What you need to know on Wall Street right now

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Raymond Dalio, Founder, Chairman and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Bridgewater Associates, speaks at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 2, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

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Raymond Dalio, Founder, Chairman and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Bridgewater Associates, speaks at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills

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Bridgewater Associates has fired back at The New York Times for its recent story on the company's culture.

Bridgewater called the story a "distortion of reality" - but only part of it. The firm has always proudly owned the part of its culture where everything is recorded, either on audio or video, in the name of "radical transparency."

Bridgewater has argued this allows problems and weaknesses to rise to the surface and be dealt with objectively.

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Business Insider's Linette Lopez argues that the use of that logic is even scarier than the surveillance itself.

In other news, a trading startup backed by George Soros and Peter Thiel just hit the reboot button, while a new fund backed by Soros and Michael Dell is off to a stellar start.

Wall Street is going nuts for Facebook after its incredible quarter, and Yahoo is suddenly in a hiring frenzy despite layoffs and the sale of its company.

The Cheesecake Factory is facing a problem with wages, and Ford just raised a big red flag about the US car market.

Leon Cooperman published an epic 48-page note to investors explaining why everything is fine. The US homeownership rate has fallen to an all-time low. And a former Wall Street banker is taking over one of South America's fastest-growing economies.

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Finally, here's an inside look at 'Equity,' the new movie about a badass Wall Street banker.

Here are the top Wall Street headlines at midday:

The controversial and fascinating Detroit company behind Bill Clinton's favorite watch - It's no surprise former President Bill Clinton has been a fixture at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. And it seems Clinton doesn't leave home without his trusty Shinola Runwell 47mm watch, which retails for $600 and of which he owns at least three.

Fed holds rates and says there are now fewer reasons to be worried about the US economy - There are now fewer reasons to be worried about the US economy, according to the Federal Reserve.

This is the 'dullest market in decades,' but get ready for some turbulence ahead - The dog days of summer have brought on the "dullest market in decades," according to a note from Tom Leveroni and Shourui Tian of Nautilus Investment Research.

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Whole Foods shares fall after sales miss - Whole Foods on Wednesday reported quarterly sales that missed analysts expectations, as it worked to cut prices and boost traffic.

Ford whiffs on earnings and warns that the rest of the year will be 'weaker than normal' - Ford on Thursday reported second-quarter earnings that missed analysts' expectations, also saying there were risks to achieving the company's full-year outlook.

There is no Apple Car, and there never will be - As the rumor mill about the Apple Car grinds on and on and on, we keep getting little clues about what "Project Titan" may or may not be all about.

One of Notorious B.I.G.'s songs explains what's going on with the Bank of Japan right now - "I don't know what they want from me / It's like the more money we come across / The more problems we see."

Grubhub's stock is up 27% after blowing away Wall Street estimates - After five rough quarters, Grubhub might finally be on the rise.

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This may be the end of the Swiss watch as we know it - To those that lived through the "quartz crisis" of the '70s - when cheap Japanese quartz watches threatened to overtake the market, pushing Swiss watches into luxury territory - this message is going to sound a little familiar.

We just tried the 'Impossible Burger' - the meatless burger NYC has been waiting for - I have written about the business of steakhouses. I know that a seafood tower is actually a palate cleanser. I monitor the health of the institution that is the New York City hamburger.