1. ObamaCare Fiscal Cliff Bloom — funding from ObamaCare is set to plunge in 2015 for Medicaid primary care doctors, community health centers and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The money was designed to drop in the short term to make 10-year budget forecasts look better. However the chances that the GOP-controlled House will OK more funding for ObamaCare look dim, putting coverage for millions of people in jeopardy.
2. Samsung, Intel, Dell Team Up on Standards for Connected Gadgets (Internet of Things) — Reuters, Samsung Electronics, Intel Corp and Dell have joined to establish standard ways for household gadgets like thermostats and light bulbs to talk to each other. This new framework is at odds with another framework backed by Qualcomm, LG Electronics and other companies. The new Open Interconnect Consortium, like the Qualcomm-supported AllSeen Alliance, aims to establish how smart devices work together in a trend increasingly called the Internet of Things.
3. Argentina To Meet Again with Debt Mediator — Reuters, Argentina said it would meet with a mediator for the second time this past week in the country’s dispute with “holdout” investors to avoid another painful debt default by July 30 .
4. Apple (AAPL) Patents A Way To Make All-Glass iPhones, iPads, Monitors And TVs — Apple has patented a method for building devices with all-glass outer casings (via AppleInsider), by fusing pieces together for a completely seamless final look. One of the biggest challenges with the new design is to make it both lightweight and durable. A leaked video showed Apple’s (AAPL) newest glass creation – the virtually indestructible sapphire glass screen of the iPhone 6.
5. Fed Plans to End Bond Purchases in October 2014 — MarketWatch, according to the new plan, the Fed will make a $15 billion final reduction at its October meeting, after trimming it by $10 billion at each meeting up to that point. Most Fed officials said that the exact end of the tapering issue will have no bearing on the timing of the first rate hike. The Fed has said that rates would remain near zero for a “considerable time” after the Fed halts its program of bond purchases.
6. Major Oil pipeline of 1,100-mile Across Iowa Proposed by Energy Transfer Partners — Desmoines Register, Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), energy company is hoping to build an 1,100-mile underground pipeline to transport a highly volatile type of crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields through 17 Iowa counties en route to Illinois. The pipeline would carry at least 320,000 barrels of crude daily by 2016. The project still faces approval from Iowa regulators and from regulatory agencies in other states, but Iowa environmental groups say they were caught off guard by Energy Transfer Partners’ (ETP) plans.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:

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