Financial Markets and Economy
Oil Trades Near $50 After OPEC Deal as Focus Moves to Execution (Bloomberg)
Oil traded near $50 and crude producers rose after OPEC approved its first supply cuts in eight years, with the focus now shifting to how strictly the group will implement the deal.
China Adds Curbs on Yuan Outflows (Bloomberg)
China has imposed new restrictions on the movement of cash outside the country to prevent a flood of capital outflows from destabilizing the financial system.
S&P's Sheard: Trump Policies Giving Fed Room for Hikes (Bloomberg)
Paul Sheard, executive vice president and chief economist at S&P Global, discusses the U.S. economy, the timing of the next Fed rate hike and the economic policies of the new administration.
Canada’s Growth Surprise Affirms the Rise of Services (Bloomberg)
Third-quarter growth of 3.5 percent (at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate) topped the consensus estimate by one tick, and in doing so helped vindicate Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz and his vision for the future of the Canadian economy, which continues to grapple with the impact of subdued commodity prices.
China Factory Gauge Matches Post-2012 High as Large Firms Lead (Bloomberg)
China’s official factory gauge matched a post-2012 high as a credit-fueled recovery of smokestack industries gained momentum and signaled a pickup in inflation expectations.
How Much Further Can the Dollar Rally Versus the Yen? (Bloomberg)
The dollar completed its best month versus the yen in two decades as rising Treasury yields added to the U.S. currency’s allure.
China's Spending Spree Is Making the World Nervous (Bloomberg)
Corporate China has been on an unprecedented shopping spree, snapping up companies across the United States and Europe. But not everyone's happy about it – and regulators in the U.S. are stepping in to nix deals.
Colombia Congress Approves Peace Accord, Starts Disarmament (Bloomberg)
Colombia’s congress ratified a revised peace agreement with the country’s largest rebel group, just two months after voters rejected the original accord, starting the countdown to the disarmament of about 7,000 combatants.
Hong Kong Developers Go From First to Worst (Bloomberg)
Hong Kong developer stocks have gone from being the top performers to the worst, slammed by home price curbs and the expectation of rate hikes following Donald Trump’s win in the U.S. presidential election.
OPEC Output Deal: Will They Comply With the Quotas? (Bloomberg)
Philip Verleger, PK Verleger president, and Bloomberg's David Marino react to OPEC's oil output agreement and its ramifications for the oil markets. They speak with Bloomberg's Scarlet Fu and Joe Weisenthal on "What'd You Miss?"
Mizuho's Shen: Yuan Will Weaken More Versus Dollar (Bloomberg)
Shen Jianguang, chief Asia economist at Mizuho Securities, discusses china's manufacturing PMI data for November, the Chinese economy and the outlook for the yuan.
Credit Suisse Said to Freeze Accounts in U.S. Asset Search (Bloomberg)
Credit Suisse Group AG has frozen dozens of accounts as it tries to determine if U.S. clients are hiding money from the Internal Revenue Service after the firm pledged to come clean about secret assets, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Global Bonds Suffer Worst Monthly Meltdown as $1.7 Trillion Lost (Bloomberg)
The Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Total Return Index lost 4 percent in November, the deepest slump since the gauge’s inception in 1990. Bonds in Europe extended declines with their U.S. peers as OPEC’s agreement on Wednesday to cut oil production added to prospects of higher inflation.
China Adds Tax on Super Luxury Cars (Bloomberg)
Buyers of luxury cars in China are going to have to pay a little more. China has imposed a 10% tax on super cars and says it comes down to reducing emissions and saving energy.
Is the Emerging-Market Bond Selloff Out of Control? (Bloomberg)
Pablo Goldberg, senior strategist for BlackRock's emerging market debt team, discusses the selloff in emerging-market bonds with Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal and Scarlet Fu on "What'd You Miss?"
Powell Speaks About Fed Communications, Dot Plot (Bloomberg)
Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell speaks about the central bank's communications and its "dot plot" chart on longer-term rate forecasts. He speaks at a conference hosted by the Brookings Institution in Washington.
