Financial Markets and Economy
UBS summed up the 'third wave' of the financial crisis in 2 charts (Business Insider)
Asia has a debt problem and it's getting worse.
German Bonds in Worst Week Since June After Surprise by Draghi (Bloomberg)
German government bonds headed for their worst weekly loss in almost six months after the European Central Bank’s policy moves on Thursday disappointed investors who expected an acceleration of quantitative easing.
The government has 6.6 billion shares in Lloyds and is looking to sell (Business Insider)
The UK government has extended its plan to sell shares in Lloyds, adding an extra six months on to the scheme.
Carry Traders' Love of Kronur Is Unrequited in Iceland (Bloomberg)
Foreign investors may be getting too comfortable in Iceland.
The activist investor who wants Yahoo to sell its core business presented to its board on Wednesday (Business Insider)
The Yahoo board is reportedly holding a three-day series of meetings to consider its various options, including whether to press ahead with a planned spin-off of its stake in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba that is slated to be completed in January, or whether to pursue other options such as selling Yahoo's core internet business.
European Stocks Fall as Draghi Stimulus Disappointment Lingers (Bloomberg)
European stocks extended losses, following their biggest slide since August, as disappointment with European Central Bank stimulus measures lingered.
Global stocks hit, euro shines after ECB stimulus misses expectations (Business Insider)
Asian shares slipped while the euro retained lavish gains on Friday, a day after its biggest one-day surge in nearly seven years as the European Central Bank's stimulus package fell well short of markets' high expectations.
Palm Oil Rallying on El Nino Getting Costly for Biofuel Use (Bloomberg)
The El Nino-induced dry weather that’s parching fields across Southeast Asia has pushed palm oil’s premium over gasoil to the highest in 10 months, threatening to curb use of the commodity in biofuel production.
SABMiller's Australian brewer recalls 1 million beers (CNN)
The recall affects Carlton Dry 355mL bottles with expiration dates of July 19 and 20, 2016. The beers, produced in October by Carlton & United Breweries in Queensland, are also marked with a "3" on the cartons, or a "3A" or "3B" on bottles.
Investors Losing Appetite for Restaurant Stocks as Rally Fades (Bloomberg)
Restaurant stocks are facing lean times after a six-year runup.
When to buy small-cap stocks for the biggest bounce (Market Watch)
Get ready, small-cap investors: The best time of the year to make money is about to begin.
Junk-Bond Bulls Ready to Run as Pimco, Goldman Say Rout Overdone (Bloomberg)
Junk bonds are poised for their first annual loss since 2008, and the list of companies headed for trouble is swelling. Yet to Mark Kiesel, who helps run one of the worlds biggest debt funds, the bonds havent been this attractive in a long time.
China to adopt stock-market ‘circuit breaker’ next year (Market Watch)
China will launch a circuit-breaker system for its stock market next year, in the latest move by the country’s securities regulator to ease market volatility and shore up sentiment following the midyear turmoil
South Africa More Risky Than Turkey as Fitch Downgrade Looms (Bloomberg)
Investors see more risk in South Africa than in lower-rated Turkey as the creditworthiness of Africa’s second-largest economy looks set to step closer to junk.
VW ready to sell assets should loan repayment falter: sources (Yahoo! Finance)
Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) has told banks supplying a 20 billion euro ($21.1 billion) credit line that it would sell assets if it finds no other way of repaying the one-year loan, two people familiar with the matter said. VW secured the 20 billion euro bridging loan from 13 banks this week and is planning to refinance it by issuing bonds over the next couple of months, the sources said. Under the terms, VW assured the lenders it would sell or list assets worth up to significantly more than 20 billion euros if it fails to find other sources of money, the people said.
Bonds Tumble by $270 Billion as Draghi, Yellen Batter Markets (Bloomberg)
December has been a bruising month for bond traders and we’re only four days in.
China's Bond Leverage Tops $1.2 Trillion in Replay of Stock Boom (Bloomberg)
Five months after a debt-fueled rally in Chinese stocks turned into a $5 trillion rout, the bond market is testing authorities ability to contain leverage without sparking a crash.
Politics
Hey, Candidates, Can't You Hear America Booming? (Bloomberg View)
Presidential campaign oratory has become a discourse of doom, a chronicle of complaints about supposed American decline. But wait! No candidate is invoking that favorite symbol of enfeebled U.S. might, the auto industry. Why not? Because it's booming and telling the opposite story, one of U.S. greatness in the world today.
The Senate Finally Votes to Repeal Obamacare (The Atlantic)
The measure cleared by a narrow, party-line margin of 52-47, and it must still return to the House for a final vote next week. But passage in the Senate means that after dozens of failed tries by Republicans in the House, President Obama will get the opportunity to stamp his veto on a bill eviscerating the law that, in the popular parlance if not in text, bears his name.
Technology
This Wearable System Wants To Improve MLB Players' Batting Averages (Forbes)
Though you may not be able to see it, major league baseball players could be sporting some of the most powerful sensors next season.
Biometrics startup Motus has just launched a five-sensor, wearable system that claims to measure up to 100 metrics points of stress on joints–more than the other performance-enhancing wearable out there.
World's first washable smartphone to debut in Japan (Phys)
Tired of those unsightly smudges and other dirt on your bacteria-laden smartphone?
A Japanese firm says it has the solution with what it describes the world's first smartphone that can be washed with soap and water.
Health and Life Sciences
Survival Improves for Patients With Advanced Breast Cancer (Medicine Net)
American women diagnosed with advanced, stage 4 breast cancer have a better chance of survival, and are surviving longer, compared to two decades ago, a new study finds.
Man's weight 'affects sperm cells' (BBC)
A man's weight affects the information passed on through his sperm and could leave his children predisposed to obesity, research in Denmark suggests.
The sperm cells of lean and obese men possess different epigenetic marks, maybe changing the behaviour of genes.
Life on the Home Planet
Molotov Cocktail Attack On Cairo Restaurant Kills 16 (Huffington Post)
A Molotov cocktail hurled at a Cairo restaurant killed 16 people and wounded two on Friday, Egyptian security officials said.
One of the officials said the attacker was an employee who had been fired from the restaurant in the Agouza area in the center of the Egyptian capital.
Giraffe’s long lost cousin found? (BBC)
Well-preserved fossils of the extinct three-horn ruminant Xenokeryx amidalae found in central Spain suggest it is a close relation to modern giraffes.
