Financial Markets and Economy
U.S. Natural Gas Futures Tumble to Lowest Level Since 1999 (Bloomberg)
Natural gas futures slumped to the lowest level since 1999 on Monday. Next stop: the cheapest in two decades.
Stocks are rallying (Business Insider)
US stocks opened higher and were rallying in early trading on Tuesday morning on the first of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting.
What an Interest-Rate Hike Means for Non-Economists (The Atlantic)
The December Fed meeting began Tuesday morning, and the news surrounding it will be closely watched, as many economists and financial analysts believe that this is the meeting when the U.S. central bank will finally move to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. Ninety-seven percent of economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journalbelieve a rate hike will be announced tomorrow. For its part, the Fed has been hinting at a rate hike for months.
Don't Count on an Oil Rally If U.S. Crude Export Ban Is Lifted (Bloomberg)
Traders betting that U.S. crude prices will jump above those in the rest of the world if Congress lifts America’s oil-export ban may be disappointed.
Jefferies got hammered again and lost money trading on 23 out of 63 days last quarter (Business Insider)
Investment bank Jefferies has reported earnings for its fourth quarter, and the numbers are not pretty.
The firm reported net earnings of $25 million for the quarter ended November 30. That is up on the previous quarter, when the bank reported a measly $2.5 million in earnings, and up on the same quarter last year, when the firm reported a $100 million loss.
Why the Valeant-Walgreens deal could save you money (Market Watch)
Valeant Pharmaceutical International Inc.’s troubles didn’t start with dramatic drug price increases alone, but the company is banking on drug discounts to restore its reputation and bolster its stock price.
Valeant VRX, +16.41% and Walgreens WBA, -0.55% announced Tuesday that cheaper dermatological, ophthalmological and some over-the-counter products will be available at discounts of up to 95%, rolling out in Walgreens and independent pharmacies—yet to be announced — starting in summer 2016.
Norway Seen Signaling Rate Cut as Sub-$40 Oil May Halt Growth (Bloomberg)
As the oil price rout has reached a new level of grimness, the question is whether the central bank of western Europe’s biggest crude producer will cut rates Thursday or lay in wait until early next year.
People are seriously discussing whether iPhone sales have gone into decline for the first time ever (Business Insider)
Sales of the iPhone have increased every year since its launch in 2007, but that may no longer be the case after 2016.
These companies are most vulnerable to junk-bond meltdown (Market Watch)
As the junk-bond market undergoes a sharp selloff, which has been described by many as a bloodbath, there is a lot more downside to mutual-fund redemptions, a Bank of America report said Tuesday.
As bond-fund managers continue to report an overwhelming wave of redemptions from retail investors, a few companies whose bonds are most concentrated in mutual funds could see their bond prices plummet.
Equities rally as oil bounces; Fed decision on deck (Reuters)
Global equity markets rallied on Tuesday as oil prices bounced from multi-year lows, though investors remained leery about the possibility of increased volatility with a widely-anticipated increase in U.S. interest rates due later this week.
Oil reversed early falls to snap a six-day slide as bargain hunters moved in after crude dropped to its lowest level since December 2008 in the prior session. The jump helped boost equities in both the United States and the Europe.
Asian Stocks Set for Rebound on Fed Day as Dollar Holds Advance (Bloomberg)
Australian stocks kicked off a rebound in Asian equities, with traders shrugging off concerns over the oil and junk bond markets to focus on the likely end to the Federal Reserve’s seven years of near-zero borrowing costs. The dollar solidified gains.
Shareholder names former Yahoo executives among potential Mayer replacements (Reuters)
An outspoken Yahoo Inc shareholder said on Monday he considers former Yahoo executives Ross Levinsohn and Jacqueline Reses as potential replacements for Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer as the internet company comes under pressure to change strategic direction.
Here are the 'demographic winners and losers' in America over the last 44 years (Business Insider)
The middle class has been shrinking.
How currencies might react to these 3 Fed scenarios (Market Watch)
Instead of waiting to react to the Federal Reserve’s decision Wednesday, HSBC’s currency research team decided to pre-release “reaction notes” detailing how the currency market might react to three widely discussed scenarios.
A dovish hike scenario (which we’ve described here) would reinforce HSBC’s view that the dollar will weaken against its G-10 rivals in 2016. HSBC was one of the first major currency dealers to sour on the greenback.
New York Bonds Rally to Two-Year High as Tax Collections Rise (Bloomberg)
In Mayor Bill de Blasio’s New York bond spreads, which measure the risk of the city debt, are at a more than two-year low as the economy generates more tax revenue than forecast.
Confidence among U.S. homebuilders took an unexpected step backward in December, as fewer potential buyers toured their properties. A monthly index from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) fell one point to 61. Fifty is the line between positive and negative, so sentiment is still good overall, but the expectation had been for a one point gain.
Remaking Dow and DuPont for the Activist Shareholders (NY Times)
The proposed combination of Dow Chemical and DuPont shows that in today’s markets, financial engineering prevails and that only activist shareholders matter. Whether that is good for the rest of us remains to be seen.
The merger is certainly an impressive feat of financial engineering. It will bring together two companies: DuPont, with 54,000 employees, and Dow Chemical, with 53,000 employees.
