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☆ The Voting Bloc Against Bossiness
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Andy Kessler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Their mantra is simple: Don’t tell me what to do, hence the name. Oppositional defiant disorder, which, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine, is a behavior disorder, often in children who “are uncooperative, defiant, and hostile toward peers, parents, teachers, and other authority figures.” Yeah, I’ve got that. Also add: Don’t tell me what to say, to think, to pay. Don’t tell me what to do. I don’t think so.

"Eventually I want us to get to 25" basis point rate hikes, he said. Asked in a Wall Street Journal interview early on Monday about her preferred rate-hike size for the Jan. 31 to Feb.1 meeting, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said both 25 and 50 basis point rate hikes are "on the table" for her. She, like Bostic, expects the Fed policy rate - now at 4.25% to 4.5% - to need to rise to a 5% to 5.25% range to do the job on inflation. After nearly a year of aggressive rate hikes designed to slow the economy and bring soaring inflation to heel, Fed policymakers say they are encouraged by the recent slowing in jobs and wage growth that could signal cooler inflation ahead. But they are loathe to stop interest rate hikes or even downshift to smaller rate-hike increments too soon, for fear of entrenching high inflation and ultimately forcing the Fed to raise rates further.

HONG KONG, Jan 9 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Jack Ma is leading China’s consumer internet out of the sin bin. After his fintech champion Ant said its founder will cede control, shares in affiliate Alibaba (9988.HK), rose 7% in Hong Kong on Monday morning. The company on Saturday announced that Ma's 50%-plus voting stake will be whittled down to roughly 6%, and a fifth independent director will join the board. Follow @mak_robyn on TwitterloadingCONTEXT NEWSChinese financial technology company Ant on Jan. 7 announced its founder Jack Ma will give up majority control of the company as part of a broader "corporate governance optimization". Ma held more than 50% of voting rights in Ant via his investment vehicle, Hangzhou Yunbo, which effectively controlled two other entities that owned a combined 53.46% stake in Ant.

"Because of the lags involved, policymakers are going to face a very difficult decision about when to stop rate increases or reverse course," Romer said in a keynote address to the American Economic Association's annual meeting in New Orleans. Minutes of the most recent Fed policy meeting in December showed central bankers struggling with the risks, while economists see a high probability that the rate increases will lead to a U.S. recession in the coming year. She collaborated with Berkeley economist David Romer, her husband, to mine Fed meeting transcripts and minutes dating back to the 1940s for the review of U.S. central bank policy. Isolating the shocks, she said, allows a clearer view of how Fed rate increases influence economic output and employment, and over what time frame. Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Dan Burns and Paul SimaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ I'm the senior director of a $5 billion data company — here's how a mix of programming and leadership courses skyrocketed my career since college
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Julia Pugachevsky | Read More | Read Less | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Focusing on hard skills like data analysis as well as management helped me move up in my career. But what really put my career on a rocket ship was taking online courses from platforms like Coursera, edX, and LinkedIn Learning. For anyone looking for a big career jump, here are four lessons I learned from taking online courses — and how to make the most of online learning. Taking management courses helped me advance much faster. Mike CrabtreeBecause of taking online courses, my career advanced very quickly in a short amount of time.

☆ Rapid tests for Covid, RSV and flu are available in Europe. What's stopping them in the U.S.?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Aria-Bendix-Byline-Jm.Jpg | Aria Bendix | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

But unlike Covid tests, which are available over the counter, RSV and flu tests must be performed at a doctor’s office or ordered via prescription. The rapid test from Brus' photo, however, is available in the European Union, and the manufacturer has certified that it meets the E.U. The FDA said it strongly supports at-home tests for respiratory viruses, including combination tests for flu and Covid. Unlike Covid tests, Butler-Wu said, there have been fewer opportunities to study whether rapid flu tests can be administered in the shallower part of the nose and maintain their accuracy. Butler-Wu said rapid flu tests given by medical professionals are generally about 60% sensitive, meaning they produce false negatives about 40% of the time.

Nearly 165 million people were either in jobs or looking for them last month, a record high that showed a long-hoped-for improvement in labor supply. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsThe jobs report is "the embodiment of the soft landing narrative - this idea that can you have a strong labor market with slowing wage growth," said Simona Mocuta, chief economist at State Street Global Advisors. Ideally, she said, that should allow the Fed to slow and soon pause its interest rate hikes. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsTraders took the report as evidence the Fed's work is near to being done. Still, she said, "inflation remains far too high, despite some encouraging signs lately, and is therefore of great concern."

