Today's Headlines

Bloomberg: 

• Turkey, Russia Fallout Over Downed Warplane Deepens at Two Ports. Turkey released three of four Russian ships that it detained this month at a Black Sea port for maritime safety violations, according to data on the website of Port State Control for the Black Sea. The action at the port of Samsun came after Russia held five Turkish ships for port inspections at Novorossiysk, according to two port officials who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media. All the vessels have been released by the Russians. Three of four Russian ships departed Samsun on Friday after making repairs to fire hoses, lifeguard boats or radios cited and violations by inspectors, the officials said. One remaining Russian ship may leave Monday.
• OPEC Offers No Hope for End to Oil Slump as Target Removed. (video) OPEC signaled no respite from the global oil glut that has driven prices to a six-year low. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will keep pumping about 31.5 million barrels a day, the group’s President Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said Friday after a meeting of ministers in Vienna. Members set aside their previous daily output target of 30 million barrels, a ceiling breached for 18 months. OPEC will wait until June to decide on a new limit, Secretary General Abdalla El-Badri said.  
• Bullard Says It’s Time for Fed to Begin Raising Rates. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said the U.S. central bank’s policy setting is “extreme” and it’s time to start moving the benchmark lending rate and balance sheet “toward more normal levels.” “I continue to be an advocate for beginning policy normalization,” Bullard told a Philadelphia Fed conference Friday, according to his prepared remarks.
• Banks Said to Face SEC Probe Into Possible Credit Swap Collusion. U.S. regulators are examining whether banks colluded in setting prices in the derivatives market where investors speculate on credit risk, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is probing whether firms acted in unison to distort prices in the $6 trillion market for credit-default swaps indexes, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the investigation is private. The regulator is trying to determine if dealers have misrepresented index prices, the person said. The credit-default swaps benchmarks allow investors to make bets on the likelihood of default by companies, countries or securities backed by mortgages.
• Icahn Buys Into Pep Boys(PBY), Seeks Retail Sale to His Auto Plus. Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed a new 12.1 percent stake in The Pep Boys - Manny Moe & Jack and said the auto parts and maintenance chain’s retail business should be acquired by Auto Plus -- a competitor he controls. 
• Ford(F) Recalling Up to 452,000 Cars Because Fuel Tanks May Crack. Ford Motor Co. will recall as many as 451,865 cars, including 411,205 in the U.S., because their fuel tanks may crack and leak gasoline, potentially leading to fire.

 Wall Street Journal:

• Islamic State Says San Bernardino Attackers Were Supporters. Claim comes after FBI says it is probing shooting as a terrorist act. Supporters of Islamic State carried out the deadly attack in San Bernardino, Calif., that killed 14 people, the militant group said Saturday in an online news bulletin. In a broadcast on al-Bayan Radio, authenticated by SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors and tracks radical groups online, the group said it considered the two shooters “martyrs.” Islamic State tends to claim a wide range of attacks, though its involvement... 
• Draft of Climate-Change Accord Shows Major Policy Disputes Remain. Ministers arrive this weekend in Paris looking for compromises, as early draft of accord shows little progress in main disputes. 
• Fed Finds Fault With Its Own Stress Tests. Problems center on computer models that assess how banks would fare in a recession.
• Rising Drug Costs to Be in Focus at Congressional Hearing. Valeant(VRX), Turing Pharmaceuticals and other companies have been under fire over rising drug prices.
• The Terror This Time. The FBI confirms what President Obama refuses to admit. President Obama entered the White House believing that the “war on terror” was a misguided overreaction driven by political fear, and his government even stopped using the term. Seven years later Mr. Obama is presiding over a global jihadist revival that now threatens the American homeland more than at any time since the attacks of September 11, 2001.
• On the Front Line Against Islamic State. The Kurdish intelligence chief in Iraq says Islamic State can be beaten, but U.S. troops and more weapons will be necessary.

Fox News:

• Man arrested, heard shouting 'this is for Syria,' in stabbing attack in London tube station. A man was arrested Saturday after allegedly stabbing and seriously injuring one commuter and leaving two others with minor injuries while being heard shouting "this is for Syria" inside a London tube station, Sky News reports. Police later said the attack, which occurred in the Leytonstone tube station in East London, was being investigated as a "terrorist incident".
• Democrats' talk after deadly terror shootings echoes past, unfulfilled promises on gun violence. (video) “Voters and mothers are not going to tolerate this,” New York nurse and Democrat Carolyn McCarthy said in 1997 when she won a House seat on a single issue: gun violence. Colin Ferguson murdered McCarthy’s husband and six other people during a bloodbath on the Long Island Railroad in 1993. Ferguson also severely injured McCarthy’s son.
• Female San Bernardino shooter reportedly entered US on 'fiance' visa with inaccurate address. (video) The ISIS-inspired female terrorist in the recent mass killings in San Bernardino, Calif., reportedly entered the country on a so-called “fiancé visa” that listed a false or at least inaccurate foreign home address. The woman, Tashfeen Malik, listed an address in her home country of Pakistan. This summer, she received her Green Card, which allows immigrants to legally live and work in the United States, according to ABC News. The issue raises questions about the vetting process for immigrants amid growing concerns that Middle East terrorists could be slipping into the country.