The Numbers Don't Lie: Kroger Earnings Preview (Bloomberg)
After Donald Trump ridiculed Wall Street on the campaign trail, the President-elect tapped former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin to be his Treasury secretary and billionaire investor Wilbur Ross to lead the Commerce Department. Trump even met with Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn inside Trump Tower.
How Food Deflation Is Impacting Supermarkets (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg's Craig Giammona discusses the impact of food deflation on supermarkets and previews Kroger's third-quarter earnings report. He speaks with Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal and Scarlet Fu on "What'd You Miss?"
Venezuela Will Release Even Bigger Bills to Help Shrink Wallets (Bloomberg)
After years of soaring prices reduced the value of the largest 100-bolivar bill to just a few U.S. cents, Venezuelan authorities are finally preparing to issue larger-denomination bank notes, much to the relief of shoppers.
Will Trump Trump China’s U.S. Shopping Spree? (Bloomberg)
China, which this year more than doubled its 2015 record of $106 billion in overseas deals, for the first time is approaching the U.S. in acquisitions of foreign companies.
What the Beige Book Report Suggests About Fed Policy (Bloomberg)
Carl Tannenbaum, Northern Trust chief economist, and Bloomberg's Matt Boesler examine the results of the Fed's Beige Book economic survey.
Don't Get Your Hopes Up About Home Prices (Bloomberg)
Our long national nightmare is over. After 10 years, the Case-Shiller home price index is just a smidge above its previous peak, from July 2006. That was the longest sustained dip in national home prices in decades, and its effects on American citizens, and the economy, have been both deep and widespread.
The Great Goldman Migration (Bloomberg)
President-elect Donald Trump seems to be doing all he can to revive Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s crisis-era nickname, Government Sachs. Early Wednesday, the incoming administration decided to nominate former Goldman partner Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary, some two weeks after it appointed another Goldman alum, Steve Bannon, as chief strategist.
What Markets May Be Missing About Trump's Policies (Bloomberg)
Donald Trump's tough talk on trade and immigration was a winning message in parts of the Midwest. If this talk is put into action, that could accelerate the economic decline of much of the region.
OPEC Deal About Inventory, Not Price: Goldman's Currie (Bloomberg)
Jeff Currie, head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, examines OPEC's agreement to cut oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day.
Retail Investors, Consider the Grinch Trade (Bloomberg)
Sales during Thanksgiving weekend, the official kick-off to holiday spending, came in lower than expected as consumers went shopping but spent less than they did a year ago. That theme is likely to continue in the coming months, with a fourth quarter characterized by higher discounts and a shift to profit-biting online
Companies
Nestle Scientists Find Method to Cut Sugar in Chocolate by 40% (Bloomberg)
Nestle SA says it found a way to reduce the amount of sugar in chocolate by as much as 40 percent, a discovery that may give the KitKat maker an edge as food producers face increasing pressure from governments, health advocates and shoppers to make products healthier.
Coca-Cola Is Opening a New Bottling Plant in the Embattled Gaza Strip (Fortune)
Coca-Cola KO -0.84% has raised eyebrows by opening a brand new $20 million bottling plant in the middle of the Gaza Strip during a particularly bleak economic period in the territory.
Why Mastercard Is Poised to Win From India's Cash War (Bloomberg)
Ari Sarker, Mastercard co-president for Asia-Pacific, explains why the company is set to win from India's cash war.
Technology
Amazon Unveils Artificial Intelligence Products for Cloud (Bloomberg)
Amazon.com Inc. introduced an image recognition program, a speech-to-text service dubbed Polly, and tools for building conversational apps, highlighting its push to add artificial intelligence to its cloud-computer offerings.
Fallen Mobile Phone Brand Nokia Rises Again (Fortune)
Nokia smartphones are poised for a comeback after former managers at the Finnish company licensed the handset brand from Microsoft and struck up partnerships with Google and phone manufacturer Foxconn.
Europe's biggest tech hope Spotify starts talking about profit (Reuters)
Music streaming service Spotify, one of Europe's most valuable tech start-ups, could start to become profitable as early as next year, said a board member who was also one of the company's first investors.
