Financial Markets and Economy
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Bernie Sanders: To Rein In Wall Street, Fix the Fed (NY Times)
WALL STREET is still out of control. Seven years ago, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department bailed out the largest financial institutions in this country because they were considered too big to fail. But almost every one is bigger today than it was before the bailout. If any were to fail again, taxpayers could be on the hook for another bailout, perhaps a larger one this time.
Opec faces a mortal threat from electric cars (The Telegraph)
OPEC remains defiant. Global reliance on oil and gas will continue unchanged for another quarter century. Fossil fuels will make up 78pc of the world’s energy in 2040, barely less than today.
There will be no meaningful advances in technology. Rivals will sputter and mostly waste money. The old energy order is preserved in aspic.
Fed will have to reverse gears fast if anything goes wrong (The Telegraph)
The global policy graveyard is littered with central bankers who raised interest rates too soon, only to retreat after tipping their economies back into recession or after having misjudged the powerful deflationary forces in the post-Lehman world.
The European Central Bank raised rates twice in 2011, before the economy had achieved “escape velocity” and just as the Club Med states embarked on drastic fiscal austerity. The result was the near-collapse of monetary union.
Investors Pull Most Money From U.S. Mutual Funds in Two Years (Bloomberg)
Investors pulled more money from U.S. mutual funds last week than they have in any seven-day period in the past two and a half years.
Net redemptions reached $28.6 billion in the week ended Dec. 16, according to a statement from the Investment Company Institute, a trade group. It was the biggest weekly outflow since June 2013, ICI data show.
KaloBios says Nasdaq to delist stock (Business Insider)
KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Wednesday that it had been notified by Nasdaq that its stock would be delisted using the exchange operator's "discretionary" authority.
The Nasdaq cited the criminal indictment and arrest of the company's former CEO Martin Shkreli; the arrest and indictment of Evan Greebel, KaloBios' former outside counsel, and a civil complaint by the U.S. SEC against Shkreli and Greebel in its notification.
Martin Shkreli's old company has now completely imploded (Business Insider)
The pharmaceutical company once led by Martin Shkreli has officially imploded.
In a filing with the SEC on Wednesday, KaloBios announced that its interim CFO and auditor both resigned, leaving the company with limited executive leadership.
Additionally, the Nasdaq informed KaloBios that its stock would be delisted.
3 reasons U.S. oil is trading at premium to global benchmark (Market Watch)
West Texas Intermediate crude-oil futures are trading at a premium to Brent crude, the global benchmark, something that hasn’t been seen on a sustained basis since 2010.
Top U.S. Banks Miss Golden Era of Profits Before Crisis: Chart (Bloomberg)
Wall Streets top five firms are almost a quarter bigger than they were before the 2008 financial crisis. That growth in assets hasnt translated into profits, though.
The Dow is on the verge of doing something it hasn't done since 1939 — and it's not good (Business Insider)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost about 1.5% so far this year.
Celgene’s stock rockets as analysts cheer patent settlement (Market Watch)
Celgene Corp.’s stock blasted higher on heavy volume Wednesday, as analysts stood by and cheered the settlement of a patent suit surrounding the biopharmaceutical company’s mega-blockbuster cancer treatment.
Asian Index Futures Signal Stock Gains as Crude Oil Jumps (Bloomberg)
Asian stock futures signaled gains as rising oil prices boosted energy shares while data showing strength in the American consumer raised confidence in the U.S. economy.
Top two Ferrari investors sign pact over 48.8 percent of voting rights (Business Insider)
The top two investors in Ferrari <RACE.N> have signed a shareholder pact giving them a total voting power of nearly 50 percent to keep firm grip on the sports car maker after it separates from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles <FCHA.MI>.
10 stocks that led the S&P 500 higher Wednesday (Market Watch)
A surprise holiday present from the U.S. Energy Information Administration sent the S&P 500 up 1.2% on Wednesday, but not all of the index’s biggest winners were oil producers.
West Texas crude oil for February delivery CLG6, +0.80% rose 3.8% to $37.50 a barrel, after the Energy Information Administration said U.S. oil inventories declined by $5.9 million barrels during the week ended Dec. 18.
Gazprom Is Losing Its Market Muscle (Bloomberg)
Gazprom, the state-controlled, Moscow-based natural gas giant has long played a double role: as an instrument of Kremlin foreign policy; and as a major source of tax revenue for Vladimir Putin’s government.
Things have changed. Gazprom has long been accustomed to dictating terms because of its size. In the European Union, it supplies about 30 percent of the gas.
Something fishy is going on with earnings (Business Insider)
Corporate America has a long history of delivering on the bottom line. You hear about this when we in the media report that a company beats earnings expectations.