The longer that job market strength persists, the more Fed officials may feel compelled to break it with ever-higher interest rates. "I don't think we can understate the importance of labor market outcomes," Duy wrote. Reuters Graphics'SURGE PRICING'The job market has befuddled central bankers during the COVID-19 pandemic as much as inflation. Early expectations that a flood of workers back into the labor market would ease wage and hiring conditions proved optimistic. Officials then expected inflation to rise for any number of reasons, from the Fed's own massive bond purchases to a steadily falling unemployment rate.

☆ NHL roundup: Connor McDavid hits milestone in Oilers' win
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Barzal is on a career-best, five-game goal streak, and he has six goals and two assists during that span. Vancouver goaltender Collin Delia made 30 saves, while Elias Pettersson, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Ilya Mikheyev each collected two assists. Ty Smith also scored for Pittsburgh, which lost its sixth straight game, just one off matching its longest losing streak of the season. Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Martin Fehervary and Garnet Hathaway also scored, Dylan Strome had three assists, and Darcy Kuemper made 25 saves. Washington has won a franchise-record seven straight road games and is 7-0-2 in its past nine games overall and 12-2-3 in its past 17.

☆ A new test for autism hopes to help doctors diagnose before symptoms show
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Evan Bush | Evan Bush Is A Science Reporter For Nbc News. He Can Be Reached At Evan.Bush Nbcuni.Com. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Researchers have discovered myriad risk factors associated with autism, including infections during pregnancy, air pollution and maternal stress. “We can detect the clear rhythm of autism with just about one centimeter of hair,” Arora said. Autism diagnosis timingArora and his team hope their technology could help young children, even newborns, receive early interventions for autism sooner than they can now. “We want to enable early intervention.”There is not yet a biological test for autism spectrum disorder. Perhaps eventually, that information could open up new pathways for the development of drugs or therapies for autism, he said.

HONG KONG, Jan 5 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Western Digital (WDC.O) faces a daunting M&A challenge. Both outfits specialise in a type of memory chip called NAND flash, which is used in smartphones, computers and data centre servers. Yet even if the logic for a combination looks more compelling against this backdrop, the M&A hurdles Western Digital faced in 2021 are even more challenging today. The union between Western Digital and Kioxia will be a long slog, but worth it. Shares of Western Digital rose 7.7% to $35.63 during after-hours trading in New York on Jan. 4.

The overall tone of the minutes is still likely to show inflation has top billing among policymakers. The minutes "will lean against easing prematurely" and keep the focus on the likelihood that rates will rise further and remain high, Derek Tang, economist at LH Meyer, wrote on Tuesday. COGNIZANT OF RISKSThe minutes could help pin down how much sentiment there is to ease the pace of upcoming rate increases to a quarter of a percentage point as of the Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting. "It is especially challenging to estimate spillovers, and there are concerns that policymakers may underestimate them. Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Dan Burns and Paul SimaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, is gearing up to supply cars, and the chips and batteries that go into them, to global marques. It sees automakers entrusting the company with production in Indonesia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, the United States and beyond. Getting there requires Foxconn ditching a tried and tested business model. To make smartphones, the company relies on a few factories it owns in China and it has little say over the underlying supply chains and which components to use. Foxconn has also tied up with Ohio-based Lordstown Motors (RIDE.O) in the United States; its factory is already making electric pickup trucks and could start supplying to other American brands within a year.

☆ Steve Hanke says the U.S. Fed is too late in pivoting away from interest rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSteve Hanke says the U.S. Fed is too late in pivoting away from interest rate hikesSteve Hanke of Johns Hopkins University says "the central banks and Wall Street have been systematically wrong ever since 2020" about inflation.

☆ I've made $6,400 selling bracelets on Etsy after a New Year's resolution to make them. Here's how I turned the goal into a lucrative side hustle.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Ella Hopkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Hannah Britt's New Year's resolution was to cut down on her screen time by making bracelets. She launched her business, ByHannahLondon, on Etsy in January and has sold more than 500 bracelets. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Hannah Britt, a 32-year-old from London, about her side hustle selling bracelets. For my New Year's resolution, I decided to cut down my screen time by making bracelets. People also request random words you wouldn't find in a store, like made-up words, swear words, and nicknames.

The study participants all had blood-sodium concentrations considered to be within the normal range: 135 to 146 millimoles per liter. Even people with blood-sodium levels above 142 millimoles per liter had elevated risks of developing certain chronic diseases, including heart failure, stroke, chronic lung disease, diabetes and dementia, the study found. Dmitrieva's previous research similarly found that higher blood sodium may be a risk factor for heart failure. But the study authors cautioned that more research is needed to determine whether good hydration can help slow aging, prevent disease or lead to a longer life. The NIH study "doesn’t prove that drinking more water will prevent chronic disease," he said.

