** REVIEW : * Keeping the BOJ under pressure, Japan core consumer inflation slowed to 0.7% in November, far below the central banks 2% target. Factory output also unexpectedly fell and real wages marked their steepest drop in five years, dealing a blow to PM Shinzo Abes stimulus policies aimed at pulling the world’s third-largest economy out of stagnation. * After jumping 3.4% yesterday, the Shanghai Composite Index shot up another 2.8% today led by strength in the financial sector and stimulus bets. Chinas central bank announced yesterday that it would take more steps to boost banks’ lending abilities, relaxing how they calculate their loan-to-deposit ratios by enabling them to add deposits from non-bank financial institutions. * U.S. stock-index futures are climbing, suggesting a higher start for Wall Street today, as markets reopen after the Christmas holiday. Both the S&P 500 and the Dow reached records this week after posting their biggest five-day rally in three years. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% in the past three days, and the Dow added 1.3%, closing above 18,000 for a second day on Dec. 24. The Dow is up 8.8% this year, while the S&P 500 has risen 13% in 2014. * As it confronts the lowest oil prices in five years, Saudi Arabia expects its budget deficit to widen to 145B riyals ($39B) in 2015. The budget deficit for 2014 is estimated at 54B riyals. Revenue will drop to 715B riyals, from 1T riyals in 2014, while projected expenditure was set at 860B riyals, the Finance Ministry said in a statement yesterday. Brent crude is up 0.2%, steady above $60/bbl, while WTI is up 0.8% at $56.26. * Announcing that Ukraines pursuit of NATO membership posed a danger to European security, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the West of using Kievs bid as a way to fuel confrontation between Russia and Ukraine. Russia has been facing economic troubles due to sanctions over the situation in Ukraine and low oil prices, and announced yesterday that it faced a higher than planned budget deficit for next year, but believed that the rubles period of instability was now over. * Chinese antitrust officials have announced that they will settle a drawn-out investigation into Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) soon, after completing the seventh round of discussions with the company earlier this month. Qualcomm is facing a fine of more than $1B, and may be required to agree to concessions that would limit its ability to charge licensing fees on phone chipsets that use its patents. * Elon Musk is partnering with used-car traders in China to help Chinese buyers trade in their old cars if they buy a Model S. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) will deduct the value of the sale from the price of the car, which in China starts at 648K yuan ($104K), and expects to start building Model S sedans in the country within three to four years. * JPMorgans Asian Infrastructure fund is in advanced talks to partner with Indian carrier SpiceJets co-founder, Ajay Singh, for a planned $200M investment into the cash-strapped airline. JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and Singh, who have so far invested about 170M rupees in SpiceJet to help it clear dues to oil refiners, plan to finalize the deal in a month’s time. * SMBC Trust Bank, the main lending arm of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (NYSE:SMFG), officially announced yesterday that it will buy Citigroups (NYSE:C) Japanese retail banking operations to expand services for wealthy individuals in the country. The deal, which includes ¥2.4T ($20B) in deposits, 740K customers and 32 branches, is expected to close in October. * As it looks to the holiday season for its survival, RadioShack (NYSE:RSH) has just under a month to generate enough cash to survive. The company must have $100M of cash and borrowing capacity by the middle of January to trigger the next stage of a rescue plan that will buy it more time to turn itself around. As of the beginning of November, RadioShack had only about $63M. * Standard & Poor’s is nearing a joint settlement with the SEC, NY AG Eric Schneiderman and Massachusetts AG Martha Coakley over their investigation of how the company graded its commercial mortgage-backed securities in 2011. Besides a potential suspension, S&P (NYSE:MHFI) is expected to receive a fine of at least $60M. The case is separate from the DOJs $5B lawsuit filed in February 2013, which accused the agency of inflating ratings before the financial crisis. * A New York State Supreme Court judge has rejected Credit Suisse’s (NYSE:CS) request to dismiss a lawsuit by NY AG Eric Schneiderman, which demands as much as $10B in damages for the banks role in the financial crisis. JPMorgan (JPM), Citigroup (C) and BofA (NYSE:BAC) have already settled similar claims, with settlements ranging from $7B-$17B. We will appeal this particular decision and continue to defend ourselves in this case, said Credit Suisse spokesman Drew Benson. DATA AWAITED 19:30 MXN Trade Balance (Nov) -0.426B 0.143B 19:30 MXN Trade Balance (USD) (Nov) 0.712B 21:00 USD ECRI Weekly Annualized (WoW) -3.1% 21:00 USD ECRI Weekly Index 131.1
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 13:55:01 +0000
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