Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Draghi Goes Face-to-Face With Bank Chiefs on Asset Health. Bank executives traveled to Frankfurt for a first meeting with European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on the ECB’s review of lenders’ assets. Chief executive officers from banks from five countries -- Germany, Belgium, Cyprus, Malta and Luxembourg -- met today with Draghi and other board members at ECB headquarters, a spokeswoman for the central bank said by telephone. The list included Europe’s largest investment bank by revenue, Deutsche Bank AG, and lenders such as Malta’s Bank of Valletta Plc. 

• ECB’s Weidmann Says Low Interest Rates Come With Risks. European Central Bank Governing Council member Jens Weidmann said low interest rates come with risks that can’t be ignored, even though the current policy stance is appropriate. “The expansive monetary policy is justified considering the outlook for price stability,” Weidmann, who heads Germany’s Bundesbank, said in a speech in Frankfurt today. At the same time, “one must not lose sight of the many challenges that come within an environment of low interest rates,” he said. 

• Pound Jumps as Carney Signals Rates May Rise Sooner Than Planned. The pound strengthened for the first time in four days after the Bank of England signaled that policy makers may consider increasing interest rates sooner than they previously forecast as the economy improves.

• European Stocks Drop as Investors Weigh Stimulus Outlook. European stocks fell, posting the biggest two-day drop in a month, as investors weighed corporate earnings and speculated stronger economic data will spur central banks to pare stimulus measures. Stada Arzneimittel AG and Banco Popolare SC declined at least 5.5 percent after reporting profit that missed estimates. ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG slumped to a five-week low after its largest shareholder sold an almost 16 percent stake. ICAP Plc advanced 4.1 percent after saying cost cuts will boost results this year. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.6 percent to 319.82 at the close of trading. 

• Copper Falls Most in 15 Weeks on Fed Bets, China Production. Copper futures tumbled the most in 15 weeks amid speculation that the Federal Reserve will scale back U.S. monetary stimulus this year, while output of the metal rose to a monthly record in China. Fed Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said yesterday that talks on a cut in bond purchases by the central bank “could well take place” next month. China’s output of refined copper in October climbed 23 percent to 637,000 metric tons from a year earlier. Futures have slumped 14 percent in 2013, partly on prospects for increased mine production. “Imminent tapering and Chinese output surges compounded the weakness,” Michael Turek, a senior director at Newedge Group SA in New York, said in an e-mail. Copper futures for December delivery slumped 2.3 percent to settle at $3.1595 a pound at 1:21 p.m. on the Comex in New York, the biggest drop for a most-active contract since July 26. 

• Attack on Junk-Loans Risks LBO Profits as U.S. Cracks Down. Fees for bankers and payouts for leveraged-buyout funds are at risk of being crimped as federal regulators crack down on underwriting standards in the market for high-risk, high-yield loans. The government, in an annual review of bank credit, looked at a $429 billion sample of leveraged loans and found 42 percent were “criticized,” or classified as having a deficiency that might lead to a loss. Starting in September, it sent letters demanding banks draw up plans to improve the quality of their loans and a warning that regulators will pay close attention to high-risk loan performance in stress tests.

• Yellen Rejoins QE Debate as Hearing Gives Critics Forum. Federal Reserve policy makers have publicly debated whether to maintain their bond-buying pace since well before Janet Yellen was named last month to succeed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. One voice has been missing: Yellen’s. Tomorrow, she’ll express her views publicly for the first time in seven months on the record stimulus she’s supported and that some lawmakers are using to justify voting against her.

Wall Street Journal:

• ECB's Praet: All Options on Table. Central Bank Could Adopt Negative Deposit Rate, Asset Purchases If Needed.

• For Yellen, Fed's Dual Mandate Guides Thinking. Focus on Maximum Employment, Price Stability Likely a Focal Point at Confirmation Hearing. 

• Italian Banks Still Struggle With Bad Loans. Smaller Banks Lagging in Setting Aside Enough Money to Cover Potential Losses.

Fox News:

• Kerry's push for diplomatic deal with Iran running into congressional opposition. The Obama administration’s efforts to strike a diplomatic deal with Iran over its nuclear program is running into growing criticism on Capitol Hill, with one top lawmaker expressing concern that Secretary of State John Kerry may be willing to give up too much just to say he’s got a deal.

MarketWatch:

• 5 sites teens flock to instead of Facebook(FB). Where America’s youth go online to avoid Mom and Dad.

CNBC:

• Number of U.S. expatriations reaches record high In 2013. The Treasury Department published the names of 560 Americans who renounced their citizenship or are long-term residents who gave back their green cards during the third quarter of 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to tax lawyer Andrew Mitchel who tracks the data, these expatriations reached a record high of 2,369 for the year. The prior highest number of published expatriates was in 2011, said Mitchel. 

• Art could be drawing a disturbing economic picture. The Francis Bacon painting "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" was sold for a whopping $142.4 million as part of a $691.6 million Christie's sale on Tuesday night, making it the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction. Some argue that the sale is giving us a message about inflation that investors aren't getting from the action in gold, the Dollar Index, or the government's official consumer price index data.

Zero Hedge: 

• "Frustrated" Liquidity Addicts Demand Moar From BOJ As Nikkei Rally Stalls, Abenomics Founders And "Hope Fades".

• "Unruffled" Export-Stimulating Germany Blasts Back At Barroso's Bureaucratic Blathering.

• Italian Authorities 'Raid' Apple HQ After $1.4bn Tax Fraud Allegations.

• The Definition Of Insanity. (graph)

• Watch Socialist Paradise Central Planning In Action: Venezuela Looting Edition. (video)

Business Insider:

• The Next Obamacare Shoe To Drop: When Will Insurers Freak Out?

• Democratic Unity On Obamacare Is Collapsing.

Washington Times:

• Concierge medicine: WebMD(WBMD) pockets millions from feds to promote Obamacare.

LA Times:  

• Obama supporter miffed at botched healthcare rollout. Margaret Davis favors wider access to insurance, but under the Affordable Care Act she'd see her premiums rise 88% for inferior coverage.

The Hill:

• DCCC chairman: 'Worst may be yet to come' on budget negotiations. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) slammed Republicans in a memo Wednesday, warning that "the worst may be yet to come" in Congress with a possible showdown over the budget in the new year.

Reuters:

• Apple(AAPL), Samsung retrial kicks off over patent damages. .An Apple attorney on Wednesday said Samsung Electronics should pay $379 million for violating patents on the iPhone, as a damages retrial between the two mobile giants got underway. 

• U.S. money funds' euro debt exposure highest since '11 -JPMorgan. U.S. prime money market funds raised their of euro zone debt holdings in October to the highest level since August 2011 as pessimism over that region's economy continues to abate, a report by JPMorgan Securities released on Wednesday showed.

Telegraph:

• German trade surplus could threaten eurozone recovery, says EC. Commission says Germany’s large current account surplus could make it more difficult for Europe's struggling southern states to recover.