News We Will Be Talking About Wednesday -- September 23, 2014

Watch for the weekly natural gas fill rates. Looking for "100" to break even; less than 100 is not a good sign. EIA link here. Next data release, Thursday, September 25, 2014.

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Overheard At The WSJ

 Their words, not mine:

European tech is something of an oxymoron these days. To see why, consider events of the past few weeks.

In the U.S., Apple unveiled its latest version of the iPhone along with plans for a new mobile-payment system and a long-awaited smartwatch. Already, in the first weekend the phones were available, they have sold more than 10 million. 

In Asia, meanwhile, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba successfully launched one of the largest-ever initial public offerings in U.S. markets, raising about $25 billion. The share sale underscored the fast rise of Alibaba and rivals such as Tencent and Baidu. Those three companies now have a combined market value of more than $400 billion.

And in Europe? The big tech news there has been a continuing attempt, through antitrust channels, to corral Google. Looking at the world's top 20 tech firms by market value, only one European, Germany's SAP, shows up. Besides underscoring the sclerotic economic environment in the eurozone, the impression is of a continent struggling to keep up in terms of innovation and entrepreneurialism.

And it may become the first continent to have to import fossil fuel to stay lit (previously posted).

Wall Street Journal

ObamaWar: first night sorties a huge success. President says war will last decades. Or something to that effect. No "shock and awe" this time around. Official number of civilian casualties after 24 hours of heavy bombardment from the air: 0.

Wow, wow, wow -- this occurred in Germany just a few weeks ago -- now it's in the US -- US Treasury bonds "dip" into negative territory: folks are paying the US government to protect their "cash" assets.  Buy $1000 in bonds and get back $999 when they mature in a few years. Okay.

The ObamaInversion tax: it's a one-time penalty.

Harvard University's endowment reported a 15% investment return for fiscal 2014, a result that exceeded internal goals but trailed gains at some Ivy League rivals.

The Los Angeles Times

Bin Laden's son-in-law sentenced to life in prison, in New York.

NASA's Maven spacecraft enters orbit around Mars.

This will get their fans upset: Seal Beach will start killing coyotes after dozens of pet deaths.