Financial Markets and Economy
Trump Bull Market Bounty Tops $1 Trillion as Bear Cases Go Quiet (Bloomberg)
Donald Trump is doing to U.S. equity bears what seven years of economic stimulus rarely could: shut them up.
Two years of paralysis has for now ended in stocks, with more than $1 trillion added to shares values since Election Day and the Dow Jones Industrial Average looking bound for 20,000.
China’s Banks Are Hiding More Than $2 Trillion in Loans (The Wall Street Journal)
In 2014, the Chinese city of Haimen on the mouth of the Yangtze River set out to build a large apartment complex and turned to Bank of Nanjing Co. for about $29 million in financing.
China's Yuan Pessimists Are Multiplying (Bloomberg)
China is tightening capital controls as the imminent renewal of a foreign-exchange conversion quota adds to depreciation pressure on the yuan.
Monte Paschi Asks ECB for More Time to Complete Capital Increase (Bloomberg)
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA requested more time from the European Central Bank to complete a plan to raise 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) by private means as the troubled lender struggles to attract new investors.
Trump Win Set Off $2 Trillion Shock Rotation to Stocks From Debt (Bloomberg)
Donald Trump’s election win sent a $2 trillion shock wave through global markets over the past month.
That’s how much equities’ global market value has jumped. And that’s about the size of the loss in worth of the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index of bonds, over the worst month for global bonds in dollar terms on record.
Xi Said to Become First Chinese President at Davos Summit (Bloomberg)
President Xi Jinping will become the first Chinese head of state to attend the World Economic Forum in Switzerland next month, a person familiar with the trip said, as the country seeks a larger role in shaping the global financial order.
ICE told to speed up investigations on U.S. futures exchange (Reuters)
Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE.N) generally takes too long to complete investigations into questionable trading practices on its U.S. futures exchange as required by the rules, the regulator said.
Japan Slashes 3Q Growth Estimate as Business Spending Drops (Bloomberg)
Japan unexpectedly cut its reading of third-quarter economic growth to an annualized 1.3 percent, from a preliminary estimate of 2.2 percent expansion. The revision was driven by drops in business spending and in private inventories.
EU takes action against UK, Germany over VW emissions scandal – sources (Reuters)
The European Union will take action on Thursday against seven nations including Germany and Britain for failing to police car emissions rules, EU sources said, after the Volkswagen cheating scandal showed suspicious behavior in the industry.
Japan Inc warns of global trade contraction under Trump presidency: Reuters poll (Reuters)
Corporate Japan is bracing for a rocky ride under incoming U.S. President Donald Trump, a Reuters poll showed, with well over a third of firms seeing a contraction in global trade as concerns about a rise in U.S. protectionism threaten to shatter a fragile economic recovery.
In Land of World’s Cheapest LNG, Exxon and Total May Team Up (Bloomberg)
In a country that offers explorers some of the cheapest liquefied natural gas in the world, producers are still looking for ways to reduce costs.
U.S. Consumers’ Credit Balances Expand at Slower Pace in October (The Wall Street Journal)
WASHINGTON—U.S. consumers’ credit balances increased in October, extending a long streak of gains led by the category that includes student and auto loans.
Keeping the Faith (Even After a 99% Wipeout) for Shareholders (Bloomberg)
After saddling investors with a 99.99 percent loss since 2011, the Hong Kong-listed property firm is asking shareholders to plow fresh capital into the business for the eighth time in five years. Eminence plans to raise at least HK$478.2 million ($61.7 million) in a rights offering next month, twice as much as its current market value.
Incredibly Shrinking Markets (Fool.com)
It's a small world after all — of stocks, that is. The number of U.S. stocks trading is much smaller than it used to be.
In fact, as of Sept. 1, there were just 3,267 names in the University of Chicago's Center for Research in Securities PricesOpens a New Window. (CRSP) Deciles 1-10 index, a representation of the U.S. equity market.
How Australia's household debt binge has left the country vulnerable as economy shrinks (The Telegraph)
Australia suffered its biggest economic contraction since the financial crisis in the third quarter, as torrential rain and falling business investment left the country at risk of slipping into its first recession in a quarter of a century.
Plenty Of Warning Signs – Financial Relativity Index Says 1Q'17 Correction Likely (Daniel R Moore, Seeking Alpha)
What is not to love about this stock market rally since Trump was elected? Those who stayed put and did not sell the initial knee jerk reaction by the market to sell have been rewarded by a euphoric rise in market valuation as measured by the broad market indices (NYSEARCA:DIA) (NYSEARCA:SPY).
Why You Should Let Celgene Corporation Invest Your Money (Fool.com)
How would you like to have an investment manager who quadrupled your initial investment over the last 10 years? That's the return thatCelgene Corporation(NASDAQ: CELG) achieved. But Celgene is a biotech, not an investment manager, right? Actually, it's both.
Trump Comments On Drug Prices Sink Biotech (Barron's)
In his “Person of the Year” interview,Donald Trump said “I’m going to bring down drug prices.” That commentary has already brought down drug companies’ stock prices.
