Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Obama Says California Shooting May Be Related to Terrorism. A mass shooting in California on Wednesday was possibly a terrorist attack, though law enforcement authorities have not yet identified a motive, President Barack Obama said a day after the rampage in San Bernardino that left 14 people dead. San Bernardino police chief Jarrod Burguan identified the suspects as Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife or girlfriend, Tashteen Malik, 27. Both fled the scene of the shooting, a social services center, and were later killed by police in a daytime gun battle in a nearby residential neighborhood. "At this stage we do not yet know why this terrible event occurred," Obama told reporters in the Oval Office. "It is possible that this was terrorist-related but we don’t know. It is also possible that this was workplace-related." Farook had been employed by San Bernardino County for five years, most recently as an environmental specialist, and had worked with some of the victims, who were attending a holiday party at the center. Law enforcement authorities have not ruled out terrorism as a possible motive.  
• Draghi Convinces All But Five Officials on ECB Proposal. Mario Draghi convinced all but five members of the European Central Bank’s Governing Council to support a stimulus package that matched what he and his officials were proposing, according to euro-zone central bank officials. The ECB president didn’t push for measures beyond those he announced on Thursday, the officials said. The ECB circulated the plan to the 25-member panel in the morning. It passed with the backing of all policy makers except the two from Germany -- Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann and Executive Board member Sabine Lautenschlaeger -- and the governors of the Dutch, Estonian and Latvian central banks, said the officials who didn’t want to be identified because ECB discussions are private.
• Italian Bonds Suffer Biggest Drop Since June as ECB Disappoints. Euro-area government bonds declined, with Italy’s 10-year yield climbing by the most since June, after European Central Bank policy makers brought weeks of speculation to a close with additional stimulus measures that disappointed some investors. Two-year yields from Germany to Spain jumped from record lows after the ECB cut its deposit rate to minus 0.3 percent. Fourteen economists out of 44 surveyed by Bloomberg forecast a cut of more than 10 basis points, or 0.1 percentage point. Italy’s 10-year bonds led declines with the yield surging 23 basis points to 1.62 percent as of 4:10 p.m. London time, the biggest daily increase since June 29.
• Euro Reserves Vanishing on Draghi, Standard Chartered Says. Some of the world’s central banks have cut or completely sold off their euro holdings in anticipation of losses tied to unprecedented stimulus, according to Standard Chartered Plc. International Monetary Fund data show the euro’s share of worldwide reserves has dropped since last year, reflecting the currency’s decline, said Jukka Pihlman, Singapore-based head of coverage for central banks and sovereign wealth funds for Standard Chartered. The IMF figures don’t provide a complete picture as the reduction in euro holdings has been “more pronounced” among countries that don’t report details of the currency composition of their reserves to the organization, he said, without naming any.
• More ECB Stimulus Raises the Question of Insanity. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has all but promised to expand and extend the institution's quantitative easing program when the ECB meets Thursday. But the logic by which he arrives at the argument for more QE would challenge even Mr. Spock at his most Vulcan. It's worth walking through some of that thinking, and some of the anomalies it produces.
• French Unemployment Rises to Near Record in Hollande Setback. French unemployment rose to near a record high in the third quarter, the latest sign that President Francois Hollande is struggling to meet a pledge to create jobs. Unemployment climbed to 10.6 percent in the three months through September from 10.4 percent the previous quarter, national statistics office Insee said in an e-mailed statement. 
• Brazil Signals Rate Rise on the Radar as Impeachment Starts. Brazil’s central bank signaled it’s ready to boost borrowing costs early next year as the start of impeachment proceeding against President Dilma Rousseff deepens a political crisis that is derailing the economy. Higher political and economic uncertainties threaten to keep consumer price increases above target for longer than initially expected, the central bank said Thursday in the minutes to its Nov. 24-25 meeting. It vowed to adopt the measures needed to hit the 4.5 percent inflation target in 2017. The bank published the comments less than 24 hours after the head of lower house accepted an impeachment process against Rousseff. The central bank kept the key rate at a nine-year high of 14.25 percent last week as it faces a deeper-than-forecast recession and inflation that accelerate to 10.28 percent in mid-November.
• Loonie Bears Aren't Nearly Bearish Enough, Morgan Stanley Says. Almost no one -- from the Bank of Canada, to currency traders to Wall Street prognosticators -- grasps how far the Canadian dollar must fall to revive the nation’s economy after the collapse in oil prices, according to Morgan Stanley. The New York-based bank has joined Australia’s Macquarie Group Ltd., both among the 10 most accurate currency forecasters, in predicting the Canadian dollar will drop almost 9 percent next year after losing a quarter of its value since 2012. The decline would push the currency to C$1.45 per U.S. dollar, the cheapest since 2003, while the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 73 participants is for it to bottom at C$1.35 in 2016.
• Emerging-Market Currencies Fall Against Euro After ECB Decision. Emerging-market currencies fell against the euro and bonds declined as some investors wagered the European Central Bank didn’t go far enough in cutting its deposit rate and boosting stimulus. The Russian ruble retreated for a third day as all but one of the 24 developing-nation exchange rates tracked by Bloomberg weakened against the shared currency. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index declined for a second day. The Brazilian real jumped 1.1 percent against the dollar after the nation’s central bank signaled it may raise interest rates early next year. “Markets are not happy about diminishing carry,” said Vladimir Miklashevsky, a strategist at Danske Bank in Moscow. “There were expectations that more dovish monetary stance by the ECB would allow more use of the euro as a funding currency.”
• ECB Move Ripples Across Eastern Europe as Currencies, Bonds Drop. Bonds tumbled in eastern European and currencies weakened as the European Central Bank kept the amount of its asset purchases unchanged, disappointing some investors betting on bolder steps to shore up the euro-area’s economy. The yield on Poland’s benchmark 10-year government bond jumped the most in more than 14 months on a closing basis and the zloty dropped 0.7 percent against the euro. Hungary’s forint had its biggest decline versus the shared currency in a month.
• Europe Stocks Fluctuate After ECB as Traders Await Draghi Speech. European equities tumbled the most since the August selloff as the additional stimulus measures unveiled by the region’s central bank underwhelmed investors. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index lost 3.1 percent at the close of trading in London, reversing a gain of 0.9 percent.
• Gross Says `De-Risk' Portfolios as Wile E. Coyote Time Nears. (video) Bill Gross says investors should move to protect their money in 2016 rather than reach for higher returns as central bank efforts to stimulate the global economy set the stage for markets to ultimately fall. Gross, the former manager of the world’s largest bond fund who joined Janus Capital Group Inc. last year, said central bankers have been doing the equivalent of printing money and acting like gamblers who keep doubling bets to recoup losses. “One day the negative feedback loop on the real economy will halt the ascent of stock and bond prices and investors will look around like Wile E. Coyote wondering how far is down,” Gross wrote in an investment outlook Thursday for Denver-based Janus. Wile E. Coyote is a cartoon character who unsuccessfully hunts the fleet bird Road Runner, injuring and humiliating himself through his ineptitude.

