Financial Markets and Economy
OPEC and Friends Agree on Way to Monitor Oil Cut to End Glut (Bloomberg)
OPEC and other oil producers agreed on a way to monitor their compliance with last month’s historic supply deal, putting global markets on track to re-balance after more than two years of oversupply.
Wall Street stocks set to slip as Trump keeps investors on the back foot (Market Watch)
U.S. stock futures tilted south on Monday as global markets grappled with uncertainty over the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump and concerns he’ll pursue a protectionist agenda.
Optimism among the UK's banks and money managers fell for the fourth consecutive quarter, marking the longest period of declining business sentiment since the worst days of the 2008 financial crisis.
China Stock Trading Most Muted Since 1992 as State Tightens Grip (Bloomberg)
Chinese stocks haven’t been so subdued since 1992 as government efforts to maintain stability as well as tightening liquidity deter traders.
Singapore Consumer Prices Rise for First Time Since 2014 (Bloomberg)
Consumer prices in Singapore rose in December for the first time in more than two years, adding to signs of recovery in the city-state’s economy.
Dollar drops as Trump inauguration speech points to potential trade tensions (Market Watch)
The U.S. dollar weakened against a wide range of currencies on Monday amid disappointment that U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration speech proved light on detail over his plans for economic stimulus.
Luxury Brands Struggle to Steer Iranians Away From Knockoffs (The Wall Street Journal)
Iranians love high fashion, but luxury companies planning to tap Persian appetite for designer clothes and bags are facing stiff competition from their very own brands—albeit fake ones.
Donald Trump is officially pledging to boost US growth to 4% per year during his presidency. "To get the economy back on track, President Trump has outlined a bold plan to create 25 million new American jobs in the next decade and return to 4 percent annual economic.
The pound is at its highest level since before Christmas (Business Insider)
The pound is climbing on Monday, reaching its highest level in more than a month as a continued slide in the dollar helps currencies around the world.
The S&P 500 probably will rise this year, but it might take the scenic route (Market Watch)
In late 2015 and early 2016, we were following a pattern in the S&P 500 Index SPX, +0.34% which was pointing to levels over 2,500, potentially targeting the end of 2017. In fact, as we have been saying for a few years now, our ideal target is between 2,537-2,611, which could be met as early as the end of 2017. That’s about 15% higher than today.
Good Times Seen Coming to End for China’s Real Estate Bonds (Bloomberg)
Steps to cool China’s property market are stoking speculation the good times are about to end for developer bonds offshore.
Abu Dhabi Said to Meet Fixed-Income Investors in Asia This Week (Bloomberg)
Abu Dhabi, holder of about 6 percent of the world’s oil reserves, will hold fixed-income investor meetings in Asia this week, a person familiar with the matter said.
Kurdistan Pays Oil Companies, Breaking Seven-Week Cash Drought (Bloomberg)
The government of Iraqi Kurdistan has paid international oil companies for the first time in seven weeks, as rising crude prices give a much-needed boost to the region’s coffers.
This fund manager is finding profits in the wreckage of corporate Europe (Market Watch)
U.S. stocks have gotten so expensive in this eight-year bull market that even value shares aren’t the bargain they usually are.
Gold Rallies as Trump Getting Feet Under Desk Spurs Angst Redux (Bloomberg)
Gold rallied to the highest level in two months as investors followed a playbook last seen in force in early November, with the new resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue deemed a reason to shun risk and embrace bullion rather than sell the metal and buy the dollar.
MORGAN STANLEY: A 'correlation crash' is happening in the markets (Business Insider)
Cross-asset correlations that existed in markets before the 2016 US election have crashed for the first time in over a decade, according to Morgan Stanley.
European stocks pull lower after Trump’s speech (Market Watch)
European stocks dropped Monday, as equity investors got their first chance to react to U.S. President’s Donald Trump’s inauguration speech, seen as taking a protectionist tone.
Trump’s Attacks on Outsourcing Put Companies on Guard (The Wall Street Journal)
Leaders of U.S. companies with offshore operations are privately worrying that they will come under the scrutiny of a president who has blasted firms for moving production outside American borders.
