Financial Markets and Economy
Crude Prices Fall on Dollar, U.S. Shale Output (The Wall Street Journal)
Crude prices fell Wednesday, weighed down by a stronger dollar and concerns that rising U.S. shale production may offset a move by major producers to cut global supply.
Retail stocks are getting crushed (Business Insider)
Retail stocks are under pressure on Wednesday after Target announced it was slashing its guidance as a result of "disappointing traffic and sales trends."
Higher gasoline, rental costs boost U.S. consumer inflation (Reuters)
U.S. consumer prices increased in December as households paid more for gasoline and rental accommodation, leading to the largest year-on-year increase in 2-1/2 years and signaling that inflation pressures could be building.
Oil Resumes Advance as Report Shows U.S. Crude Stockpiles Drop (Bloomberg)
Oil resumed gains after the biggest drop in more than a week as industry data showed U.S. crude stockpiles declined, while OPEC and other producing nations trim production to ease a global glut.
U.S. industrial output rises 0.8 percent as utilities surge (Reuters)
U.S. industrial production rebounded in December due to the biggest jump in utilities since 1989 as temperatures cooled across the country.
These maps show how different Red America is from Blue America (Business Insider)
America looks vastly different in Trump counties than it does in Clinton counties.
European Stocks Little Changed as Miners Climb, Pearson Tumbles (Bloomberg)
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2 percent at the close. Commodity producers advanced 1.4 percent, the most among industry groups, extending their 2017 gains. Media companies were the worst performers as Pearson plunged 29 percent, the most on record.
People in the US and Canada spent over $53 billion on marijuana in 2016 (Business Insider)
People in North America spent $53.3 billion on legal, medical, and illicit marijuana in 2016. That's more cash than Americans blow in a year at McDonald's and Starbucks combined.
Here's How the Stock Market Works (Fool.com)
If you're new to investing, the stock market can understandably seem confusing. However, understanding the stock market doesn't need to be too difficult. While it's impossible to explain every detail of how stocks and the stock market works in a single article, here's an overview of the basics.
Dimon Says Euro Zone May Not Survive If Concerns Are Ignored (Bloomberg)
The euro region could break up if political leaders don’t get to grips with the discontent that’s spurring support for populist leaders across the continent, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said.
Nigeria’s central bank is warning banks against using bitcoin (Quartz)
In a circular distributed on Friday, the apex bank of Africa’s largest economy warned local financial institutions against doing business in virtual currencies like bitcoin as they “are not legal tender in Nigeria.” Banks who trade and exchange digital currencies do so at their own risk, CBN said. It also included Ripples, Monero, Litecoin, Dogecoin and Onecoin in its warning.
Shiller: Need Tax System Response to Rising Inequality (Bloomberg)
In today's "Single Best Chart," Bloomberg's Tom Keene and Francine Lacqua display median U.S. household income adjusted for inflation going back to 1970.
If Trump Wants to Top Obama, He'll Need to Get the Dow to 50,000 (Money)
While the economic recovery under President Obama has been sluggish and underwhelming, slow and disappointing are hardly words you would use to describe the stock market's performance under the outgoing president.
When Trump tweets, Wall Street trades — instantly (Los Angeles Times)
The jaw-dropping speed at which certain stocks have moved in response to Donald Trump’s tweets about corporate America makes it seem as if Wall Street already was waiting for the president-elect’s words.
GUNDLACH: Here's how we'll know the bond bull market is dead (Business Insider)
DoubleLine Capital founder Jeff Gundlach said that if the 10-year Treasury yield hits 3%, it would mark the end of the bull market in bonds.
OPEC sees weaker appetite for its crude as cut deal kicks in (S&P Global Platts)
OPEC expects demand for its own crude to fall this year but is mindful that the return of US shale could dent positive early signs on non-OPEC compliance with the landmark production restraint deal to rebalance the market, the exporters group said in its monthly oil market report Wednesday.
Full Reserve Banking: The Wrong Cure For The Wrong Disease (Critical Macro Finance)
Towards the end of last year, the Guardian published an opinion piece arguing there is a link between climate change and the monetary system. The author Jason Hickel, claims our current monetary system induces a need for continuous economic growth – and is therefore an important cause of global warming.
US Manufacturing Output Stagnates For 14th Straight Month (Despite Surging Surveys) (Zero Hedge)
US Manufacturing output stagnated for the 14th month in a row in December with a mere 0.2% rise year-over-year (amid downward revisions), notably less than the expected 0.4% rise.
Loonie Plunges As Canadian Central Bank Warns "Rate Cuts Remain On The Table" (Zero Hedge)
The loonie is tumbling this morning after Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz, speaking at a press conference in Ottawa, said if downside risks materialize then rate cuts remain on the table.
Lagarde Urges Wealth Redistribution To Fight Populism (Zero Hedge)
As we scoffed oveernight, who better than a handful of semi, and not so semi, billionaires – perplexed by the populist backlash of the past year – to sit down and discuss among each other how a "squeezed and Angry" middle-class should be fixed.
Here's What Keeps Ray Dalio Up At Night (Forbes)
Ray Dalio, CEO of the world's largest hedge fund, said the rise of populism is the biggest threat facing global markets in 2017. Mr. Dalio manages $150 billion at Bridgewater Associates and when he speaks, markets listen.
China’s war on coal continues — the country just canceled 104 new coal plants (Vox)
Because China is such a behemoth, its energy decisions absolutely dwarf anything any other country is doing right now. Case in point: Over the weekend, the Chinese government ordered 13 provinces to cancel 104 coal-fired projects in development, amounting to a whopping 120 gigawatts of capacity in all.
