Daily Pulse: Asian Markets Keep Tumbling, World Leaders Head to Davos, Ikea Thinks We've Reached "Peak Stuff"

World markets are not done reeling. Tokyo plunged 3.7% today, Hong Kong is also down more than 3%, Australian and all other Asian markets also in the red. Asian shares as measured by the MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index have erased more than three years of gains. But Europe seems to be holding up at midday. Macroeconomic realities can't alone explain the rout, argues Influencer Mohamed el-Erian. 

You're probably already sick of hearing about it but Davos only officially opens today. World leaders will discuss the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a concept conveniently put forward by Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, in a book just released. Terminology notwithstanding, the 2,500 people (I'm being generous by not saying 'the 2,000+ men in attendance') will discuss the very real consequences of the acceleration of technological progress, under a three-level dark cloud: the China crisis, the refugee crisis and the climate crisis.

Alas, The Fourth Industrial Revolution is the textual equivalent of Swiss cuisine, a fondue of academic business jargon that makes you want to light a fire under it.

Lynne Everatt, who read it so we wouldn't have to

Look north. The Central Bank of Canada may cut rates today to a record 0.25 percent. Not that we usually pay all that much attention to the Canadian economy (let's not pretend), but there are serious concerns that the country could descend into a real crisis this year with oil, its priced export, now below $30 a barrel and the Canadian dollar dropping 25% against its US cousin this year. Also, Justin Trudeau has made us all far more interested in Canada. 

There's no love lost between Facebook and India. Facebook won't back down from its intention to introduce Free Basics — free access to (a tiny, white picked-fenced part of) the Internet — to the country, while the regulators are tired of receiving template emails from Facebook users being roped into the debate. The whole fist fight is detailed here by India editor Ramya Venugopal.   

Viacom had a rough day. Shareholders are suing the media company behind MTV and Comedy Central for keeping executive chairman Sumner Redstone in play. They argue the 92-year-old founder is mentally unfit to serve. And because a problem never comes alone, Viacom is also targeted by activist investor Eric Jackson. 

TV isn't all that exciting anymore. What happens around it is. Nielsen will start measuring Facebook chatter about TV, which should tell show creators much more about the audience's sentiment than old-school ratings. (Will it? Recode's Peter Kafka isn't so sure.) The company already had a social TV rating based on Twitter but now also has access to the arguably far more numerous convos on Facebook (yes, even if your settings are on "Friends only.")

Enough stuff already. Ikea is thinking of introducing repair and recycling services into its store to respond to customer demand for less stuff, more sustainability. A-men. (Of course, there are still plenty of emerging markets who haven't yet reached indigestion.)

In the West, we have probably hit peak stuff. We talk about peak oil. I’d say we’ve hit peak red meat, peak sugar, peak stuff … peak home furnishings.

Steve Howard, Ikea's head of sustainability

Cover Art: Diamond driller Sunny Kirby climbs through the hole used by burglars to access the underground vault of the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Company, which was raided in April 2015 in what has been called the largest burglary in English legal history. Four elderly men have since pled guilty to the crime. (Photo by Carl Court/ Hatton Garden Properties Ltd/Getty Images)

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What you may have missed — and really should read:

• Is Davos an elite book club — or something even worse?
• This is how much people distrust institutions. 
• Bitcoin's done. Over. 

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