Breaking News:

• San Bernardino, California, Massacre Updates.

Fox News:

• Terror trail? Feds probe digital profile of SoCal massacre suspects. (video) Farook, 28, who authorities said was born in Illinois, and raised in California and had worked as a $51,000-per-year restaurant inspector at the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health for five years, was described by co-workers as a "devout" Muslim, who lived with his wife, child and grandmother in a home in nearby Redlands, which sources described as "an IED factory." Bomb squads working with robots swept the home late into the night Wednesday, and witnesses reported hearing several explosions. Malik, who had a 6-month-old baby with Farook, came to the U.S. on a K-1 (fiance of citizen) visa and had a Pakistani passport, according to authorities. It was not clear how long the couple had been together.
• Paper Mocks GOP for Prayers After Mass Shooting, Pushes Gun Control. Several Republican presidential candidates who offered prayers to victims of the San Bernardino shooting yesterday were mocked by the New York Daily News. The headline on the front cover this morning blared: “God Isn’t Fixing This.” Rand Paul, Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham had each reached out to those affected by Wednesday’s deadly massacre with messages of prayer.

Zero Hedge:

• Weapons Trove Found In House Of "Apparently Radicalized" Mass Shooters, FBI "Treating As Terrorism". Found in the suspects' home: 2,500 .223 rounds, 2,000 9mm rounds, 12 pipe bombs...Found in the black SUV: 1,400 .223 rounds 200 9mm rounds.
• As The Credit Cycle 'Turns', Global Defaults Surge To 6-Year Highs. (graph)
• Citi Turns Bearish On Stocks On "Richer And Richer" Markets, Sees 65% Recession Probability; Janet Yellen Disagrees. (graph)
• Academic Study Shows Fed Engaged In Systematic Leaks To Insiders. (graph)
• WTI Crude Surges On OPEC Hope, Dollar Drop. (graph)
• There Go The Truckers: Unprecedented 59% Plunge In November Heavy Truck Orders. (graph)
• DAX Crashes Most Since Black Monday - Erases Paris Attack Gains. (graph)
• Bloodbath In Bonds - Yields Jump Most In 7 Months. (graph)
• Housing Bubble 2.0 Exposed (In 1 Simple Chart). (graph)
• Spot The Factory Orders Recession. (graph)
• US Services Economy Crashes To 2015 Lows (And Surges To 6-Month Highs) - Obamacare Blamed. (graph)
• Fed Faith Falters As Consumer Comfort Plunges To 13-Month Lows. (graph)
• Wall Street Unleashes Echo Of Groans After ECB "Disappointment". (graph)
• US Dollar, Stocks, Bonds Plunge; EU Peripheral Bonds Crash As Draghi Bazooka Fizzles. (graph)

Business Insider:

• The market has a $1 trillion problem — and the Fed doesn’t understand it.
• Britain started bombing ISIS mere hours after voting in favor of airstrikes. (video)
• Defense Secretary Carter to open all combat jobs to women in historic change.