Companies
Credit Suisse will pay a $5.3 billion settlement over pre-crisis mortgage-backed securities (Business Insider)
Credit Suisse formally agreed to pay $5.3 billion to settle with U.S. authorities over claims it misled investors in residential mortgage-backed securities it sold in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis, the U.S. Department of Justice said said on Wednesday.
Salesforce Is Opening an Innovation Hub Near Amazon and Microsoft (Fortune)
It's probably safe to call greater Seattle area the hub of the cloud computing universe right now. After all, it's home to public cloud behemoth Amazon Web Services as well as to runner up Microsoft.
Technology
Amazon patented a highway network that controls self-driving cars and trucks (Recode)
Amazon was awarded a patent for a network that manages a very specific aspect of the self-driving experience: How autonomous cars navigate reversible lanes.
Apple Sued for Choosing Not to 'Lock-Out' iPhones Behind the Wheel to Prevent Texting and Driving (Mac Rumors)
California resident Julio Ceja is seeking a class action lawsuit against Apple, accusing the company of placing profit before consumer safety by choosing not to implement a lock-out mechanism that would disable an iPhone's functionality when being used behind the wheel by an engaged driver.
Airbus Will Begin Testing Flying Cars by End of This Year (Inc.)
The solution to gridlock traffic could be flying cars, Airbus CEO Tom Enders said on Monday at the DLD digital tech conference in Munich. The European aircraft maker plans to start testing its prototype vehicles by the end of this year.
Loos You Can Use: Japan to Simplify Toilets (The Wall Street Journal)
Makers of Japanese toilets said they would standardize the icons on the panels of the country’s high-tech toilet seats to avoid bafflement among foreign tourists.
Politics
Trump National Security Team Gets a Slow Start (NY Times)
The Obama administration has written 275 briefing papers for the incoming Trump administration: nearly 1,000 pages of classified material on North Korea’s nuclear program, the military campaign against the Islamic State, tensions in the South China Sea, and every other kind of threat the new team could face in its first weeks in office.
Public Sees Wealthy People, Corporations Gaining Influence in Trump Era (Research Center)
As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, the public has starkly different expectations about which groups in society will gain influence – and those that will lose influence – under his administration.
Panicked Joe Biden Admits World Government Is Collapsing (InfoWars)
Alex Jones breaks down Vice President Joe Biden’s warning to fellow progressives that the “liberal world order” is collapsing.
For Trump, Three Decades of Chasing Deals in Russia (NY Times)
It was 2005, and Felix Sater, a Russian immigrant, was back in Moscow pursuing an ambitious plan to build a Trump tower on the site of an old pencil factory along the Moscow River that would offer hotel rooms, condominiums and commercial office space.
Back In Black – The Trump Inauguration's No-Star Lineup (The Daily Show)
Lewis Black breaks down Team Trump's futile attempts to book A-list performers at the president-elect's inauguration.
Trump's pick for education secretary says guns in schools could 'protect from potential grizzlies' (Business Insider)
Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut questioned President-elect Trump's pick for secretary of education yesterday at her confirmation hearing. Betsy DeVos stated that guns in schools could "protect from potential grizzlies."
Donald Trump likes military parades, doesn’t like Twitter, never lies and other things he said in recent interviewsPresident-elect Donald Trump has attempted to spin away some of the controversies surrounding his upcoming administration in a series of interviews with Axios, Fox News and The Washington Post.
Joe Biden's parting message to the world was a stark warning about a clash between the West and Russia (Business Insider)
Vice President Joe Biden entered office in 2009 urging a "reset" and cooperation between the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Russia.
Health and Biotech
Mystery Fungus Sparks NIH Crisis, Imperiling Trials, Patients and Its Boss (The Wall Street Journal)
The National Institutes of Health reported last month that a new cell therapy had completely reversed metastatic colon cancer in a patient and could help tens of thousands more—the kind of dramatic breakthrough that has made NIH the crown jewel of government-run medical research.
Many more people could still die from mad cow disease in the UK (New Scientist)
It’s finally happened. Until now, vCJD – the deadly disease caused by infection with BSE, or “mad cow disease” – has struck only people with a certain genetic makeup. Now, for the first time, researchers have confirmed a case in someone with different genes – a finding that could mean we have been misdiagnosing a new wave of cases.
Life on the Home Planet
Earth Sets a Temperature Record for the Third Straight Year (NY Times)
Marking another milestone for a changing planet, scientists reported on Wednesday that the Earth reached its highest temperature on record in 2016, trouncing a record set only a year earlier, which beat one set in 2014. It is the first time in the modern era of global warming data that temperatures have blown past the previous record three years in a row.
2016 hottest year ever recorded – and scientists say human activity to blame (The Guardian)
2016 was the hottest year on record, setting a new high for the third year in a row, with scientists firmly putting the blame on human activities that drive climate change.
Abortion rate declines to historic low, with Obamacare a likely contributor, study says (Los Angeles Times)
The U.S. abortion rate has hit its lowest point since the procedure became legal nationwide in 1973, according to a new study.
People with more 'education genes' are becoming rarer, suggests study of 129,000 Icelanders (Science Alert)
The genes that predispose people to attain higher levels of education have been in decline over the past 80 years, and researchers are suggesting that they're now under negative selection, which could have a big impact on our species in the coming centuries.
Most primate species are now threatened with extinction (Science Alert)
Primates are remarkable. We’re all familiar with chimpanzees, monkeys, and ring-tailed lemurs, but have you heard of tarsiers, with their big eyes? Or Cleese’s woolly lemur, named after John Cleese?
