Daily Briefing: Masseuse robot starts work in Singapore; Uber reportedly spied on Grab

And here's why the global asset bubble won't burst yet.

From AFP News via Yahoo!:

A robot masseuse named Emma is offering Singaporeans high-tech back rubs with a gigantic metal arm and warm silicone tips which its creators say perfectly mimic the human touch.

The robot, the brainchild of local startup AiTreat, began work at a clinic in the city-state this week and performs "tui na", a type of massage practised in traditional Chinese medicine.

Emma, which stands for Expert Manipulative Massage Automation, consists of a white metal arm with heated silicone tips that mimic the human palm and thumb, with customers massaged while lying on a bed.

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From The Motley Fool:

Since the end of the global financial crisis, asset prices have delivered significant growth. For example, in the last eight years the S&P 500 has risen by 140%. Similarly, property prices across the world have generally risen.

The catalyst for asset price growth has been an ultra-loose monetary policy environment. Interest rates in the developed world have fallen to historic lows, while quantitative easing programmes have improved economic performance and caused sentiment among businesses, consumers and investors to improve.

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From Bloomberg:

Shortly after taking over Uber Technologies Inc. in September, Dara Khosrowshahi told employees to brace for a painful six months. U.S. officials are looking into possible bribes, illicit software, questionable pricing schemes and theft of a competitor’s intellectual property. The very attributes that, for years, set the company on a rocket-ship trajectory—a tendency to ignore rules, to compete with a mix of ferocity and paranoia—have unleashed forces that are now dragging Uber back down to earth.

Read more here.