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So was I, but let's just enjoy the day
My point was no matter how one defines the blackout period, Denner has either missed it or is missing it now. The quarter is almost over. We'll know in a few weeks whether he bought more stock. If he didn't, he didn't, even though he could have.
The black out period defines a period when Denner would have been prohibited from trading ARIA, not when he could have
It seems to have been well telegraphed
On August 4, 2015, the OD issued a non-binding preliminary opinion that none of the ’823 patent’s claims met the requirements for patentability.
Thanks. You are right.
My intention was to skewer the idea that an insider can just call his broker at any time and make a legal trade without regard to the circumstances
Most well run companies have strictly defined windows when an insider may or may not sell stock, usually after earnings release. It's not discretionary
London Telegraph
Alzheimer’s disease could be caused by viruses like herpes, a group of renowned dementia experts have warned, as they call for urgent investigation into the link.
The worldwide team of 31 senior scientists and clinicians, which include specialists from Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Manchester Universities and Imperial College, have written an editorial which suggests that microbes are the major cause of dementia.
The herpes virus - the type which causes cold sores - and chlamydia bacteria are named as the major culprits, as well as a type of corkscrew-shaped bacteria called spirochaete.
Currently most scientists are trying to find treatments which prevent the build of sticky amyloid plaques and misfolded tau proteins in the brain which prevent neurons from communicating with each other, leading to memory loss and cognitive decline.
But in an the editorial in the Journal of Alzhimer’s Disease, it is suggested that it is a viral or bacterial infection which triggers the plaque build-up in the first place. Targeting them specifically with antimicrobial drugs could halt dementia.
Professor Douglas Kell of the University of Manchester’s School of Chemistry, said “We are saying there is incontrovertible evidence that Alzheimer’s Disease has a dormant microbial component. We can’t keep ignoring all of the evidence.” <snip>
MON
Fastest long term in history
To clarify, the above is a snip from an FT piece
Commodities
©Bloomberg
When news of the highest crude stocks since the Great Depression hit oil traders’ screens on Wednesday, those expecting another rush of sell orders were in for a surprise.
After a momentary wobble, oil prices started to climb as the weekly report from the Department of Energy was brushed aside by investors who are increasingly prepared to bet the worst of a 20-month long price rout is over.
If their instincts are correct — and it remains a big if — it could mark a turning point in a vicious downturn that has shredded the budgets of producing countries, upended central bank policies and stoked fears of a deflationary spiral.
While the oil market remains weighed down by oversupply, for the first time in almost a year some big traders are prepared to look beyond a glut that sent prices spiralling below $30 a barrel in January.
“If you presume we have enough storage space for all the excess crude in the world then it is probable we have hit the bottom,” says Jonathan Whitehead, global head of commodities at Société Générale in London.
“When the oil price went below $30 a barrel, it started to feel like the market had gone too far,” he says. Prices that low threatened to quickly make large swaths of future oil production unviable, he adds.
Since hitting a 12-year low near $27 a barrel in January, Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, has rallied by more than third to near $37 a barrel, even as it remains well below the $100 level it traded near for most of 2010 to 2014 period.
Shares of oil majors BP, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron have risen between 10 and 30 per cent since late January.
Remember what Keynes said about the long run.
I don't see much of redeeming social value in the MON release, do you? Future looks fuzzy even to the company.
Stock ended strong
the magical thinking that relies on Denner's "reputation". "
Reputation, as in VVUS?
Relative weakness in MON may be attributed to alleged connection between MON pesticides and microcephaly - MON's response:
you may have seen misinformation and rumors on social media regarding Monsanto, the Zika virus and microcephaly. Unfortunately, this misinformation causes unwarranted fear and distracts from the health crisis at hand and how you can take steps to protect you and your family. Here are some facts:
Neither Monsanto nor our products have any connection to the Zika virus or microcephaly.
Monsanto does not manufacture or sell Pyriproxyfen. The product is a larvicide, and Monsanto does not manufacture or sell larvicides.
Monsanto does not own Sumitomo Chemical Company.
Since 1997, Sumitomo Chemical Company has been a trusted business partner of Monsanto in the area of crop protection. Sumitomo Chemical Company is a participant in the Roundup Ready Plus(TM) program, and it also supplies Monsanto with herbicide products.
Glyphosate is not connected in any way to the Zika virus or microcephaly.
GMOs have no role in the Zika virus or microcephaly.
The Zika virus is a tragic and critical health issue. Dealing effectively with such an important health threat requires a focus on the facts. As a science-based company working to help meet some of the world’s biggest challenges, we support all efforts to combat this health crisis. We hope all efforts will be taken based on the facts, not rumors.
