Steve Jobs

After 22 years of reviewing tech products for the Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossberg is leaving; but before he does, he unveils what he believes are the 12 products that were the most-influential during his tenure at the "paper" (remember that: paper?). Remember the Apple Newton? How about Netscape? Mossberg believes even if these products did not last until the present, they left their mark in the evolution of personal technology. Do readers agree or disagree? And if not, which product that did not make the list should be on it?

We’ve spent the last five decades learning to love our oppression, adoring our technology, glorying in our distaste for reading books, and wilfully embracing our ignorance. Huxley’s vision of a population, passively sleep walking through lives of self- absorption, triviality, drug induced gratification, materialism and irrelevance has come to pass. Only in the last two decades has Orwell’s darker vision of oppression, fear, surveillance, hate and intimidation begun to be implemented by the ruling class. We’ve become a people controlled by pleasure and pain, utilized in varying degrees by those in power. Stay tuned for our modern day Hunger Games after this commercial for your very own Duck Dynasty Chia Pet.

It is human nature to follow fads, no matter how strange or cultish they may seem. Anything from Beanie Babies to cupcakes to even tech IPOs fall into this category, but, ConvergEx's Nick Colas asks, why do some of these trends manage to stick around while others die off? We might laugh now at bellbottoms and the so-called “grapefruit diet”, but at one point in time these were both fashionable – and profitable. So what does it take to make a fad last? Colas looks at a number of quirky trends past and present and importantly for market participants, finds lessons that extend directly to investor psychology and discipline. The bottom line is that we are sometimes blind to our own trading (and fashion) mistakes in the moment, but we are not preordained to make the same errors in perpetuity.

• Central Banks Drop Tightening Talk as Easy Money Goes On (BBG)
• More Democrats voice Obamacare concerns as website blame goes around (Reuters)
• Contractors Point Fingers Over Health-Law Website (WSJ)
• Jury Decides Against BofA on 'Hustle' Program (WSJ)
• Credit Suisse to overhaul interest rates trading business (FT)
• Home Builders Target Higher End (WSJ)
• The Many Lives of Iron Mountain (NYer)
• Busy tourist season nudges Spanish unemployment lower (Reuters)
• Morgan Stanley Joins BofA in Broker Recruiting Truce (BBG)
• Ending World’s Longest Nonstop Flight Adds Five Hours (BBG)

"Steve Jobs was really a pretty terrible man... and I just don't believe bad guys do well in the long run," is the subtle way the billionaire fund managed describes the ex Apple CEO before shifting his view to the broader market. A spell-bound Maria Bartiromo was looking for any silver lining when Julian Robertson responded ominously, "we're in the middle of a kind of bubble market," and when they "prick the bubble, there will probably be a pretty bad reaction." With views on The Fed's easy-money, Twitter, and market frothiness, Robertson is a breath of truthy fresh air that we suspect will not be back on the money-honey's show anytime soon...

It is seriously 1999 all over again here in the Silicon Valley. There's the revival of Kozmo (OK, that's in New York, but still.......), the comic run-up of TWTRQ yesterday, and now, right across the street from where I am sitting, there is Draper University.

“Spies … Can Now, For The First Time, Monitor Everything About Us, And They Can Do So With A Few Clicks Of A Mouse And – To Placate The Lawyers – A Drop-Down Menu Of Justifications”

Mass Surveillance Destroys Innovation, Trust, the U.S. Internet Market and Other Foundations of Prosperity

New Revelations Are Breaking Every Day

We just can't wait to hear about the different colors, the camera, the screen size, the cheapness, and everything else that has been rumored to make this Apple announcement as un-evolutionary as many of the previous ones. Of course, there could be 'just one more thing', but we suspect not... (and it seems the market agrees with 'sell the news' for now).

The asbolute, mind-blowing kicker is when, in another secret presentation, the NSA itself mocks Orwell, using a reference from the iconic Apple "1984" advertisement... As it says the man who has become "Big Brother" is none other than AAPL's visionary deceased leader Steve Jobs... And is so very grateful for Apple's paying client "Zombies" who make its job so much easier

The press that Google Glass has received already been stunning, particularly considering there's hardly a person on the planet sporting a pair of these things on the bridge of their nose yet, but I've got a feeling that, like Google Wave (remember that? anyone? I didn't think so..........) it will be a flop. Here's why:

The man who called the turns in RIMM/Blackberry, AAPL, GOOG and NOK answers this question in detail!

• Egypt, U.S. on Collision Course (WSJ), Gunmen kill 24 Egyptian police in Sinai ambush (Reuters)
• India’s efforts fail to prevent new rupee low (FT)
• More bad news for AAPL: Steve Jobs Biopic Crashes on Opening Weekend (WSJ)
• "Sustainable" - U.S. Stocks Beat BRICs by Most Ever Amid Market Flight (BBG)
• Merkel cancels election rally after hostage taking (Reuters)
• Some day, Abenomics might work... Not today though: Japan Exports Rise Most Since ’10 as Deficit Swells (BBG)
• China July Home Prices Rise as Nation Seeks Long-Term Policy (BBG)
• Spanish Bank’s Bad Loan Ratio Rises to Record in June (Reuters)
• Recovery... for some - Ferrari NART Spyder Sets $27.5 Million Auction Record (BBG)
• Bund yields hit 17-month high, rupee slumps (Reuters)
• Regulatory Headaches Worsen for J.P. Morgan (WSJ)

If you are a stock picker, then it’s basically now or never for whatever investment discipline you might follow.  Asset class and industry correlations have taken a surprising nosedive in recent weeks, which - as ConvergEx's Nick Colas notes. should allow your strategy/blend of magic to (hopefully) shine versus the benchmarks.  Average industry sector correlations to the S&P 500 have dropped to 69.9%, by far the lowest observation for over two years.  High yield bonds now show just 16% correlation to U.S. stocks, and the numbers for Emerging Markets (58%), EAFE stocks (76%), and currencies like the Australian dollar (11%) are also plumbing new lows.  Why the sudden return to a ‘Normal’ world? Expectations that the Federal Reserve will begin to ‘Taper’ its bond buying help, to be sure.  As do actual inflows (some $8 billion last month) into actively managed mutual funds.  We’ll have to wait and see if current trends continue, but for now we welcome the return of the ‘Stock picker’s market’.  Let the dart-throwing begin...