Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Death Toll Rises to 18 as Mali, French Forces Advance in Hotel. (video) At least 18 people were killed in the Radisson Blu Hotel in the Malian capital of Bamako after gunmen claimed to be loyal to al-Qaeda carried out the biggest-ever attack on international interests in the West African nation. As of 16:15 local time, French and Malian forces were advancing toward the seventh floor of the hotel where some of the attackers barricaded themselves and are still holding hostages, army spokesman Captain Modibo Traore said by phone Friday from Bamako. The attack began at 7:00 a.m. when gunmen burst into the lobby and began firing, hotel manager Gary Ellis said. Troops from Mali, France and the U.S. stormed the hotel and moved room to room evacuating guests, a United Nations official said Friday by e-mail from Bamako. People covered in blood were carried out of the hotel by Malian security forces, while dozens of others walked out one by one. About 73 of the 170 hostages originally taken have been freed, Colonel Fode Cissoko, an Interior Ministry official, said. Troops from Mali, France and the U.S. stormed the hotel and moved room to room evacuating guests, a United Nations official said Friday by e-mail from Bamako.
• Cazeneuve: France to Keep Border Controls as Long as Threat Remains. Checks at entry points will remain in place for as long as France faces a heightened terrorist threat, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said. “France will maintain the controls on its borders it set up on Friday as long as the terrorist threat requires us to do so,” he told reporters in Brussels at the conclusion of a meeting of his European Union counterparts. France introduced controls at its normally check-free frontiers in response to Europe’s worst terrorist attack in a decade, which killed 129 people and injured another 352 in Paris on Nov. 13. 
• China Cracks $64 Billion `Underground Bank' Moving Money Abroad. (video) China said it cracked the nation’s biggest “underground bank,” which handled 410 billion yuan ($64 billion) of illegal foreign-exchange transactions, as the authorities try to combat corruption and rein in capital outflows that have hit records this year. More than 370 people have been arrested or face lawsuits or other punishment in the case centered in eastern Zhejiang province, the official People’s Daily reported on Friday, citing police officials. The case brought the total for underground banking and money-laundering activities to 800 billion yuan since April, the newspaper said.
• Hedge Funds Shorting Mexico Peso Means More Emerging-Market Pain. (video) There will be no reprieve from the swoon in emerging-market currencies as far as hedge funds are concerned. And to get a sense of how bad it might get, look no further than the Mexico peso, the most-traded currency in developing nations and the market’s proxy for risk. So-called net shorts -- the difference between the number of bearish wagers on the peso by hedge funds and other large speculators versus bullish ones -- last week surged by the most since March 2007.
• When It Comes to Ruble, Oil Means More to Citigroup Than Putin. Beware the rally in the ruble. The best-performing major currency in the five days through Thursday is being buoyed by a thaw in relations between Russia and the West following the terror attacks in Paris, and the prospect this will lead to the dismantling of sanctions imposed over the Ukraine conflict. Yet with oil near a six-year low, Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley say the gains can’t last. 
• Euro Resumes Drop as Draghi Leaves Little Doubt of More Stimulus. The euro fell for the first time in three days after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policy makers will do what they must to raise inflation “as quickly as possible.” The shared currency weakened to almost a seven-month low against the dollar and dropped versus all of its 16 major peers. Draghi said in Frankfurt that downside risks to price growth have increased in recent months. The euro also fell after German producer prices declined more in October than forecast. The euro declined 0.4 percent to $1.0690 at 9:45 a.m. New York time, after gaining 0.9 percent in the previous two days. It touched $1.0617 on Nov. 18, the lowest since April 15. The shared currency fell 0.5 percent to 131.27 yen.
• European Stocks Rise Amid Growth Optimism, Health-Care Gains. European stocks rose for a second day, extending a three-month high, amid investor optimism about global growth, while gains in health-care companies helped offset declines in banks. AstraZeneca Plc led drugmakers higher with a 1.6 percent advance. ABN Amro Group NV climbed 3.4 percent on its first day of trading in Amsterdam after an initial public offering. Glencore Plc fell 1.8 percent as miners erased earlier gains. Barclays Plc led lenders lower, falling 3.5 percent after Morgan Stanley cut its rating to equal weight, citing risks to consensus earnings estimates.The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2 percent to 381.78 at the close of trading.
• Commodities Have Headwinds Until Dollar Peaks: Blanch. (video)
• Copper Slump Seen Extended as Miners Look to 'Tough It Out'. Copper’s worst rout in seven years will be prolonged by the industry’s reluctance to shut major mines, some of which are already unprofitable, according to the world’s top miner. The price of the metal has tumbled 27 percent this year as investors fret over faltering Chinese demand and a stronger dollar. Yet major copper suppliers are making only marginal cutbacks to satisfy shareholders, while resisting shuttering operations on the belief they can “tough it out,” Codelco Chairman Oscar Landerretche said.
• Dudley: Economy in Good Shape; Liftoff Data-Dependent. (video)
• Fed's Bullard Says Investors Should Prepare for Uncertainty Era. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said investors should prepare for uncertainty on whether the Federal Open Market Committee will raise its target interest rate at each meeting next year, as the era of signaling moves is over. “We are going to return to an era where there is a bit more uncertainty about what the committee is going to do, meeting to meeting,” Bullard, who votes next year on policy, told reporters after a speech in Fort Smith, Arkansas. “Markets have been used to us being at zero for seven years where we didn’t have this kind of uncertainty. I would welcome the return of that.” Bullard said the best guide to the FOMC’s pace of tightening will be the quarterly forecasts submitted by participants. Policy makers believed that higher interest rates might be justified by December, though the pace of tightening will be gradual, according to minutes of the Oct. 27-28 meeting, released Wednesday in Washington. Asked what gradual meant for 2016 and whether it would preclude, for example, an increase at the next meeting after liftoff, Bullard said, “I do think this will be debated a lot once the committee makes a decision on liftoff and this will be an important part of the policy debate in coming quarters.”
• S&P 500 Profits Fall $25b in First 3 Quarters, Further Drop Seen. Profits from S&P 500 companies fave fallen by about $25 billion in the first three quarters of the year, as a sharp rally in the dollar has hit exporters while a drop in oil prices has hurt energy firms. About 96% of S&P 500 companies have reported 3Q results so far, and the aggregate net income from continuing operations for the first 3 quarters is $804b, vs $828b for the first 3 quarters last year, data compiled by Bloomberg shows. S&P 500 aggregate revenue has fallen by $287b y/y over the same period. On share-weighted basis, S&P 500 profits down 3.3% y/y so far for 3Q, making this earnings season the worst since 2009, and market a second consecutive quarter of negative earnings growth. Energy sector the most hit as earnings plummet 57% in 3Q. Profits are set to fall further, with analysts expected a 5% y/y drop in S&P 500 profits in 4Q. 
• Credit Market Conundrum: What Junk Bond Spreads Reveal. (video)
• Jefferies: Department Stores, Electronics Have Been Weak. (video)
• Inside the Money Laundering Scheme That Citi(C) Overlooked for Years. How Citigroup's Banamex USA unit turned a blind eye on the Mexican border. Seven years after the financial crisis laid bare Wall Street’s inability to contain risk, big global banks are still struggling to stamp out bad behavior and profitably manage their international operations. They’ve paid billions of dollars in fines after employees were found to have manipulated interest rate and foreign-exchange benchmarks, helped clients avoid taxes, and funneled money to countries such as Sudan and Iran. 
• Goldman(GS) Said to Raise $1.3 Billion to Buy Hedge Fund Stakes. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has raised $1.3 billion for its second Petershill fund that buys stakes in hedge fund firms, beating its initial target, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. 
• Hospitals Feel Pain as UnitedHealth Eyes Obamacare Exit Door. (video) The possible departure of insurance leader UnitedHealth Group Inc. from Obamacare signals worsening prospects for hospitals already facing a slowdown in gains from the program. UnitedHealth said Thursday it expects to lose as much as $500 million next year selling coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The company has scaled back marketing efforts for individual ACA insurance plans, and it may stop participating in 2017.

