Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Losses Accelerate for Europe Stocks on Earnings Disappointments. (video) European shares slid for a third day on growing worries about the health of the region’s companies as energy producers suffered from declines in oil prices. Losses worsened in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, which dropped the most in more than a week, as firms from Bayer AG to builder Vinci SA reported disappointing earnings. Antofagasta Plc led miners down after forecasting a slide in copper production next year, while energy producers including BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc slipped with oil. Real estate companies fell the most since Oct. 6, and other bond proxies suffered, as debt yields climbed. Most industry groups in the Stoxx 600 fell, with the gauge dropping as much as 0.9 percent before closing down 0.4 percent as oil pared its losses.
• Oil Retreats Below $50 on OPEC Output Deal Concerns. (video)
• Big Oil Braces for Profit Pain as Refining Safety Net Slips. The world’s biggest oil companies, supported during crude’s collapse by a buoyant refining business, have lost that buffer as brimming fuel stockpiles swamp demand. Profits from turning oil into gasoline and diesel contracted 42 percent last quarter from a year earlier to an average $11.60 a barrel, the weakest for the time of year since 2010, industry data from BP Plc show. The impact of that will be apparent as earnings for the period roll in over the coming weeks.
• Wall Street CEO Could Become Unwanted Job If Watchdog Gets Way. If a U.S. government watchdog has her way, Wall Street banks could find it very difficult to persuade anyone to sit in the chief executive officer’s chair. Christy Goldsmith Romero, the special inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, wants Congress to require chiefs of the largest U.S. banks to sign an annual pledge promising that no criminal or civil fraud has occurred under their watch. If after learning about fraud at their banks CEOs still sign the pledge, they could more easily face consequences such as going to prison. That pledge would ostensibly eliminate protections that top executives typically enjoy because they may not know what happens at lower levels of the bank, and would make it easier for law enforcement to prove criminal intent when misconduct occurs, according to Romero’s proposal. It’s unlikely a divided Congress would approve such an aggressive approach.

Wall Street Journal:

• Fed’s Harker Shows Willingness to Challenge Prevailing Views. Philadelphia Fed leader will have a vote on the U.S. central bank’s rate-setting committee next year.

Fox News:

• 'Bill Clinton Inc.': Email details how top aides helped make ex-president rich. (video) One of Bill Clinton’s closest confidants outlined in a lengthy 2011 memo how he and another aide helped secure at least $50 million in speaking fees and other ventures for the former president – in addition to raising “the bulk” of funds for the controversial Clinton Foundation. The 12-page memo from Doug Band, released Wednesday by WikiLeaks, was designed to highlight the crucial role he – and his global strategy company Teneo – played in procuring money for the ex-president and Clinton’s namesake foundation.

CNBC:

• Hillary Clinton's Victory Prize: Congressional Investigations. (video)
• Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgrades General Motors(GM) on 'peak auto' fears.

Zero Hedge:

• Is Britain Destroying Its Military To Appease Enemies?
• Chinese Bank Liabilities Rise Above 200 Trillion Yuan For The First Time. (graph)
• Indiana Voter Database "Riddled With Errors" Including 1,000s Of Dead Voters And Duplicate Registrations.
• Rents Are Too Damn High: NYC Retail Vacancies Soar As Commercial Rents Start To Rollover.
• Earnings 'Magic' Exposed.
• Bank of England Asks UK Banks To Detail Their Exposure To Deutsche And Italian Banks.
• The Boredom Before The Storm. (graph)
• Deutsche Bank(DB) Probing "Misstated" Derivative Valuations After Finding "Divergences".
• Clinton Campaign Chair Had Dinner With Top DOJ Official One Day After Hillary's Benghazi Hearing.
• New Home Sales Rise But Miss After Dramatic Downward Revision. (graph)
• Services PMI Spikes To 11-Month Highs But Employers Remain "Cautious On Hiring". (graph)
• "Obama Calls Obamacare Disaster 'A Starter Home', Republicans Should Be The Bulldozer".
• Wall Street Reacts To Apple's(AAPL) Disappointing Earnings.
• Wikileaks Celebrates Hillary Clinton's Birthday By Releasing Another 1,500 Podesta Emails; Total Is Now 33,042.
• Wholesale Inventories Growth Weakest Since 2010 Even As Auto Stocks Soar. (graph)

Business Insider:

• Donald Trump is leading in a new poll in Florida for the first time in almost a month.
• Here's how much Obamacare premiums are going up in every state.
• A former hedge fund quant is exposing the dark side of our growing dependence on algorithms.
• The ruble is diving.