But there's something fishy going on. Sales are lackluster, and actual earnings are not that great.
Santa rally can’t fix the real problems plaguing stocks (Market Watch)
Every year around this time, investors wait for the magical spirit of the holiday season to spread across the stock market. Whether is’s fueled by a general optimism or a rebound in oil prices, the Santa Claus rally appears to be here.
Monster Deals, Big Questions (Bloomberg)
On Nov. 23, when drugmaking giants Pfizer and Allergan agreed to combine, in a deal worth $183.7 billion, 2015 gained the distinction of becoming a record year for mergers and acquisitions. The Big Pharma deal, by far the year’s largest, pushed 2015 past the $3.4 trillion mark in global M&A value set in 2007, just before the financial crisis. That beat the previous record, set in 2000, which also came right before the economy fell into recession, pulled down by the dot-com collapse.
China's Year of Maybe-Real 7% Growth (Bloomberg View)
China is going to meet its economic growth target of about 7 percent for 2015, Sheng Laiyun of the National Bureau of Statistics reassured the world a few days ago. “China's economy,” Sheng said, “still has strong intrinsic tenacity, huge potential and ample leeway.”
He’s probably right about the tenacity and the potential.
Oil Crash Is a Party Pooper as Holiday Affairs Lose Their Luster (Bloomberg)
The Grinch nearly stole Christmas in the oil patch this year.
How to Be the Ultimate Contrarian Investor in 2016 (Bloomberg)
Break away from the herd.
Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts – Ho Ho Ho (Jesse's Cafe Americain)
Gold was slightly weaker and silver held firm in very light holiday trading, after a little more active overnight trade.
Politics
Hindering the S.E.C. From Shining a Light on Political Spending (NY Times)
The omnibus budget agreement adopted by Congress includes a provision that prevents theSecurities and Exchange Commission from issuing a rule next year that would require public companies to disclose their political spending.
This unusual Congressional intervention in S.E.C. rule-making is a troubling development both for investors and for the agency.
Trump rips up rule book of U.S. 'retail politics' (Reuters)
U.S. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump swung into New Hampshire for a few hours one evening earlier this month to pick up an endorsement from a small police union.
“I don’t normally do stops like this,” Trump said during his brief remarks, highlights of which featured heavily that night on cable television news. “But for you, I came.”
Race, Welfare and a Wound That Won't Heal (Bloomberg View)
From Obamacare and education standards to labor protections and immigration law, conservatives often talk about federal social policies as if they were being imposed at gunpoint. So it's a good time to read Eric Foner's 1988 book "Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877" — a reminder that, during a brief period in U.S. history that presaged current debates, that's just what happened.
As the Civil War was coming to a close, Congress, faced with about 4 million newly freed slaves, created the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.
Technology
Think Different: This Apple Museum Collection Is Inspired by Steve Jobs (PSFK)
Those familiar with Apple products from the company’s inception to today can now see most of the iconic objects under one roof. The Apple Museum in Prague reportedly features the largest private collection in the world of Apple and Steve Jobs-related items.
Health and Life Sciences
Anti 'sweet tooth' hormone discovered by scientists (The Telegraph)
A cure for sugar cravings is a major step nearer after scientists identified a hormone which suppresses a "sweet tooth".
Researchers say their findings, published online in the journal Cell Metabolism, could improve the diet and help patients who are diabetic or obese.
Brain Cancers Reveal Novel Genetic Disruption in DNA (NY Times)
Scientists who scoured the DNA of brain tumors, searching gene by gene for bad actors, were puzzled. The cancers had none of the mutations in growth-causing genes that are typical of other tumors, yet they grew quickly, with no brakes. The question was why — what had altered their genetic instructions to lead to runaway cell division?
Life on the Home Planet
Weird Ways to Cope With Winter (Huffington Post)
Winter can be a cruel time for many. With so many holidays, it's one of the busiest and most enjoyable times of the year, but the cold weather and long nights can lead to all kinds of mental and physical health issues. That's why it's important to pay extra attention to your health over winter — after all, you wouldn't want anything spoiling the fun.
Scientists Just Figured Out the Simple Reason Some Snails Change Sex (Gizmodo)
A surprisingly large number of animals change sex over the course of their lives. But why? Is it chemical? Is it due to some sophisticated twist of genetics? In the case of limpets, it’s way simpler than that.
Limpets spend most of their lives clinging to rocks and having very long penises. Eventually, though, they require some other limpet to put their penis in and that’s when things get tricky. We know that limpets change sex, but until recently some scientists thought that their cue to slowly shrink down and discard their penis came from some kind of chemical signal, put out by other limpets, washing around in the water they all share.