☆ Three painful lessons for investors in 2022. How to put them to work in the new year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Darla Mercado | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Perhaps the one thing that investors can rally around is this: 2022 is finally over. Here are three valuable lessons for investors in the aftermath of 2022. Before we entered a rising interest rate environment, high-flying tech stocks seemed to have limitless potential. "Many investors saw a high rate, high inflation year for the first time since the 1980s. And if we think about [2023] as well, it's still a high rate, high inflation environment."

☆ Drugmakers Spent Freely in 2022 to Protect Revenue
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Jared S. Hopkins | Laura Cooper | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/drugmakers-spent-freely-in-2022-to-protect-revenue-11672364949

The first full-color image released from the next-generation James Webb Space Telescope is the sharpest infrared image of the distant universe ever produced, according to NASA. Space Telescope Science Institut / NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERONASA released the first batch of images from the tennis court-sized observatory to much fanfare in July. The exoplanet HIP 65426 b in different bands of infrared light, as seen from the James Webb Space Telescope. Back to the moonFifty years after the final Apollo moon mission, NASA took key steps toward returning astronauts to the lunar surface. Chinese officials have also said they intend to use the space station for space tourism and commercial space initiatives.

The United States this week also expanded its voluntary genomic sequencing program at airports, adding Seattle and Los Angeles to the program. "Previous COVID-19 wastewater surveillance has shown to be a valuable tool and airplane wastewater surveillance could potentially be an option," she wrote. French researchers reported in July that airplane wastewater tests showed requiring negative COVID tests before international flights does not protect countries from the spread of new variants. They found the Omicron variant in wastewater from two commercial airplanes that flew from Ethiopia to France in December 2021 even though passengers had been required to take COVID tests before boarding. Osterholm and others said mandatory testing before travel to the United States is unlikely to keep new variants out of the country.

☆ Highly immune evasive omicron XBB.1.5 variant is quickly becoming dominant in U.S. as it doubles weekly
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Covid omicron XBB.1.5 variant is rapidly becoming dominant in the U.S. because it is highly immune evasive and appears more effective at binding to cells than related subvariants, scientists say. It has since evolved into a family of subvariants including XBB.1 and XBB.1.5. The XBB subvariants are also resistant to Evusheld, an antibody cocktail that many people with weak immune systems rely on for protection against Covid infection because they don't mount a strong response to the vaccines. The scientists described the resistance of the XBB subvariants to antibodies from vaccination and infection as "alarming." The XBB subvariants were even more effective at dodging protection from the omicron boosters than the BQ subvariants, which are also highly immune evasive, the scientists found.

☆ A promising new Covid pill shows key advantages over Paxlovid in trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Aria Bendix | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A new antiviral pill for Covid was found to be as effective as Paxlovid at curbing mild to moderate illness among people at high risk of severe disease in a Phase 3 trial in China. The results, published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, suggest that the treatment had fewer side effects than Paxlovid, the go-to antiviral for high-risk patients. Around 67% of people who took the experimental pill, called VV116, reported side effects, compared to to 77% who took Paxlovid. In the trial of VV116, more than 380 people took the experimental drug, while a similarly sized group took Paxlovid. The median time to recovery — defined as no Covid symptoms for two consecutive days — was four days for VV116 recipients and five days for those who took Paxlovid.

Around 67% of people who took the experimental pill, called VV116, reported side effects, compared to to 77% who took Paxlovid. In the trial of VV116, more than 380 people took the experimental drug, while a similarly sized group took Paxlovid. The median time to recovery — defined as no Covid symptoms for two consecutive days — was four days for VV116 recipients and five days for those who took Paxlovid. Three-quarters of the trial participants were vaccinated, though the study found consistent results regardless of vaccine status. The National Institutes of Health recommends Paxlovid, with molnupiravir as an alternative in situations when neither Paxlovid nor remdesivir is available or appropriate.

☆ On Pluto you could throw a baseball over the Great Pyramid of Giza, a scientist's animation reveals
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

An astronomer's animation reveals how far the average person could throw a ball on different worlds. On Pluto, your baseball could clear the Great Pyramid of Giza. Watch a ball throw on each planet in our solar system, plus Pluto and the moon, below. At just two-thirds the diameter of our moon, Pluto has such weak gravity that your baseball could clear the 455-foot-tall Great Pyramid of Giza — with room to spare. The video plays out in "real time," showing how long each ball throw would take, O'Donoghue said.

Many of the nation’s largest nonprofit hospital systems, which give aid to poorer communities to earn tax breaks, have been leaving those areas and moving into wealthier ones as they have added and shed hospitals in the last two decades. As nonprofits, these regional and national giants reap $8.8 billion from tax breaks annually, by one Johns Hopkins University researcher’s estimate. Among their obligations, they are expected to provide free medical care to those least able to afford it.

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