Thanks, 2da
More footsteps...
How close behind?
I assume you remain favorably disposed to PCL?
Multi yr low.
(don't own it now. left in the low 40's, before the recent run-up, bought some today)
mican and ilpapa had posted around the discussion that Denner's objectives and those of shareholders may not be the same.
My post on Icahn's treatment of minority shareholders in similar situations to us was deleted for some reason. Apologies if I offended any one.
FT
The surge in lending to emerging markets that helped fuel their own — and much of the world’s — growth over the past 15 years has come to a halt, and may now give way to a “vicious circle” of deleveraging, financial market turmoil and a global economic downturn, the Bank for International Settlements has warned.
“In the risk-on phase [of the global economic cycle], lending sets off a virtuous circle in financial conditions in which things can look better than they really are,” said Hyun Song Shin, head of research at the BIS, known as the central bank of central banks. “But flows can quickly go into reverse and then it becomes a vicious circle, especially if there is leverage,” he told the FT.
That reversal has already taken place, according to BIS data released on Friday.
The total stock of dollar-denominated credit in bonds and bank loans to emerging markets — including that to governments, companies and households but excluding that to banks — was $3.33tn at the end of September 2015, down from $3.36tn at the end of June.
It marks the first decline in such lending since the first quarter of 2009, during the global financial crisis, according to the BIS.<snip>
????
ARIA was up 5%, the IBB was up .25%
Meaning?
FT
January 14, 2016 11:47 pm
BHP takes $7bn hit on US shale operation
BHP Billiton revealed a huge hit from the sharp fall in the oil price with a $7.2bn writedown on its extensive US shale assets.
The asset impairment, which equates to $4.9bn after tax, is the largest announced by the Anglo-Australian group during a wrenching commodities downturn that is devastating the mining and energy sectors.<snip>
Mebbe, but I wish I'd suspended disbelief when I wrote the post you were responding to.
Bezos, and others like him (Zuckerberg, f'rinstance, are extraordinary people. Forget Tom Brokaw)
I hope you are not suggesting that a decline in the short balance without a rise in the share price is good news?
A foreseeable crunch if ever there was one
NYT
Obama’s Climate Legacy
By CORAL DAVENPORT and ELLEN BARRYNOV. 30, 2015
Environment By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Play Video
Modi and Obama at Climate Talks
Continue reading the main story Video
Modi and Obama at Climate Talks
Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India discussed climate initiatives with President Obama during a conference in Paris.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS on Publish Date November 30, 2015. Photo by Evan Vucci/Associated Press. Watch in Times Video »
LE BOURGET, France — Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power, President Obama has not missed many opportunities to convey what a warm rapport he has forged with the Indian leader.
There was the admiring essay about Mr. Modi that Mr. Obama wrote in Time magazine, and the image of them tête-à-tête at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, their entourages left behind. Mr. Obama’s national security adviser said the two men had “chemistry,” and expressed confidence that American interests made it “worth the investment in the relationship.”
Exactly how much that investment has paid off will become clear this week during the climate negotiations on the outskirts of Paris, where India, the world’s third-largest greenhouse gas polluter, has emerged as a pivotal player in shaping the outcome of a deal on which Mr. Obama hopes to build his legacy — or whether a deal emerges at all. So far, Indian negotiators have publicly staked out an uncompromising position.
Continue reading the main story
Short Answers to Hard Questions About Climate Change
India embodies a critical tension that will play out in Paris between developed nations like the United States, which are calling for universal emissions cuts, and developing nations like India, which say they deserve to increase fossil fuel use as their economies grow or else receive billions of dollars to transition to cleaner energy.
After Mr. Modi met Mr. Obama on Monday — their sixth meeting in 14 months — he told reporters that the two leaders had “such a deep relationship that we are able to openly discuss all issues,” and said that he was happy to work “shoulder to shoulder with the United States.”
But in an earlier speech Monday, Mr. Modi said climate change was not India’s fault, and blamed it firmly on “the prosperity and progress of an industrial age powered by fossil fuel.”
“But we in India face its consequences today,” he said.
That India has positioned itself as the champion of developing nations is no great surprise, based on past climate talks. But Mr. Modi, who wrote an e-book presenting the moral case for action on climate change, had been seen by American policy makers as a leader who might break that pattern.
“I think Obama got carried away with Modi, frankly,” said Jairam Ramesh, a leader of the opposition Indian National Congress party, who served as minister of the environment under the previous government. Mr. Modi has made one major breakthrough in talks with Mr. Obama, Mr. Ramesh said, committing “against the advice of everyone in the system” to limit the use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, a component in refrigerators and air-conditioners. Since then, he said, India’s negotiators have returned to their familiar, confrontational manner.
