Financial Markets and Economy
U.S.-based stock funds post $21.6 billion withdrawals during week – Lipper (Reuters)
U.S.-based stock funds posted $21.6 billion in withdrawals during the latest week, Lipper data showed on Thursday, adding to a trend of outflows from actively managed mutual funds that has lasted much of the year.
Europeans Are Getting Poorer, And More Unequal (Bloomberg)
Ten percent of euro-area households own more than half the region’s wealth, according to a European Central Bank survey published Friday. A standard measure of inequality increased “slightly” and almost all households were worse off in 2014, the cut-off for the survey, compared with the previous poll in 2010.
Paschi Says ECB Sees the Need for $9.2 Billion of Capital (Bloomberg)
The European Central Bank sees Italian lender Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA needing about 8.8 billion euros ($9.2 billion) of capital to bolster its balance sheet after liquidity deteriorated this month.
China Nov industry profits grow well, but chance to sustain gains clouded (Reuters)
China's industrial sector showed the strongest profit growth in three months in November, suggesting the world's second-largest economy was improving, though policymakers noted gains were too dependent on rebounding prices for oil products, iron and steel.
Brazil’s Public Accounts Worsen in November as Slump Drags on (Bloomberg)
Brazil’s public accounts deteriorated in November as the country’s worst recession in a century drags on, according to a partial snapshot of government finances published by the national treasury on Monday.
‘Rogue One’ Pads Disney’s Year as Movie Sales Near Record (Bloomberg)
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” kept its grip on North American movie fans over the Christmas weekend, giving the Walt Disney Co. film a second straight win at the box office.
The US government is loaning millions of dollars to jumpstart urban farming (Business Insider)
The government is increasingly starting to offer assistance to urban farms, too.
In 2016, the USDA funded a dozen urban farms, the highest number in history, Val Dolicini, the administrator for the USDA Farm Services Agency, tells Business Insider.
2016 was the year solar panels finally became cheaper than fossil fuels. Just wait for 2017 (Quartz)
The renewable energy future will arrive when installing new solar panels is cheaper than a comparable investment in coal, natural gas or other options. If you ask the World Economic Forum (WEF), the day has arrived.
Fund Managers Are Bullish on Emerging Markets, But Ratings Agencies Look Less Keen (Fortune)
A number of global fund managers say they are buying emerging market assets for 2017 after the beating the sector has taken since the U.S. election in November, even though credit rating agencies have a less positive outlook.
China Invites Investors, Including Foreigners, Into Space Effort (Bloomberg)
China is looking to draw private investors, including those from outside the country, into its aerospace program to supplement funding from the government for commercial satellite launches.
Cyclone! The Fed/Obama Labor Recovery In 5 Charts (And They Are Ugly!) (Confounded Interest)
Both outgoing President Obama and lingering Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen are making claims about the number of jobs added under their leadership.
In "Cyclical Outlook: Into the Unknown," Joachim Fels and Andrew Balls identified "three difficult transitions" the world will undergo — namely a shift from monetary to fiscal policy, a shift from globalization to deglobalization, and a currency regime transition in China — and offered their outlook.
Foreigners Raise Short Bets on India Ahead of Derivatives Expiry (Bloomberg)
Global investors are raising short positions in Indian equity futures ahead of derivatives expiry on Thursday, signaling the selloff which dragged stocks to a five-week low may continue.
Monte dei Paschi sees funding gap grow (BBC News)
Italian lender Monte dei Paschi is facing a capital shortfall of €8.8bn (£7.5bn), higher than the €5bn previously estimated by the bank, the European Central Bank has said.
Solar At The Beginning Of 2016 Vs Solar At The End Of 2016 (Forbes)
Sometimes solar energy seems to be on a tear. Then suddenly the industry is on the verge of collapse. This dynamic is known as the Solarcoaster. While 2016 was a wild ride for all of us, the volatility was more pronounced in renewables than in most sectors.
Time Arbitrage: Investing Vs. Speculation (Wade Slome, Seeking Alpha)
The clock is ticking, and for many investors that makes the allure of short-term speculation more appealing than long-term investing. Of course, the definition of "long-term" is open for interpretation. For some traders, long term can mean a week, a day, or an hour.
In spite of the Paris climate agreement, American oil exports have increased (Salon)
Seven years ago, the U.S. exported its crude oil to just one country — Canada. This year, 22 countries received American crude oil, marking a more than 1,000 percent increase in U.S. oil exports since 2009, according to U.S. Department of Energy data released this week.
Annaly Capital's Recent BV, Dividend, And Valuation Compared To 17 mREIT Peers – Part 2 (Scott kennedy, Seeking Alpha)
This article compares NLY’s recent dividend per share rates, yield percentages, and several dividend sustainability metrics to seventeen mREIT peers.
The Italian Bank Run: Monte Paschi Capital Shortfall Surges 75% To €8.8Bn Due To "Rapid Liquidity Deterioration" (Zero Hedge)
While the big news last week was that Italy's third largest bank, Monte Paschi, had been nationalized after JPM destroyed the bank's chances of securing a private-sector rescue, and that Italy would issue up to €20 billion in public debt to fund the bailout of this, and other insolvent Italian banks, it appears there may be more moving parts to the story.
U.S. Shale Is Now Cash Flow Neutral For First Time In A While (Value Walk)
The IEA says that in the third quarter of 2016, the U.S. shale industry became cash flow neutral for the first time ever.
