Financial Markets and Economy
Don't expect to see oil above $50 for a while (CNBC)
Crude oil's slide continued on Monday morning, as oil futures broke below $39 per barrel. And with oil producers unwilling to publicly make moves to reduce the supply of oil, traders don't appear to see crude rising back above $50 per barrel any time soon.
ECB and BoJ Foster US Market Levitation Even As Treasury Demand Weakens (Wall Street Examiner)
The market absorbed the massive, $310 billion surge of new Treasury supply in November with barely a few hiccups. It was an amazing show of force, which I must attribute to the effect of the US Dollar equivalent of roughly $140 billion per month in ECB and BoJ money printing. All of that cash gets pumped into the accounts of major worldwide players, and clearly a significant portion of it continues to flow toward the Last Ponzi Games Standing—the US Treasury market and the US stock market.
Charting the Markets: Focus Shifts From the ECB to the Fed (Bloomberg)
The euro falls for a second day, oil holds below $40 after OPEC meeting and Electrolux shares slump.
Keurig Will Be Acquired by JAB-Led Group for $13.9 Billion (Bloomberg)
Keurig Green Mountain Inc. will be acquired by a JAB Holding Co.-led investor group for about $13.9 billion in cash, bringing a massive windfall to shareholders after a year of watching the stock get battered.
Turkey's Never Had It So Bad as Record Outflows Seen Persisting (Bloomberg)
Foreign investors look set to keep pulling their money out of Turkeyafter dumping a record amount of stocks and bonds this year.
Best Practices, Best Processes, and Why Traders Don't Reach Their Potential (Trader Feed)
One of the key ideas from the Trading Psychology 2.0 book is turning what you do best in markets (your best practices) into robust habit patterns (best processes).
What that means is that it is vital for traders to understand their strengths and how those strengths manifest themselves as successes.
This investment bank presentation helps explain the complicated digital marketing industry for normal people (Business Insider)
The digital marketing industry is a multi-billion dollar space. And it's a complicated one too — even people who work in the sector struggle to get their heads around the latest acronyms and trends.
Investment bank LUMA Partners famously created the LUMAScape which shows the myriad middle-men technology companies that sit between a marketer choosing to spend money on an online ad, and that ad reaching the consumer.
Iron Ore Plummets Below $40 a Ton as Global Glut Hurts Outlook (Bloomberg)
Iron ore sank below $40 a metric ton on rising low-cost supply from the world’s top miners and weakening demand in China, with investors assessing the impact of the first shipments from Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill mine within the coming days.
Electrolux's $3.3 billion acquisition of GE Appliances falls through (Business Insider)
Sweden's Electrolux said on Monday its deal to buy General Electric's appliance business had fallen through after GE terminated the $3.3 billion agreement.
Vanishing Gold Trade Prompts Singapore to Refine Contract (Bloomberg)
Just over a year ago, Singapore Exchange Ltd. started gold trading to help bolster the country’s role as a bullion hub in Asia, the world’s largest consuming region. Transactions slumped to zero in November and the bourse is now trying to revitalize the market.
Better Doing Through Better Viewing: Three Observations From Friday's Trade (Trader Feed)
Here are two charts of Friday's trade in SPY (blue lines). The top chart tracks relative volume. That is the volume traded at each minute of the trading day as a function of the average volume typically traded during that minute. The proportion is expressed in standard deviation units, so that a zero reading means that average volume was traded; a 1.0 reading is one standard deviation above average; etc.
Oil-rich countries are pulling their money out of the City (Business Insider)
You don't have to work in the oil industry to feel the effects of low prices, even money managers are feeling the pain.
Oil-rich Gulf states have been pulling their money from asset management companies faster than ever, according to an FT report.
Israel Plans to Advance Gas Sales to Egypt, Jordan, Turkey (Bloomberg)
Israel hopes that its “close ties” with Egypt will enable talks on gas exports to restart, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said, following an Egyptian decision to halt negotiations. Israel is also planning to advance exports to other markets including Jordan, Turkey and Western Europe, he said.
The economic runway is clear (Business Insider)
On Friday, we got a good US jobs report, and that's great.
US companies added 211,000 payrolls in November, which was better than the 200,000 expected by economists. Furthermore, October's number was revised up to 298,000 from 271,000.
China's Stocks Fluctuate as Brokerages Drop, Gold Miners Advance (Bloomberg)
China’s stocks rose for the fifth time in six days as health-care, technology and consumer-discretionary companies rallied, overshadowing declines for brokerages after Citic Securities Co. said it has been unable to contact two executives.
