The Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation Gives Employees 52 Weeks Of PAID Leave When They Have A Kid

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“This lawsuit has no merit and our legal team will be responding in court in due course.” Pimco spokesman Michael Reid. Billionaire bond investor and former Pimco head Bill Gross is suing Pimco for a mere $200 million over what he believes was a forced exit from the massive fund he built from the ground up. Prepare for plenty more lawyer-ly back-and-forth.

MARKET SNAPSHOT 

Oil On Top

  • Yesterday provided another positive bump across U.S. markets as investors reacted to gains in energy stocks and the ever-beloved Federal Reserve’s minutes release. Stocks opened lower to start the day, but rallied following the FOMC meeting (see U.S. Macro for the nitty-gritty). Not to bury the lead, but most of the credit should go to the energy and materials sectors, which have both enjoyed an eight-day streak of gains.
  • Oil hit its highest level since July as Russia increased its military involvement in Syria. What’s the connection? Russia’s involvement adds plenty of supply risk for oil (Russia’s a big oil producer), leading to price escalations.
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U.S. MACRO 

Would You Just Wait A Minute?

There’s 1,440 minutes in a day, but the Fed only has one every few months…so to speak. The Fed’s most recent meeting minutes, the publication of the transcripts of the previous Committee meeting, was released Thursday. Investors were happy to hear that the reason the Fed semi-shocked the world by putting off an interest rate hike in September was over concerns of low inflation. And contrary to popular belief, there didn’t appear to be much disagreement between the Fed members over the decision. To complement the minutes release, think about 42 years…that’s a long time. The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits this week hit its lowest number since 1973. And it was the 31st straight week that claims were below the magic number of 300,000.

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CORPORATE PRIMER

Blackstone Strikes Again

The world’s largest private equity firm, Blackstone Group, acquired BioMed Realty Trust for $4.84 billion in cash yesterday. BioMed sold buildings and laboratories in trendy cities such as Boston, Cambridge, Seattle, San Diego and San Francisco to Blackstone in the deal. BioMed executives stated the life-science markets are growing tremendously, but the real estate previously owned by BioMed is not meeting expectations. The deal is anticipated to finalize in the first quarter of 2016. Let’s hope Blackstone can work their magic and turn those properties into valuable assets.

Dell-Bent for EMC

PC giant Dell is in hot pursuit of cloud data storage company EMC for a potential merger. Dell spoke of raising at least $40 billion to finance the purchase, making it one of the biggest technology mergers if it goes through. EMC’s dominance in digital storage strategically aligns with Dell’s server business, which would result in a sweet deal for customers—and for the two companies, who believe the deal might cure their ongoing global sales slumps.

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TODAY IN TECH

Netflix Hikes Prices

Netflix is starting to feel the pressure, and you’re going to pay the price. Facing increasing streaming competition from rivals like Amazon and Hulu, the streaming giant announced yesterday that it’s raising its prices by $1 a month on its most popular plan. New subscribers will pay the higher subscription fee immediately, while current users will receive a grace period before rates increase. While no one likes to see their favorite business boost prices, the price hike will help Netflix finance more original content, meaning more binging material for everyone.

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OTHER STORIES
  • Twitter opens up its Amplify video ads
  • Bill Gross sues Pimco for $200 million over forced ouster
  • Volkswagen expects diesel fix in 2016, rebates on the table
  • Apple Pay to expand to Starbucks, Chili’s, KFC
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ECONOMIC CALENDAR

  • Monday: ISM Non-Manufacturing Index
  • Tuesday: U.S. Trade Gap, Yum Brands/PepsiCo Earnings
  • Wednesday: Monsanto Earnings
  • Thursday: FOMC Minutes Release, Weekly Jobless Claims, Alcoa/Domino’s Earnings
  • Friday: Import/Export Prices

A DRONE-LESS DRONE?

Watch out drones…DJI is bringing sexy back.The Chinese drone manufacturing company just came out with its first handheld camera, the Osmo. No, it isn’t 2005 anymore, but this camera is one that you’ve got to see. The Osmo takes motorized technology, the stuff that makes drone camera footage silky smooth, and attaches it to a stick. You can literally run with Osmo and produce video that won’t shake, even slightly. If you’re thinking, “well, why not just buy an actual drone?”, here’s what Osmo has to offer:

  • With the future still shaky for regulations of airborne drones in North America, DJI is playing it safe with the perfectly legal Osmo camera.
  • Osmo is able to mount your smartphone and use it as a viewfinder. It’s also WiFi-compatible and shoots crystal clear 4K video.
  • The camera is coming in at $649, about the price of a GoPro, but it includes all of the stabilizing technology and a Zenmuse X3, DJI’s in-house camera.

INTERVIEW QUESTION OF THE DAY

Summarize the differences between intrinsic and relative valuation. (Answer)

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BUSINESS TERM OF THE DAY

Term Deposit — A term deposit is a deposit held at a financial institution that has a fixed term. These are generally short-term with maturities ranging anywhere from a month to a few years. When a term deposit is purchased, the lender (customer) understands that the money can only be withdrawn after the term has ended or by giving a predetermined number of days notice.

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT

52 weeks: the amount of paid leave the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is providing its employees if they have or adopt a child. Extended paid parental leave: it’s all the craze these days.

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