Warren Buffett’s Latest Milestone: $400 Billion (The Wall Street Journal)
Berkshire Hathaway is poised to join Apple, Alphabet and Microsoft as the only U.S.-listed companies with a market cap north of $400 billion
David Rosenberg Throws Up On The "Trump Rally" – Here's Why (The Globe And Mail)
When I was on CNBC on Monday afternoon, the discussion was over this stellar stock market performance of the past month, otherwise known as the “Trump Rally.”
Pipeline spills in North Dakota cost $40 million in property damage (Think Progress)
On Sunday, protesters in North Dakota celebrated as news that the Army Corps of Engineers would not be granting a necessary permit for the Dakota Access pipeline spread.
US Housing Market Reeling After Mortgage Rates Jump To Two Years Highs (Zero Hedge)
Ten days ago, we wrote that the "US Housing Market In Peril As "Increase In Mortgage Rates Has Shocked Consumers." Fast forward to today when the same "shocked consumers" referenced in the WSJ piece must be on the verge of a nervous breakdown because according to the Mortgage Brokers Association, rates on US fixed-rate mortgages rose to their highest levels in more than two years, sending weekly home loan application activity to its weakest since early January, according to the latest MBA data.
Just How Overvalued Is The Market? Here Are 20 Metrics To Help You Decide (Zero Hedge)
Today's epic melt up has left many traders, investors and market watchers speechless. But even prior to Wednesday's explosive move higher, the market was already in nosebleed territory.
Gallup CEO Warns: "America Inc.'s Running On Empty…And It's Too Big To Turn Around" (Zero Hedge)
The U.S. Council on Competitiveness asked Gallup to conduct, pro bono, a comprehensive study of U.S. growth and productivity for the Council's 30th anniversary.
The Hidden European Banking Crisis That Could Destroy The US Markets (The Wall Street Examiner)
The European banking collapse paused in October with a minor uptick in total deposits. In addition there was a massive, mysterious revision of the figures from earlier this year.
Case Shiller National This Old House Index Hides The Danger In Housing Market (The Wall Street Examiner)
The Case Shiller Index for September 2016 was reported today, telling us what we already knew from 5 months ago. In fact, we knew it and reported it not 5 months ago, but 18 months ago, when it actually happened.
With Presidency in Play, Can France Embrace Economic Change? (NY Times)
PARIS — He compares himself to Margaret Thatcher, the British leader who set her country on a right-leaning economic course. A French newspaper splashed him on its cover with the Iron Lady’s hairdo and pearl earrings.
NYC's Tallest Luxury Tower Is Discounting Condos by Millions (Bloomberg)
Buyers at Manhattan’s tallest ultra-luxury condo tower are getting discounts worth millions, a sign of the times in a market that’s swamped with costly homes.
A Trumponomics Stock Screen (Forbes)
Forbes guest columnist Avi Tiomkin is not an optimist; he assumes Trump’s economic agenda will send the U.S. Into recession. He suggests Trump ought not be compared to Ronald Reagan, a previous purveyor of so-called “voodoo economics” that, actually, turned out pretty well. Is he right? I don’t know.
Companies
Why Lululemon Has Wall Street Feeling Zen (Fortune)
Heading into Lululemon Athletica’s quarterly report on Wednesday, skeptics were feeling less than zen. There’s too much competition, they felt. Observers also fretted that shoppers were buying more jeans again—turning away from the “athleisure” trend that the yoga-wear company helped popularize. (And hurt denim sales in the process).
Why Teva’s Selloff Could Be A Buying Opportunity (Barron's)
Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA) took a beating Tuesday on news of its CEO’s departure. However CFRA’s Jeffrey Loo thinks the shares have fallen too far.
Costco Same-Store Sales Rise After String of Declines (The Wall Street Journal)
Costco Wholesale Corp. said discounts and deflation erased much of the sales gains the company logged in its latest quarter, as the retail giant battles with Wal-Mart and Amazon.com for a bigger slice of consumer spending.
Amazon's Grocery Would Eliminate Thousands Of Jobs (Forbes)
There’s nothing wrong with profit or efficiency. If you’re in business, you probably have multiple reasons, but profit is a big one. Profit is how you pay yourself. It enables a company to offer more employment opportunities for more people. Investors see the results of profit, either as higher stock prices or dividends, and they spend and further invest the money, also indirectly creating jobs.
Technology
In a unanimous ruling, the eight justices threw out the appeals court ruling that said Samsung had to pay a $399 million penalty to Apple for copying key aspects of the iPhone design.
Silicon Valley Is Trying to Reinvent Health Care, Starting in New Jersey (Bloomberg)
Wearing blue scrubs and a 1,000-watt smile, Nikesha McPherson arrives for her annual visit to the home of an octogenarian couple in Plainfield, New Jersey. This time she’s going to pitch Margarita and Alfonso Varon on the benefits of brown rice.