Fox News:

• Dozens feared dead as hostage situation in Mali hotel apparently ends. (video) The deadly hostage situation at a hotel in Mali's capital city appeared to come to an end Friday, but the fate of dozens of guests and hotel workers was still unclear. Local media reported there were no more hostages by Friday afternoon at the Radisson hotel in Bamako. A U.N. official told The Associated Press that initial reports from the field indicate that 27 people were killed in the attack. Al Qaeda-linked jihadists claimed responsibility for the siege. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the operation is still ongoing, said 12 bodies were found in the basement and 15 bodies were found on the second floor. The official stressed that the building had yet to be totally cleared.

CNBC:

• Expect at LEAST three rate hikes in 2016: Economist. (video)
• Nasdaq 100 rally can be credited to just two stocks. (video)

Zero Hedge:

• Mali Hostage Situation Over; 27 People Reported Dead, 2 Gunmen Killed.
• Is This How The Next Global Financial Meltdown Will Unfold? (graph)
• Three "Do You Believe In Crude Oil Miracles" Charts. (graph)
• The End Of The Recovery, In One Chart. (graph)
• Spot The Odd One Out. (graph)
• EU's Founding Treaty To Be "Reconsidered", Seeking End To Passport-Free Travel.
• Is The "Easy" Money Over For European Stocks? (graph)
• "Desperate" Novice Trader May Be Suicidal If He Didn't Cover: KBIO Short Squeeze Goes "Full Volkswagen".
• Fed To Hold An "Expedited, Closed" Meeting On Monday.
• Tesla(TSLA) Tumbles After Recalling 90,000 "Best Car Ever" Model S Sedans. (graph)
• Albert Edwards Explains What The Next Stage In Global Currency War Look Like. (graph)

Business Insider:

• We just got a major sign that world trade is crashing.
• MACAU: It's way worse than Wall Street thought.

Telegraph:

• Speculators test Saudi currency as oil crisis deepens. “A de-peg of the Saudi riyal is our number one ‘black-swan’ event for oil in 2016,” said Bank of America. 
• Goldman(GS) eyes $20 oil as glut overwhelms storage sites. “The world is floating in oil. The numbers we are facing now are dreadful," said David Hufton from PVM Group.

Xinhua:

• China SOE Profits Fall 0.8% in First 10 Months. China SOE profits dropped 9.8% to 1.88 trillion yuan in Jan.-Oct. period, hurt by the economic slowdown. Profits slid 8.2% in first 9 months. SOEs in petrochemical, oil refining and construction materials posted substantial profit declines, while those in steel and coal suffered more losses.