“India is not an easy country to negotiate with. We are moralistic, we are argumentative, we are regressive,” Mr. Ramesh said. “It has gone back to the old rhetoric, there is no doubt about it.”
India was the last major economy to submit its plans for a domestic climate change policy ahead of the Paris talks. And the proposal, while it included a significant expansion of renewable energy, would also see India’s carbon pollution triple in the coming decades. Indian officials have painted that projection as a concession, saying that in a business-as-usual scenario, their emissions would soar at an even higher rate.
World leaders met in Paris to discuss plans to combat global climate change. Meanwhile, air pollution levels in Beijing and New Delhi were much higher than acceptable.
BLeaders in New Delhi argue that limiting coal use would cripple the economy and harm a population struggling to escape poverty, including 300 million Indians who live without electricity. They also say India has done little to contribute to the problem of global warming: India’s annual per capita carbon dioxide emissions are 1.7 tons, compared to 16.6 tons per person in the United States and 7.4 tons per person in China.
During the climate change talks, India is expected to challenge the United States on three counts: To speed up emissions reductions by wealthy countries to compensate for emissions growth in poor countries; to pay more to poor countries to assist in mitigation plans; and to provide clean-energy technology to poor countries.
Ashley Tellis, a senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Mr. Obama had “tried hard” to persuade Mr. Modi to shift India off those more hard-line negotiating positions ahead of the climate talks, “but failed.”
“I still think that if the U.S. position comes to enjoy a strong consensus in Paris, India will not come in the way, but this acquiescence will materialize only at the last moment,” Mr. Tellis said. He said that Mr. Obama, in his talks with Mr. Modi, should have focused on the more modest goal of ensuring that India would not block a consensus.
The Climate Change Pledges Are In. Will They Fix Anything?
Most countries have pledged their greenhouse gas emissions goals. The pledges are the biggest cut ever achieved, but are still not enough.
Knowing Mr. Modi’s position, the Obama administration has been working to reduce the tensions with India and the developing world without significantly increasing taxpayer spending.
In a move that appeared explicitly intended to win India’s cooperation in Paris, Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist, joined the Obama administration to create what is being called the largest-ever public-private coalition for funding renewable energy. The coalition has the cooperation of 20 countries, including the United States and India, which have pledged to double their funding of renewable energy research, and will feature a renewable energy research fund paid for by 28 billionaire philanthropists, including two prominent Indian businessmen.
The plans for the fund came together after the French president, François Hollande, who is deeply invested in the success of the Paris talks, invited Mr. Gates and Mr. Modi to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September. As Mr. Obama has tried to find ways to bring Mr. Modi into a deal, his officials have worked closely with Mr. Gates.
Mr. Hollande in the meantime worked with Mr. Modi on another initiative: a 121-nation solar energy alliance, which Mr. Modi unveiled Monday in the conference’s Indian pavilion.
Continue reading the main story
Today’s Headlines: Asia Edition
Get news and analysis from Asia and around the world delivered to your inbox every day in the Asian morning.
Some analysts caution against overreacting to India’s negotiating postures — or, for that matter, its projections for expansion in its coal sector, which is dogged by corruption and inefficiency.
“We’re seeing them put forth their national interest, but you’re also seeing a willingness to negotiate,” said Jennifer Morgan, an expert on international climate change negotiations with the World Resources Institute, a research organization. “They’re staking out the priorities for their country. They know they’re not going to get everything they need, but they’re going to fight hard. This is classic positioning.”
Ms. Morgan predicted that India would engage in hard-line brinkmanship into overtime sessions of the climate talks, but that ultimately Mr. Modi does not want a deal to collapse.
Some Indian leaders expressed concern that India’s contributions to climate efforts could be eclipsed by negotiators’ adversarial tone. “I really believe that Modi wants to be remembered as the person who turned India green,” said Anand Mahindra, the chairman of the Mahindra Group, who has joined an international group of corporate leaders calling for carbon pricing at the talks.
“He is trying to take the lead as a green warrior,” he said of Mr. Modi. “He is being held back by this old reflexive rhetoric.”
Mr. Mahindra may be an outlier, though. Domestic audiences, on both the right and the left, are eager to see Mr. Modi and his environment minister, Prakash Javadekar, demonstrate influence in the international arena by standing up to pressure from Europe and the United States and demanding financing for green energy.
Monday’s editions of India’s major newspapers carried editorials from prominent figures urging negotiators to stand their ground, even at the cost of being labeled obstructionists or spoilers.
“The more criticism India comes under in Paris, the more applause Javadekar will get in Parliament and elsewhere,” said Mr. Ramesh, the former environment minister. “This is the dichotomy of the situation.”