CNBC:

• The party is over for oil by Daniel Yergin.

Zero Hedge:

• Man Yielding Machete In London Subway Slashes Man's Throat Screaming "This Is For Syria". (video)
• ISIS Calls Mass Shooters "Soldiers Of The Caliphate" As New Details Emerge About Wife.
• 'Bankrupt' Mortgage Lenders Unveil The Zero-Money-Down "Friends-And-Family" Mortgage.
• "Hollow Markets". (graph)
• Dozens Of Global Stock Markets Are Already Crashing: "Not Seen Numbers Like These Since 2008". (graph)
• JPMorgan Warns Of "Eye-Catching" 76% Probability Of Recession.
• Will 2017 Be The Year Of The EM Corporate Debt Crisis? (graph)
• Broken Commodities Continue To Crush Investors.
• 326,000 Native-Born Americans Lost Their Job In November: Why This Remains The Most Important Jobs Chart. (graph)
• These Ain't Your Grandfather's "Jobs" - Why Friday's Rip Should Be Sold. (graph)
• The "Real Stuff" Economy Is Falling Apart. (graph)
• The Beginning Of The End Of The Cult Of Draghi.
• Greece Loses Last Trace Of Sovereignty After EU Takes Control Of Greek Borders.
• First Picture Of Female Mass Shooter Released After Reporters Storm Suspects' Home On Live TV. (video)
• Robots Made Fast-Food Workers Obsolete: Now They Are Coming After These 791,200 Jobs.
• Correlation May Not Equal Causation, But This Divergence Looks Like Bad News. (graph)
• For Citi, This Is The "Greatest Event Risk" For Markets In 2016.
• Feds Illegally Maintain Registry Of Firearm Owners; Media Fails To Report It.
• Here Are The 5 Words That Sent The Market Soaring. (graph)
• Chipotle Chokes On E-Coli ,"Rescinds" Guidance, Expects Up To 11% Collapse In Q4 Sales. (graph)
• China "Terrifies" Investors With Crackdown: "If You Don't Do What They Ask, There Will Be Blood".
• Weekend Reading: Market Forecasting.
• "As If It Never Happened" - Stocks, Bonds, Gold Soar On Draghi "No Limits" Double-Speak. (video)

Business Insider:

• CNN law-enforcement experts shocked, horrified by reporters rummaging through shooting suspects' home.
• CLEVELAND FED: Raising the minimum wage is bad news for America's poorest.
• The ominous 'Skyscraper Indicator' has been triggered. (graph)
• 'The most miserable country in the world' is having an election this weekend, and it already looks like a disaster.
• Turkey is deploying troops near ISIS's most important city.
• Goldman thinks oil prices could fall another 50% as the market spends another year sorting itself out.
• Here's what we know about the San Bernardino shooting suspects.
• The 'Made in China' story is falling apart. (graph)

The Times:

• Isis invades Afghanistan. Islamic State fighters have captured swathes of eastern Afghanistan in a drive to establish a new province of the group’s self-styled caliphate on territory straddling the border with Pakistan. Up to 1,600 fighters pledging allegiance to Isis are ruling much of four districts south of Jalalabad with the same ruthlessness that characterises the group’s regime in Syria and Iraq: public beheadings, strict adherence to Koranic teachings foreign to Afghanistan, and extortion. Some of the worst atrocities have been filmed and posted online.

Financial Times: 

• Corporate debt downgrades hit $1tn worth of issues. More than $1tn in US corporate debt has been downgraded this year as defaults climb to post-crisis highs, underlining investor fears that the credit cycle has entered its final innings.

Telegraph:

• David Cameron may campaign for Brexit, allies say. The Prime Minister has made clear to his closest allies that he will lead the “Out” campaign if he considers the result of his renegotiation with Brussels to be unsuccessful. 
• Mario Draghi riles Germany with QE overkill. Markets threw a tantrum because they did not get instant gratification, but the ECB's radical stimulus is unprecedented.

G1:

• Brazil's Government Has Enough Votes to Stop Impeachment. Government has 50 votes in addition to 171 it needs in Lower House to stop impeachment process against president Dilma Rousseff, citing unidentified sources.