Facebook quietly tested a Yelp competitor and Yelp's stock plunged 9% (Business Insider)
Facebook has quietly started testing a new recommendation service that lets users find the top-rated and reviewed local businesses in their area.
The service looks similar to Yelp, which saw its stock plunge nearly 8% this morning. It finished the day down more than 9%.
Chinese Solar Makers Bid Wall Street Goodbye Amid Sliding ADRs (Bloomberg)
With its market value slumping, the world’s biggest photovoltaic manufacturer is moving to go private, the second solar company this year and probably not the last.
Low oil prices are killing the junk bond market (Quartz)
Oil prices have taken a break from their most recent nosedive, with international benchmark Brent crude rising above $38.50 a barrel and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate bubbling above $37 today (Dec. 15).
The S&P 500 bought $156 billion of itself in the third quarter (Business Insider)
America's biggest companies are still spending hundreds of billions of dollars devouring themselves.
Math Behind Gross Shows Junk Cheapest in Five Years Versus Stock (Bloomberg)
Bill Gross says the selloff in junk bonds is starting to make them look cheap compared with stocks. Going by one widely followed measure, it’s true.
Analysts are having a scary discussion about whether China's bond market 'bubble' will see a 'Lehman moment' in 2016 (Business Insider)
Two recent notes to investors — one from UBS, the other from Macquarie — are eye-catching because they discuss the possibility that the Chinese bond market may be heading for a major correction. The Chinese bond market is worth RMB 47 trillion ($7.3 trillion), more than 50% of Chinese GDP.
Volkswagen to shed 600 temporary jobs at German plant to cut costs (Yahoo! Finance)
Volkswagen will cut about 600 temporary jobs next year at a factory in Zwickau, Germany, as it seeks to cut costs in the wake of the emission tests scandal, labor representatives said on Tuesday. Plant utilization at Zwickau, where the Golf hatchback and the Passat saloon are built, will be reduced next year with a compulsory holiday for staff. Management also plans to stop producing its premium Phaeton car, whose body shell is also made at Zwickau, pending the introduction of an all-electric version in about three years' time, the labor officials said.
Politics
How the Fifth Republican Debate Could Reshape the Race (Yahoo! Finance)
The Republican presidential candidates arrive in Las Vegas for a debate Tuesday night in a race in which new feuds are poised to erupt, and the focus of which has shifted dramatically toward national security.
Trump's Coalition of the Descending (Bloomberg View)
Speaking to an Iowa crowd in September, Donald Trump said, it's hard to make headway in the world when "our leaders are so stupid and so incompetent and so inept."
This has been a popular refrain from Trump. And whether applied to Washington leaders in particular or American elites in general, it isn't actually true. Yet the reason it isn't true is instructive, and more than a little alarming if you're a stereotypical Trump supporter — white, male and without a college degree.
Technology
Security Stickers and Micro-Tags Could Help Reduce Bike Thefts (PSFK)
Bike-ID, a German startup, has created an easy-to-use bike registry that relies on micro-tags to discourage bicycle theft.
All bikes come with a unique identification number, usually located under the bottom bracket, where the two pedal cranks meet. But often when bikes are stolen, the thief can easily file the number off, rendering it useless.
Forget the Popemobile — now there’s a pizzamobile (Market Watch)
Domino’s has been inventive about the way we get our pizza — from the corrugated box and the Heatwave bag to Twitter, ordering by text, and even emoji. Now, the company is amping up the way it delivers pizza with the Domino’s DXP (Delivery Expert).
Health and Life Sciences
The strange psychology of pain relief medicine (BBC)
The manufacturer of a leading brand of painkiller has been accused of misleading customers in Australia. But how do people choose over-the-counter pain relief?
There's a whole range of Nurofen products. There are Nurofen capsules, caplets and "meltlets". Some are marketed to treat specific problems – Nurofen Migraine Pain or Nurofen Tension Headache.
Heredity Is Nobody's Fault. Until Now (Bloomberg View)
We are all unwitting players in a genetic lottery. Take a gene called APOE. It comes in three flavors – APOE2, APOE3 and APOE4. All three are considered normal human genes, but people who were dealt an APOE4 face three to five times the average risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease. Since we inherit a copy of the gene from each parent, a few unlucky people will be stuck with two copies of the APOE4 version and face an even higher risk.
Public Health Experiment Brings Hepatitis Cures to Egypt’s Poor (NY Times)
Abdel Gawad Ellabbad knows exactly how he was infected with hepatitis C.
As a schoolboy in this Nile Delta rice-farming village, his class marched to the local clinic every month for injections against schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease spread by water snails.
Life on the Home Planet
This Year's El Niño Could Lead To More Fires In Tropical Forests (Popular Science)
Charred stumps from deforestation in Indonesia in 2007.
In case you missed it, El Niño is coming. And while the current outlook in the United States is pretty mild, other parts of the world aren't so lucky.
We've Hit 'Peak Carbon' (Bloomberg View)
It seems like every day we read a new story with dire news about climate change. Experts now warn that it will be impossible to hold global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, even with the carbon-emissions limits required by the recent Paris round of climate talks. Some environmentalists warn darkly that we must choose between saving the planet or capitalism.