Coral Davenport reported from Le Bourget, France, and Ellen Barry from New Delhi.
Paris Climate Change Conference 2015
Complete coverage of the United Nations meeting in Paris, where officials will gather Nov. 30-Dec. 11 to try to reach an emissions deal.
World leaders have 12 days to agree on plans to slow global warming. We’re weighing in with insights and analysis.
Two-thirds of Americans think the United States should join a binding international agreement to curb growth of greenhouse gas emissions, but a slim majority of Republicans remains opposed, the poll found.
You have to be a little more visionary though
And Bezos is nothing if not a visionary
10k shares short - at the price of KBIO two or three days ago - would not have been seen an inordinately concentrated position, would it?
Admittedly this doesn't take into account the Martin factor.
If KBIO is a short squeeze, I've never seen one like it.
I thought everybody knew that! I got caught for $100 or so over 20 years and have avoided MLP's in IRAs ever since.
FT factoid
There are more payday lender storefronts in America than Starbucks and McDonald’s combined
FT
Investors are ditching BHP Billiton shares.
The stock has fallen every day since Thursday, when two dams that it co-owns with rival Vale in Brazil burst and flooded nearby villages with mining waste.
The human disaster - which has claimed four lives and left more than 20 people missing - has prompted some analysts to ask whether the Anglo-Australian miner will have to cut its dividend.
BHP Billiton and Vale are likely to face clean-up and rebuilding costs, along with potential lawsuits and a loss of production.
Paul Young, a mining analyst at Deutsche Bank, said the financial cost to the companies could top $1bn.
Mr Young said:
This accident will add further pressure to BHP's cash flow, growth and safeguarding of the progressive dividend.
(snip)
Global demographic headwind?
FT
White, middle-aged, uneducated and dying
Sam Fleming and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington and David Crow in New York
Pills
©Dreamstime
Drug and alcohol abuse and mental health issues in the US are contributing to an alarming surge in deaths among white middle-aged people, in a trend that has reversed decades of progress and is not being seen in other advanced economies.
Analysis from two Princeton economists, Anne Case and Angus Deaton, shows rising mortality among white men and women aged 45-54 since the late 1990s. The increase was caused not by factors such as heart disease or diabetes but by suicides and overdoses of prescription drugs and alcohol-related diseases.
If the white mortality rate in this age group had carried on declining at the rate recorded between 1979 to 1998, half a million deaths would have been avoided from 1999 to 2013. That compares with the number of lives lost in the Aids epidemic in the US.
Barack Obama has stepped up efforts to tackle opiate and prescription drug addiction as the US president enters his last year in office. Critics have said drug abuse is one of the few public health areas where the situation has deteriorated during his two terms in the White House.
Last month, Mr Obama visited West Virginia, the epicentre of the opiate epidemic, where twice as many people die from overdoses than the national average. “More Americans now die every year from drug overdoses than they do from motor vehicle crashes,” he said.
Despite the drug-related deaths of celebrities from Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston to actors such as Philip Seymour Hoffman, and the attention from television shows such as Breaking Bad, the problem remains stubborn. While the total number of overdose deaths is rising, the rise in heroin-related deaths is staggering, increasing almost threefold between 2010 and 2013.
Carl Sullivan, an addiction expert at West Virginia University, said the state faced a huge problem because patients who were once prescribed OxyContin, an addictive painkiller that is a form of oxycodone, had switched to heroin, which is cheaper and easier to obtain. He added that he treated only a handful of drug addicts during the whole of the 1990s, but had seen 21 patients just this week.
Mr Sullivan said part of the problem was a shortage of doctors and therapists to treat addicts, whom he estimated had a one in six chance of finding a doctor in West Virginia. Doctors with little training in treating addiction had worsened the problem by opening their own clinics, he said.
The research by Ms Case and her husband Mr Deaton, who last month won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, was reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Between 1978 and 1998, the mortality rate among US whites aged 45-54 fell 2 per cent a year on average, matching the averages among six other countries — France, Germany, the UK, Canada, Australia and Sweden.
However, while mortality rates in other rich countries continued to fall after 1998, the US saw a reversal, with gains of half a per cent a year, the academics found. The turnround was confined to white non-Hispanics, they said. <snip>
What gives you that confidence? All I see is a black hole of non information.
Denner is nothing if not tight lipped/
Botox crosses the blood-brain barrier.
With what effect if any on brain function?
Next year, is it? Must be a Chicago Cubs fan.
Look the other way and it might go away.
If people followed their own advice, this board would gain some badly needed focus
Last chance - logistical
alternate should read alternative