Today's Headlines

Bloomberg: 

• Euro Chiefs Claim Greek Progress, Seek to Persuade ECB. Euro-area finance ministers will push the International Monetary Fund and central bankers to endorse new plans to save Greece from the fiscal abyss, seeking to overcome the latest impasse in the debt crisis and restart aid payments to Athens. Finance chiefs will brief the IMF and European Central Bank on “further concessions” that would plug Greece’s deficit gap without forcing a writeoff of official loans, Austria’s Maria Fekter said today before the ministers’ fourth round of talks on the Greek crisis in two weeks.
• Catalonia’s Republican Left May Resist Austerity After Vote. The Catalan Republican Left, the biggest gainer in yesterday’s regional election, may use its leverage to reverse the austerity policies that Spain and the European Union have imposed on Catalonia and raise bank taxes. ERC, as the party is known, will push for a new tax on banks to help fund an increase in public investment and a tax cut for the workers, leader Oriol Junqueras said at press conference in Barcelona today. “Austerity is a mistake,” Junqueras said. “We insist on the need for a change in the budget policies.”
• Italian Consumer Confidence Falls to Record Low on Recession. Italian consumer confidence fell to a record low this month as households grew more pessimistic about the economic outlook after the country’s fourth recession since 2001 entered its second year. The confidence index fell to 84.8, the lowest since the series begin in 1996, from a revised 86.2 in October, the national statistics office, Istat, said in Rome today. The reading was lower than the median forecast of 86.3 in a survey of 13 economists by Bloomberg News.
• Goldman Turns Down Southern Europe Banks as Crisis Lingers. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), the No. 1 stock underwriter in Europe, turned down roles in offerings by banks in Spain and Italy this year, the only top U.S. securities firm not to take part in the fundraisings by southern European lenders as the region’s debt crisis stretches to a fourth year.
• European Stocks Decline as Ministers Debate Greek Rescue. European stocks declined, following the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index’s biggest weekly rally this year, as euro-area finance ministers met for a third time this month on Greece’s finances. Barclays Plc (BARC) dropped the most in almost five months as Qatar Holding LLC disposed of its remaining warrants in the U.K. lender. ThyssenKrupp AG (TKA) slid 5.1 percent after Credit Suisse Group AG lowered its recommendation on Germany’s largest steelmaker. 
• China Starts Dumping Probe on U.S., European Polysilicon. The Chinese government started investigating whether foreign suppliers of polysilicon are selling below cost in China, the world’s biggest consumer of the raw material used in making solar-energy devices. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said it will determine if retroactive duties, or penalties, should be imposed on the suppliers from the U.S., the European Union and South Korea. It will also probe whether the U.S. and EU are subsidizing makers of the silicon-based commodity, according to a statement today. China is expanding the trade disagreement between the world’s biggest economies as the global solar-energy industry grapples with overcapacity, lower prices and declining profits.
• China Blames Fed’s QE Policy for High Currency Volatility. China says the U.S. program of asset-purchases known as quantitative easing is increasing the volatility of emerging-market currencies. The Asian nation and many others have criticized “this irresponsible and beggar-thy-neighbor policy” because it has a “lingering negative impact on developing, emerging economies in particular,” Zhu Hong, China’s deputy permanent representative to the World Trade Organization, said in meeting today in Geneva, according to a statement issued afterward.

Wall Street Journal: 

• The Fiscal Cliff: Live Stream.

CNBC:

• Greece Debt Talks Likely to Result in 'Sticking Plaster' Solution.
• Short Japan Over Its Business Culture: Ex-Olympus CEO. Japan has a miserable future ahead of it without radical changes to the business climate, the former chief executive of camera and medical equipment maker Olympus has told CNBC.  
• Why the Catalonia Election Results Should Worry Markets.
• Why Europe Debt Defaults Are About to Rattle Stocks.

Zero Hedge:

• Goldman's(GS) Global Domination Is Now Complete As Bank of Canada's Mark Carney Takes Over Bank Of England.
• The Farcical Tragicomedy Of The "Sustainable" Greek Debt/GDP "Denominator".
• Premature Release Of Dallas Fed Data Shows Biggest Miss In 4 Months. (graph)
• Meet The SEC's New Head.

Business Insider:

• The Supreme Court Just Paved The Way For Another Obamacare Fight. 
• CHART OF THE DAY: 10 Stocks Account For 88% Of S&P 500 Earnings Growth. 
• GREG MANKIW: Warren Buffett Doesn't Tell You About How He's A Master Of Tax Avoidance. 
• An Updated List Of The Former Goldmanites(GS) That Rule The World. 
• 2013 Will Be Another Huge Year For Offshore Oil Drilling. (graph)

Telegraph:

• ArcelorMittal(MT) not welcome in France anymore, says finance minister. Steel giant ArcelorMittal is not welcome in France anymore, the country's industrial minister has said, as he accused the steel giant of "not respecting France". "Mittal's lies since 2006 are damning," the French minister said, adding that the company "has never honoured its commitments" to the country. ArcelorMittal has shut down blast furnaces in Florange, eastern France, but wants to maintain its other activities there, in what has become a showdown with the new Socialist government in France. Montebourg told Les Echos he was working on a "transitory nationalisation" project for the site. The newspaper said that "the idea would be to associate an industrial operator with a minority capital stake for as long as it takes to stabilise activity" at the plant.

O Estado de S. Paulo:

• Brazil Economic Growth Above 4% Isn't Sustainable. Growth faces difficulties due to lack of work force and infrastructure, citing a govt officials from the economic team it didn't identify.

China Daily: 

• Abe's dangerous manifesto. When Shinzo Abe, the leader of Japan's main opposition party, talks about his vision for the country's diplomacy and security, East Asia has every reason to prick up its ears. Opinion polls in Japan suggest the Liberal Democratic Party will win the House of Representatives election on Dec 16, positioning Abe to become the next prime minister.