the Chinese can’t buy tokens so easily now. All that’s going through my head is buy the dip.” As Smith talked, bitcoin started surging. Over the next few hours, it skyrocketed 30 percent from its low of the day. “Look at it go,” he gushed. “It’s going insane. Let’s buy some more.”
Showtime's Websites May Have Used Your CPU to Mine Cryptocoin While You Binged on Twin Peaks (Gizmodo)
Over the weekend, a user on Twitter pointed out that two of Showtime’s websites had a script running in the background that’s used to hijack visitors’ CPUs to mine cryptocurrency. Other users and outlets later confirmed that the code was present. Now it’s gone, and Showtime refuses to answer questions.
The History of Sears Predicts Nearly Everything Amazon Is Doing (Atlantic)
From its founding in the late 19th century to its world-famous catalog, the history of Sears, Roebuck & Company is well known. Less storied is its magnificently successful transition from a mailing company to a brick-and-mortar giant. Like Amazon among its online-shopping rivals, Sears was not the country’s first mail-order retailer, but it became the largest of its kind. Like Amazon, it started with a single product category—watches, rather than books. But, like Amazon, the company grew to include a range of products, including guns, gramophones, cars, and even groceries.
Harvard Takes Top Honors in WSJ/THE College Rankings (WSJ)
- Harvard University
- Columbia University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Stanford University
- Duke University
Appreciating Acronyms: Why the FANG Phenomenon Has Teeth (WSJ)
Finance professor Lily Fang is known in the academic community for her research into the perils of investing in stocks with lots of media hype. Even so, when she saw a barrage of attention paid to a tech-stock acronym that matched her surname, she couldn’t resist. “I figured I had to own these stocks,” Ms. Fang, who teaches at France’s Insead business school, said of the popular quartet of Facebook, Amazon.com, Netflix and Alphabet’s Google. “I mean, it’s my last name, so why not?”
Man's dog-inspired tattoo turns out to be neuter symbol (UPI)
"For those of you who know [B]ear know that he has a tattoo given to him from some previous owners," Mendiola wrote. "It sickens me to know that people actually tattoo their pets. So tonight I got his tattoo." The photos went viral after a friend of Mendiola posted them to Reddit, where commenters pointed out Bear's tattoo likely came from a veterinarian rather than his previous owners. They said the symbol is designed to let other vets know the dog has been neutered to prevent unnecessary surgery. The practice is required by Association of Shelter Veterinarians' standards.