Pension Fund Red Ink – Check Out Your State (Value Walk)
I read Art’s letter almost every day and, boy, do I enjoy his wit, his compassion and his brains. In the spirit of Christmas, his post this morning was fun.
Commodity Futures Plunge Following China Growth Downgrade (Zero Hedge)
Less than a month ago we warned that the Chinese commodity bubble 2.0 was bursting as speculative volume had exploded relative to open interest and exchanges had begun (after unreal surges in prices) to crackdown on the speculation.
Companies
Toshiba Says Nuclear Writedown May Reach Billions of Dollars (Bloomberg)
The Japanese company, which paid a record fine a year ago for its bookkeeping practices, warned that it may now have to take another charge of several billion dollars related to an acquisition made by U.S. unit Westinghouse Electric.
Apple strengthening its relationship with Foxconn as it builds new R&D centers in China & Indonesia (9To5 Mac)
According to a new report from Chinese news outlet the Economic Daily News, Apple is “aggressively” working to expand its presence in Southeast Asia. The company has been working with Foxconn on the efforts, the report explains, further strengthening the partnership between the two parties.
AWS catapulted Amazon into a breakout 2016 on Wall Street (Tech Crunch)
Amazon’s retail business continues to grow, and chug along, and gobble up share from offline commerce and other companies desperately trying to up their e-commerce game. And that’s all fine and good — that’s what Wall Street has come to expect from Amazon. What might not have been expected, though, was just how big AWS would be and how fast it would grow to become that big.
Technology
Consumer Reports has released its Annual Owner Satisfaction Survey, and the publication has extracted a brand ranking from the results.
These Are the Six Best New Headphones for Travelers (Bloomberg)
Here are the requirements that every good pair of travel headphones needs to meet: They must be small enough to fit in a carry-on, they must drown out ambient airplane noise (and crying babies), the batteries must last long enough for a trans-ocean flight, and they must have killer sound. Achieving all that is easier said than done.
Robotic Exoskeletons Are the New Wheelchairs (Bloomberg)
Exoskeletons are wearable robots designed to move or strengthen limbs. Already, lower-body models help paralysis patients in clinics around the world. As long as the devices can continue to shed weight and cost, they should become common as replacements for wheelchairs within five years, says Homayoon Kazerooni, founder of two of the companies below.
Politics
Wielding Claims of ‘Fake News,’ Conservatives Take Aim at Mainstream Media (NY Times)
The C.I.A., the F.B.I. and the White House may all agree that Russia was behind the hacking that interfered with the election. But that was of no import to the website Breitbart News, which dismissed reports on the intelligence assessment as “left-wing fake news.”
America’s concern for the poor is about to be tested (The Washington Post)
Poor Americans are facing the gravest threat to the federal safety net in decades as President-elect Donald Trump takes office accompanied by a Republican-controlled Congress.
Democracy Is Dying as Technocrats Watch (Foreign Policy)
On Nov. 29, three weeks after Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, the following chart, showing a precipitous decline in support for democracy around the world, went viral after appearing in the New York Times.
Saudi Royal Family Is Still Spending in an Age of Austerity (NY Times)
TANGIER, Morocco — Behind a tall perimeter wall, studded with surveillance cameras and guarded by Moroccan soldiers, a sprawling new palace for King Salman of Saudi Arabia rose on the Atlantic coast here last summer.
‘How Propaganda Works’ Is a Timely Reminder for a Post-Truth Age (NY Times)
In “Mein Kampf,” Hitler argued that effective propaganda appeals “to the feelings of the public rather than to their reasoning ability”; relies on “stereotyped formulas,” repeated over and over again, to drum ideas into the minds of the masses; and uses simple “love or hate, right or wrong” formulations to assail the enemy while making “intentionally biased and one-sided” arguments.
Life on the Home Planet
Rescuers Find Flight Recorder From Black Sea Plane Crash (Bloomberg)
Rescue workers on Tuesday found a flight recorder from the Russian plane that crashed into the Black Sea over the weekend, the defense ministry said.
Chinese warships enter South China Sea near Taiwan in show of force (The Guardian)
A group of Chinese warships led by the country’s sole aircraft carrier entered the South China Sea on Monday after passing south of Taiwan, the self-ruled island’s defence ministry said.
Fights, disturbances shut down malls across U.S. (Reuters)
Fights, disturbances and false reports of gunfire caused chaotic scenes and shut down several malls across the United States on Monday during the typically busy post-Christmas shopping day.
Cheetah Facing Extinction As Population Drops, Experts Call For ‘Endangered’ Listing In IUCN Red List (International Business Times)
It may be the fastest land mammal but that doesn’t mean the cheetah can outrun extinction, which has become a pressing concern for the iconic species. Only about 7,100 individuals remain in the world now, and scientists have called for its conservation status to be changed to “endangered” from the current “vulnerable.”
World's Tiniest Wires Use Diamonds To Assemble Themselves Like LEGOs (Forbes)
Researchers have found a way to weave the tiniest of diamonds into the fabric of our lives, literally. The idea isn't bringing the bling, but actually using the tiny bits of diamond, called diamondoids to make wires that measure just three atoms wide.
"Suspicious" Fire Burns Down Hamburg Refugee Center (Zero Hedge)
In what could be the first "blowback" response against German refugees following Monday's deadly Berlin terrorist attack in which a Tunisian jihadist killed 12 people after ramming a truck in a Christmas market after swearing allegiance to ISIS, Germany's Morgenpost reports that on Friday a suspicious fire erupted at a refugee center in a Hamburg suburb, destroying 28 residential units in the blaze.