Google Says It Will Run Entirely on Renewable Energy in 2017 (Forbes)
Even before the financial crisis, pundits expressed their concern that devil-may-care bank lending, and loose monetary policy would result in inflation. Despite the same repeated calls that such an event was imminent, the inflation didn’t really show up in the government’s main statistic — the Consumer Price Index.
Apple in talks with studios to offer current cinema releases in-home (The Next Web)
We could soon be talking about Apple in the same way we talk about Redbox or Netflix — new technology that cannibalized a long-held standard.
Start-Up Launches Automated System It Claims Makes It Easy To Grow Marijuana At Home (Forbes)
With last month’s election, the U.S. reached a tipping point in the long fight to decriminalize cannabis. More than half of states have now declared pot legal, either for medical or recreational use. Seven states plus the District of Columbia have now legalized recreational pot, and 21 others allow it to be taken as medicine.
Politics
Trump Picks Scott Pruitt, Climate Change Denialist, to Lead E.P.A. (NY Times)
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump has selected Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general and a close ally of the fossil fuel industry, to run the Environmental Protection Agency, signaling Mr. Trump’s determination to dismantle President Obama’s efforts to counter climate change — and much of the E.P.A. itself.
The Trump administration's national security adviser is already becoming a liability (The Fiscal Times)
By all accounts, Donald Trump places an enormous premium on loyalty. And that’s a good thing. But Trump is a pragmatist. And that’s another good thing.
Carrier union leader on Donald Trump: “He lied his ass off” (Salon)
President-elect Donald Trump may be crowing about stopping Carrier from sending jobs overseas, but Chuck Jones — the president of the United Steelworkers Local 1999 — isn’t mincing words: Trump “lied his ass off.”
The SoftBank investment Trump touted looks pretty great for SoftBank (Los Angeles Times)
When President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Japanese corporate giant SoftBank had agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. and create 50,000 new jobs, he presented it as a triumph for American workers.
America has an Obamacare dilemma (Visual Capitalist)
President-elect Donald Trump has consistently called to repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act throughout his campaign, but many pundits see this as being a catch-22 for the incoming administration.
Trump Picks Wrestling Magnate Linda McMahon To Head Small Business Administration (Black Listed News)
Linda McMahon, professional wrestling magnate and member of the World Wrestling Entertainment family dynasty, has been named to serve as head of the Small Business Administration in President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet.
Hospitals and insurers are dreading Trump’s promised repeal of Obamacare (Salon)
President-elect Donald Trump may have campaigned on repealing Obamacare, but if he follows through on that promise, he may get a lot more than he bargained for.
Dozens of members of Congress met with religious right pastors to drive satan out of power in the Capitol (Right Wing Watch)
Last week, conservative pastors gathered on Capitol Hill, where they joined dozens of members of Congress for a “Congressional-Clergy Town Hall” organized by Wallbuilders and the Jefferson Gathering.
Eddie, Steve (Mnuchin) And Bruce's Swell Adventure Destroying Sears—A Cautionary Tale For Trumponomics (David Stockman's Contra Corner)
There is something very important to understand about Trumponomics. To wit, all of the tax cuts and deregulation in the world are not going revitalize the American economy unless the Fed's Bubble Finance regime and the resulting casinos on Wall Street are decisively shutdown.
Donald Trump picked Oklahoma AG Scott Pruitt, a climate denier, to run the Environmental Protection Agency (Climate Central)
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma’s attorney general and a champion of the oil and gas industry, to run the the Environmental Protection Agency — the federal office that enforces nearly all laws that protect America’s air and water.
Britain softens its Brexit stance—just as the EU hardens its own (The Economist)
It Is always hard to read runes. That applies especially to the daunting process of leaving the European Union. Yet some recent events point to a softer version of Brexit than some had feared.
Health and Biotech
1 Patient, 7 Tumors and 100 Billion Cells Equal 1 Striking Recovery (NY Times)
The remarkable recovery of a woman with advanced colon cancer, after treatment with cells from her own immune system, may lead to new options for thousands of other patients with colon or pancreatic cancer, researchers are reporting.
Optimistic outlook on life may help you live longer, study finds (Today)
People who are highly optimistic have a lower chance of dying prematurely from stroke, heart disease and even cancer, researchers at Harvard University's Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness have found.
Life on the Home Planet
Two juveniles charged with arson in Tennessee wildfires that killed 14 (Reuters)
Two juveniles were charged with arson on Wednesday in connection with the eastern Tennessee wildfires that broke out last month in and around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in which 14 people died, officials said.
Ties between Russia and the Taliban worry Afghan, U.S. officials (Reuters)
Afghan and American officials are increasingly worried that any deepening of ties between Russia and Taliban militants fighting to topple the government in Kabul could complicate an already precarious security situation.
The Weather Channel debunks Breitbart’s bogus claim that global warming isn’t real (Salon)
Breitbart is going to need some aloe for the sick burn that The Weather Channel just gave them.
Kait Parker of The Weather Channel offered a scathing rebuttal on Tuesday to a pseudoscientific piece posted by Breitbart last Wednesday entitled “Global temperatures plunge.