Foreign Investors Sell Dubai Stocks as Oil Drop Raises Risk (Bloomberg)
Almost every benchmark stock index in the Arab Gulf declined, led by Dubai equities, after OPEC’s failure to set a cap on oil production spooked investors who had already been concerned by the Middle East’s geopolitical risks.
U.K. Stocks Rebound From 3-Week Low as 85% of FTSE 100 Advance (Bloomberg)
U.K. stocks rose for the first time in three days, rebounding from an almost three-week low.
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a mostly lower open Monday amid a decline in oil prices. Equities surged Friday to end the week slightly higher following the strong jobs report, which supports an interest rate hike this month, and dovish comments from the European Central Bank.
Zuma's Policy Jam Caught in Headlights as Debt Hovers Above Junk (Bloomberg)
If investors needed reminding about the quandary facing South Africas central bank, they just got it from two credit-rating companies.
Emerging Stocks Rebound From Two-Month Low; Korean Won Weakens (Bloomberg)
Emerging-market stocks climbed from a two-month low after better-than-expected U.S. jobs data reinforced confidence in the worlds biggest economy. South Koreas won weakened the most in three weeks.
S&P 500 will creep up to 2,200 in 2016, J.P. Morgan says (Market Watch)
Don’t expect a big rally in U.S. stocks next year, J.P. Morgan analysts said in their 2016 outlook, joining the choir of big banks that are wailing about low returns.
Politics
Trump Takes His Biggest Lead Yet in the Polls (Yahoo! Finance)
It’s still too soon to be sure, but a new national survey adds to a growing body of evidence that it will be difficult for anyone else in the Republican field to stop Donald Trump’s march to the party’s nomination. Seemingly immune to criticism of his calls for mass deportation of illegal immigrants, construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and heavy-handed tracking of Muslim Americans, Trump has taken his biggest lead yet over the rest of his Republican rivals, according to the latest CNN/ORC Poll.
Hillary Clinton: How I’d Rein In Wall Street (NY Times)
Seven years ago, the financial crisis sent our economy into a tailspin. Over five million people lost their homes. Nearly nine million lost their jobs. Nearly $13 trillion in household wealth was wiped out.
Under President Obama, our economy has come a long way back. Our businesses have created more than 13 million jobs. People’s savings are being restored. And we have tough new rules on the books, including the Dodd-Frank Act, that protect consumers and curb recklessness on Wall Street.
President Obama addresses nation on ‘new phase’ of terrorist threat (Market Watch)
President Barack Obama, in a prime-time speech on Sunday night, outlined his administration’s approach to fighting terrorism in the wake of last week’s killings in San Bernardino, Calif.
The latest attack underscores that the threat has “evolved into a new phase,” he said in a rare national address from the Oval Office.
Technology
Is a Self-Drying Jacket the Solution to Life’s Rainy Days? (PSFK)
Rainy days can really be troublesome. Not only do you worry about how to keep yourself dry, you also have to worry about drying whatever tool happens to keep you dry, too. But with this new invention from Falyon, your jacket can worry about itself. The SDJ-01 is the world’s first self-drying jacket and it can work its magic with just a push of a button.
The world's tiniest temperature sensor is powered by radio waves (Phys)
Researchers at TU/e have developed a very tiny wireless temperature sensor that is powered in a very special way: from the radio waves that are part of the sensor's wireless network. This means that the sensor needs not even a single wire, nor a battery that would have to be replaced. The arrival of such sensors is an important development on route towards smart buildings, for instance. But the applications are many and various.
Health and Life Sciences
Here’s what the future of cancer treatment looks like (Business Insider)
Cancers of the blood are starting to meet their match.
With the approval of drugs like elotuzumab, which helps the immune system fend off cancerous cells in people with multiple myeloma, treating cancers of the blood has never been more promising.
The Top Five Supplements You Should Not Take (Forbes)
Dietary supplements are big business. They are promoted for all sorts of health benefits, including weight loss, memory enhancement, body building, and cancer prevention. Many of the claims featured on websites and product packaging are not true, but that doesn’t seem to stop supplement makers from promoting them.
Unlike drugs, supplements are not regulated by the FDA. With drugs, the FDA requires that they be both safe and effective, but with supplements, they can only take action when products are tainted in some way, or when supplement makers cross the line and make specific claims about curing disease.
Life on the Home Planet
Cheerful Irish donkey saved from flood after heroic rescue mission (Mashable)
There are few things in this world more cheery than the site of a grinning donkey that's just been rescued from a flooded field.
7 Amazing British Houses (Fast Company)
When can we move in?
Every year the Royal Institute of British Architects celebrates the best residences built in the United Kingdom in its House of the Year award. For 2015, the seven structures ranged from a remote abode that seemingly grows from its site to a prefabricated structure set behind a 19th-century stable wall in London's Kew Green neighborhood.