Futures, Dollar Slide; European Stocks At 3-Week Lows As "Trump Reality Sets In" (Zero Hedge)
While US stocks closed near session, and all time highs on Friday, the first green close on inauguration day in over 50 years, Monday has seen a modest case of buyer's remorse, with European stocks sliding, Asian shares mixed and U.S. futures lower as the dollar weakened for the 3rd consecutive day to a six-week low, dropping as much as 1% against the Yen, as anxious investors awaited more details of Donald Trump’s policies, or – as Reuters put it – the "Trump reality set in." While European shares and US equity futures sold off in early trading, tracking the USDJPY, the now traditional buying levitation wave has emerged, pushing US futures close to unchanged on the session.
Technology
LG Display Said to Reach LCD Panel Supply Pact With Samsung (Bloomberg)
LG Display Co. has scored a deal to supply television displays to rival Samsung Electronics Co. from as soon as this year, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Sprint buys a 33 percent stake in Tidal's music service (Engadget)
Well, this was somewhat unexpected. Sprint just bought a 33 percent stake in Tidal, giving the carrier a significant (though not controlling) influence over Jay Z's streaming music service. They're not discussing the terms of the partnership, but it'll take Tidal's fondness for exclusives one step further.
Robotics, artificial intelligence, and 5G are at the heart of Theresa May's new industrial strategy (Business Insider)
The government is putting cutting edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), 5G wireless internet, "smart" energy technology, and robotics at the heart of its new post-Brexit industrial strategy.
Trends in Israel’s cybersecurity investments (Tech Crunch)
While global investment in cybersecurity startups may have shown signs of slowing in 2016, Israel – second only to the U.S. market – remained strong and showed impressive numbers yet again, as we witnessed a surge in funding and continued innovation.
Samsung says bad battery design and a rush to release an updated version of the Galaxy Note 7 caused some of the devices to overheat and explode in a new report the company released Sunday night.
Politics
Highlights From Donald Trump’s First Weekend as President (Fortune)
President Donald Trump's first weekend in office was dominated by sparring with the media and marches on Saturday in which hundreds of thousands of women across the country demonstrated against the new president.
China urges Trump administration to grasp importance of 'one China' (Reuters)
The new U.S. administration must fully understand the importance of the "one China" policy and appreciate that the issue of Taiwan is highly sensitive for the Beijing government, China said on Monday.
Senate Democrat says he will oppose Tillerson for State Department (Reuters)
The most senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Monday he would not support President Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson.
China Could Be Forced o Assume World Leadership Diplomat (Reuters)
China does not want world leadership but could be forced to assume that role if others step back from that position, a senior Chinese diplomat said Monday, after U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to put "America first" in his first speech.
Trump struggles to shake his erratic campaign habits (Politico)
That Donald Trump chose to spend the first 48 hours of his presidency feuding with the news media over crowd sizes, crowing about his win in front of a wall of killed CIA agents, spreading inaccurate information and firing off tweets didn't shock his supporters or critics.
Hillary Clinton plots her next move (Politico)
In a series of private meetings and phone calls at their home in Chappaqua, in New York City and in Washington, Bill and Hillary Clinton are slowly starting to puzzle through their political future, according to over a dozen people who have spoken directly with them, and nearly two dozen other Democrats who have been briefed on their thinking.
This Transition Was Peaceful, but Not Entirely Democratic (The Huffington Post)
One of the most strange and tiresome rituals in American politics is the celebration very four or eight years of a peaceful transition of power. Obviously peaceful transitions of power are good and better than the alternatives.
Health and Biotech
Almost 1 in 2 US men could have a genital HPV infection, study finds (Science Alert)
If you haven’t been vaccinated for genital HPV (human papillomavirus) infection, you might want to make an appointment with your doctor, because a new study has found that up to 45 percent of US men could have some type of HPV.
Life on the Home Planet
Shootout at Texas mall leaves one dead, seven wounded (Reuters)
A bystander to a botched robbery at a Texas jewelry store was killed on Sunday, before one of the two robbers involved shot and wounded six other people while fleeing, police said on Sunday.
A new 'flesh-eating parasite' relative has been discovered in Australia (Science Alert)
A new study has discovered a new species of parasite living in Australia, which shares an evolutionary ancestor to a terrifying group of 'flesh-eating' parasites.
Signs of Alien Air Herald a New Era of Exoplanet Discoveries (Scientific American)
For astronomers seeking Earth twins around other stars, the exoplanet GJ 1132 b probably isn’t an identical sibling—but it may be the closest cousin yet found. It weighs in at just over one Earth mass, but circles its star in a warm orbit that could make it more like Venus than our own world.
