Today's Headlines

Bloomberg: 

• EU Criticizes Spending Plans of Biggest Euro-Area Nations. The European Union confronted the euro area’s biggest economies over their spending plans for next year as austerity demands restrain the bloc’s recovery from the longest recession in its history. The EU said that Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has made “no progress” in following recommendations to spur domestic demand, that Spain’s budget risked missing deficit targets and that Italy’s 2014 plan was in danger of breaching debt-reduction rules. The budget plans of euro-area countries “still do not pay sufficient attention” to fiscal consolidation, EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn told reporters today in Brussels.

• Most European Stocks Rise as Stoxx 600 Climbs Sixth Week. Most European stocks advanced, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index rising for a sixth consecutive week, as investors weighed U.S. industrial data to gauge the strength of the world’s largest economy. Vivendi SA climbed 2.8 percent after posting better-than-estimated third-quarter profit and saying it will spin off its French phone carrier SFR by July 2014. Publicis Groupe SA rose 1.6 percent. Julius Baer Group Ltd. slipped 1.6 percent after reporting that its gross margin narrowed as it absorbed wealth-management units acquired from Bank of America Corp. Safran SA (SAF) lost 3.9 percent as the French state, its largest shareholder, reduced its stake. The Stoxx 600 added 0.2 percent to 323 at the close of trading, with about three stocks rising for every two that fell.

• WTI Set for Longest Run of Weekly Losses Since 1998. West Texas Intermediate crude headed for a sixth weekly decline, the longest stretch of losses in 15 years, as rising U.S. supplies countered speculation that the Federal Reserve will maintain stimulus of the economy. WTI for December delivery advanced 19 cents to $93.95 a barrel at 1:18 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The volume of all futures traded was 30 percent below the 100-day average.

Wall Street Journal: 

• EPA Shrinks Ethanol Mandate for First Time. The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday proposed for the first time to ease an annual requirement for ethanol in gasoline, acknowledging that mandated levels specified in a 2007 law are difficult, if not impossible, to meet. The EPA is asking refiners in 2014 to blend 15.2 billion gallons of renewable fuel—most of it ethanol—into U.S. gasoline supplies. That is about 16% less than what Congress specified in a 2007 renewable fuels law. The law gives EPA the ability to lower the requirement. 

• The President's ObamaCare Backpedal. His proposal to allow people to keep their health plans will not provide a political escape hatch for beleaguered congressional Democrats.

Fox News:

• House approves ObamaCare insurance fix. The House on Friday approved a bill to let insurance companies sell health plans that had previously been canceled due to ObamaCare regulations, a day after President Obama moved unilaterally to fix the problem. The bill passed 261-157. Thirty-nine Democrats crossed over to support the GOP-backed legislation.

MarketWatch:

• Fuji to end Toyota Camry production in U.S: report. Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (7267.TO) is considering terminating its production of Toyota Motor Corp.'s (7203.TO) Camry sedan at a U.S. plant as requested by Toyota, Kyodo News reported Friday, citing Fuji Heavy officials. Fuji, the maker of Subaru cars, started Camry production in 2007 at the Indiana plant which currently has an annual production capacity of 270,000 units including 100,000 units for the Camry.

• Zulily(ZU) shares jump 82% post IPO.

CNBC:

• CME Group says its ClearPort system was hacked. CME Group, the world's largest futures exchange operator, said Friday one of its clearing systems was hacked in July, and the incident is the subject of a federal criminal investigation.

• Cashin: I'm worried about return to dot-com bubbles. (video)

Zero Hedge: 

• And Another Miss: Industrial Production Contracts 0.1% On Expectations Of A Rise. (graph) 

• Spanish FinMin "Concerned" As Public Debt Surges To New Record. (graph) 

• Holiday Spending Plans Collapse. (graph)

• Bubbles And Central Banks - Is There A Connection?

• The History Of Debt.

• Total Healthcare "Enrollment" As A Result Of Obamacare: -3.9 Million.

Business Insider: 

• The French Increasingly Think Europe Is The Problem, Not The Solution.

• Investors Flee From Emerging Markets. (graph)

Yahoo Finance:

• Yellen Sees No Bubbles; Stockman Sees Them “Everywhere”. (video)

Mediaite:

• Dem Rep. During Obamacare Debate: ‘Haven’t Seen So Much Panic on This Floor Since 9/11′. (video)

Reuters:

• U.S. Justice Dept says looking into metals warehousing. 

• Italy at risk of breaking EU rules, France squeezes through. Italy's draft budget plans for 2014 are at risk of breaking European Union rules, while French draft plans barely make it, the European Commission said on Friday. It is the first time that the European Union's executive arm reviews the main assumptions of draft budgets of euro zone countries before they are submitted to national parliaments so as to assess if they are in line with EU laws.

Telegraph:

• EU uses new budget powers to demand more austerity in Italy and Spain. The European Commission has exercised historic new EU powers allowing it to revise national budgets for the first time.