Marc Benioff Loves Wrist Computers So Much He's Wearing Two Right Now (CRM)

Yesterday, during a joint press conference, two of the tech industry's biggest visionaries, Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff and Oracle's CEO Larry Ellison, gave their predictions for the future: a billion tiny computers.

It's called the Internet of Things. Or, if you work at Cisco, it's called the Internet of Everything.

Benioff explained: "We are in the third wave of computing. First there was mainframes and mini-computers. The second wave was client/server which Oracle pioneered and I was there [working at Oracle]. Today is dramatically different. It's about billions and billions of computers and everything on the network."

By everything he even means things like your toothbrush. He says Philips is working on a toothbrush with WiFi, GPS and "realtime feedback on how I brush my teeth. When I see the dentist and he asks, Marc, have you been brushing? I can't lie to the dentist anymore. He's got all the data.  That's a new world." (The Beam Brush toothbrush does a similar thing.)

Cisco Systems, where Benioff serves as a board member, predicts that the Internet of Everything will become an astounding $14 trillion market over the next 10 years.

Ellison sees the same vision.  There will be "billions of cell phones and tens of billions of wearable devices all over the world," he said.

Then Benioff chimed in, "I'm wearing two new computers on my wrist right now."

He wasn't joking. He sent us this picture. Benioff didn't say what these devices were, but we think they're the Fitbit Flex and Jawbone Up, two fitness-tracking wristbands.

Marc Benioff

Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff's wrist is loaded with wearable computers

Looks like a Fitbit Flex and a Jawbone UP.

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BRIAN BELSKI: A Transition In Stocks Has Begun

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Stocks Have Begun The Transition From Their Reliance On Monetary Policy To Fundamentals (BMO Capital Markets)

Brian Belski at BMO Capital Markets has raised his S&P 500 target to 1,650 from 1,575. This he says was "driven by a reduction of the equity risk premium (ERP) to 4% from 4.5% that we apply in our DDM and P/E models. He also thinks stock prices are beginning to reflect fundamentals over monetary policy.

"This does not mean volatility will evaporate. To the contrary, we believe there is a very good chance that stocks will continue to exhibit sharp moves in both directions akin to what has transpired in recent weeks. As such, US stocks may have already put their high in for the year. However, given our penchant for investing and not market timing, we would advise clients to build positions on pullbacks and decrease potential tracking errors on stocks that have become extended."

About 5.4 Million Single Women Households Will Seek Financial Advice Through 2015 (FA Mag)

There are 9 million households headed by single women that have investible assets of over $100,000. And 60% of those women are expected to look for financial advice through 2015, according to Information Asset Partners (IAP) and Meridian-IQ, cited by FA Mag. 

California had the largest retail investor market with 12.3% of affluent single-woman investors and New York was second at 8.3%. The study found no co-relation between the number of affluent female investors and female advisors.

If We Are Reliving The Bond Market Nightmare Of 1994, Then Buy Stocks (Deutsche Bank)

Back in 1994 the surge in interest rates devastated bond investors. In a new report, Deutsche Bank says if what we're seeing now is like 1994 it's a good time to buy stocks.

Deutsche Bank

SEC Nominees Back Move For More Public Accountability In Settlements (Investment News)

SEC nominees Kara Stein and Michael Piwowar told lawmakers that they support "ending enforcement settlements that allow targets to avoid admitting or denying the charges," according to Investment News. 

Current policies allow firms to settle without admitting to charges. Recently SEC chairman Mary Jo White pushed for a change in policy that would see firms admit to charges in some instances.

Bond Funds Hit With Biggest Outflows Ever This Week (BAML)

Investors pulled a record $23.3 billion from bond funds in the week ending June 26. Bank of America's chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett called it 'bond market liquidation.' And these redemptions were at record highs in emerging market bond funds, high yield bond funds, investment grade, and mortgage-backed securities funds.

BofAML Global Research, EPFR Global

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The Cost Of Mining An Ounce Of Gold (GLD)

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All Of The Gold Bulls Are Making The Same Case For A Price Floor

REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani

An anti-Gaddafi fighter shows the media what they say was the golden pistol of Muammar Gaddafi, near Sirte October 20, 2011.

The plunge in the market price for gold has been absolutely stunning.  And analysts believe a number of factors ranging from momentum to low liquidity will send prices even lower.

However, the gold bulls are holding strong. 

Most bull cases these days hinge on one thing: the cost of mining gold.

Basically, they argue that gold mining costs are high.  And if prices fall below cost, then miners will stop mining it and supply will quickly evaporate.  The marginal buyers will then scramble for whatever's left, causing prices to surge.

Mining costs effectively put in a floor to the price of gold.

The problem is that gold mining costs aren't very uniform.  Barrick gold recently published some stats showing that it takes anywhere from 2 tons to 91 tons of rock to yield an ounce of gold.

Art Cashin discussed this issue this morning:

What's Mine Is Mine – On CNBC's Squawkbox this morning, Becky Quick was asking several guests about the mining cost for gold since bullion had plunged below $1200.  I thought the response might have been a touch confusing to viewers so I shot off the following email to my savvy and charming friend:

Gold mining costs are not uniform.  They vary from mine to mine and from level to level within each mine.  If the cost of my mine is $800, I will be happy to mine when the bullion price is above it.  As bullion moves even higher, I will dig out deeper and more difficult ore (adding to supply).  As price drops, I will concentrate on easier (cheaper) ore.  The cost of mining is an estimate of the average of all working mines and it tends to vary with bullion.

Peter Schiff spoke with Business Insider's Mamta Badkar about this yesterday:

Mining is very energy intensive and ten years ago, oil was $12 - $15 a barrel.  Now it's $95 a barrel. So that's just one of the costs. Labor costs have gone up because the cost of living has gone up in many of the countries where gold is mined. The price of gold isn't even high because it doesn't even reflect its production costs... 

It shows you how prices need to go higher. Most mines are going to be shut down and there will be no supply and that all by itself means the price of gold has to go up because there will be no supply.

Schiff expects mining companies won't invest in capital expenditures or exploration until gold hits $2,500 to $3,000 by his estimates.

Gold prices are straddling $1,200 per ounce today.

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CHART OF THE DAY: Here's What Happened In The Global Financial Markets In Q2

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Fitch Affirms AAA Rating For US But Elevated Debt Keeps Outlook Negative

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