Mind the Gap in Tech Startup Valuations (Bloomberg)
Silicon Valley can sometimes feel like Lake Wobegon, the fictional town where all children are above average.
Seismic sensing app detects 200 earthquakes in first six months (New Scientist)
An app called MyShake is revolutionising earthquake detection. The app turns anyone’s phone into a seismology tool, and the project’s first results show it is surprisingly effective.
Now robots are delivering our takeout meals (CNet)
An autonomous robot delivered a meal to a hungry customer in London, an achievement that should cheer couch potatoes in search of snacks beyond a bag of chips.
ICYMI: Eye surgery, bot style (Engadget)
Today on In Case You Missed It: The Axsis microsurgery robot is designed to work remotely so that doctors can more minutely control the removal of cataracts. The machine can't cut too deeply into the cornea since it's designed to avoid that most common of human pitfalls.
Yes, It's Official, New Nokia Android Smartphones Really Are Coming In Early 2017 (Digital Trends)
New phones are coming from Nokia. We’ve known it was happening for a while, but official information was always lacking, until now. The agreement between Nokia and HMD Global announced in May 2016 has been finalized, and is in effect.
Apple may start employing drones to help improve its Maps app (Digital Trends)
The battle royale between our two major map providers is now taking to the skies. In its latest effort to outdo its main competitor Google Maps, Apple is reportedly making use of drones to populate its map data more efficiently and effectively than can its more traditional crew of minivans.
Politics
Trump's Anti-Regulation Era Has Already Begun (Bloomberg)
When a federal judge in Texas last week froze a regulation extending overtime pay to thousands of workers, the holding had an extra sting. The hit to President Barack Obama’s legacy came from his own appointee, not a Bush-era holdover.
Merkel Ready to Take on Trump While Seeking Climate Compromise (Bloomberg)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel signaled she’ll challenge Donald Trump’s skeptical views on global warming, setting the stage for a showdown between a vocal champion of environmental protection and a man who once dismissed climate change as a Chinese hoax.
EPA Preemptive Strike on Car Mileage Seen Forcing Trump’s Hand (Bloomberg)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moved to cement existing fuel-economy and emissions targets before President-elect Donald Trump takes office with a proposal that automakers blasted as "eleventh-hour politics."
Trump’s Tax Cut Means Billion-Dollar Writedowns for U.S. Banks (Bloomberg)
Donald Trump’s planned U.S. corporate tax cuts could translate to a big one-time earnings hit for many of the biggest U.S. banks, thanks to tax benefits they generated during the 2008 financial crisis.
Brexit Talks Could Last Just 15 Months As U.K. and EU Agree Time Is Tight (Bloomberg)
Prime Minister Theresa May’s government accepts a Brexit deal will need to be struck in less than 15 months of talks if the U.K. is to avoid tumbling out of the European Union before establishing new ties with the bloc, a British official said.
Putin Says Russia Is Ready to Cooperate with America (Associated Press)
“We need friends.”
President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia hopes to normalize ties with the U.S. and join efforts in the fight against international terrorism.
Life on the Home Planet
The Man Who Stands Between Earth and Asteroid Armageddon (Bloomberg)
Lindley Johnson spent 23 years in the U.S. Air Force keeping his eyes above the skies. He helped identify and tackle a growing risk to human space activity—the sheer volume of stuff orbiting the planet—in addition to helping manage and monitor military assets in orbit.
Ukraine says missile tests will avoid Crimea, mollifying Russia (Reuters)
Ukraine's military said its two-day missile drill starting on Thursday would avoid the airspace over Crimea, sidestepping a possible confrontation with Russia which annexed the peninsula in 2014.
Less Wastewater Injected Into The Ground Means Less Shaking In Oklahoma (Popular Science)
For the past several years, every time a single barrel of oil gets pumped up from deep under the Earth’s surface in Oklahoma, 10-15 barrels of salty, often contaminated wastewater gets pumped up with it.
Ready for Some Good Environment News? It’s About Coal (Bloomberg)
Thanks to a decrease in coal use in North America and better technology to make the fossil fuel less harmful, the amount of mercury in the atmosphere is on the decline—and our air, our oceans, and even our food appear to be getting safer.