Inquistr:

• San Bernardino Mass Shooters Syed Farook, Tashfeen Malik Part Of A Sleeper Cell Network?
• Update on Suspects: They Had 'IED Factory' In Their Home.

USA Today:

• San Bernardino shooting: What we know now. (video)

Bear Radar

Style Underperformer: 

• Small-Cap Growth -1.01%

Sector Underperformers: 

• 1) Disk Drives -3.04% 2) Biotech -3.02% 3) Hospitals -3.01%

Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume:

• MPLX, VRNT, BOX, IPHI, NGL, PFPT, TITN, AMH, EXPR, MTSC, NCR, PVH, KMI, MWE, ISLE, SNPS, WBC, CORR, AEO, VNTV, EFUT, REX, DXGE, SHLD, CSC, HAS, NS, PFG, BKS, MWE, PCAR, WBC, MPLX, INSY, NGL and WETF

Stocks With Unusual Put Option Activity: 

• 1) AKS 2) UNP 3) KMI 4) XBI 5) XLK

Stocks With Most Negative News Mentions: 

• 1) VRNT 2) KMI 3) TRV 4) XOM 5) BABA

Charts:

• ETFs Falling on Unusual Volume 
• Stocks Falling on Unusual Volume

Bull Radar

Style Outperformer:

• Small-Cap Value -.56%

Sector Outperformers: 

• 1) Gold & Silver +2.42% 2) Alt Energy +.73% 3) Steel +.58%

Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume: 

• DYAX, AVGO, SAFM, SCTY, KR and PSTG

Stocks With Unusual Call Option Activity: 

• 1) ARO 2) CHK 3) ODP 4) MPLX 5) KR

Stocks With Most Positive News Mentions: 

• 1) AVGO 2) COST 3) JBT 4) KR 5) SAFM

Charts: 

• ETFs Rising on Unusual Volume 
• Stocks Rising on Unusual Volume

Morning Market Internals

NYSE Composite Index:

• Volume Running +.3% Above 100-Day Average
• 1 Sector Rising, 9 Sectors Declining
• 33.9% of Issues Advancing, 63.1% Declining
• 31 New 52-Week Highs, 124 New Lows
• 36.4% of Issues Above 200-day Moving Average
• Average 14-Day RSI 42.4
• Vix 16.4
• Total Put/Call 1.12
• TRIN/Arms .79

Thursday Watch

Evening Headlines
Bloomberg:

• Two Suspects Shot Dead After at Least 14 Killed in California Gun Rampage. Two suspects were shot dead by police Wednesday after a gun rampage left 14 dead at a social services center in San Bernardino, California. The suspects, a man and a woman, were armed with assault rifles and handguns and were dressed in "assault-style clothing", said police at a press conference. More than 17 victims were left injured when gunmen opened fire at the Inland Regional Center, which serves people with developmental disabilities, at about 11.a.m. San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said at a news conference Wednesday evening that police had found what they believed to be an explosive device at the scene of the shooting.
• Rousseff to Face Impeachment in Brazil Beset by Recession. Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff will face impeachment proceedings in Congress, marking a deepening of the political crisis that is dragging Latin America’s largest economy further into recession. Lower house President Eduardo Cunha told reporters in Brasilia on Wednesday he has accepted one of 34 requests to impeach the president on charges that range from illegally financing her re-election to doctoring fiscal accounts this year and last. Cunha said he "profoundly regrets" what’s happening. "May our country overcome this process." The impeachment hearings could take months, involving several votes in Congress that ultimately may result in the president’s ouster. Rousseff would challenge any impeachment proceedings in the Supreme Court, according to a government official with direct knowledge of her defense strategy. The presidential press office said the government will make a statement shortly.
• Why China's Millennials Are Happy to Own Nothing. Two decades ago, Tyler Xiong and his parents had to live in a commune guided by the strict socialist teachings of Mao Zedong. Today Xiong, a 28-year-old tech entrepreneur, voluntarily lives among 500 people in a co-sharing community near Beijing’s Silicon Valley. Xiong has two pairs of shoes and fewer than 10 outfits. He has no use for a car and uses Didi Taxi, a local Uber equivalent. His philosophy: if you can rent it, why own it.
• Under the Hood of Korean GDP Lies a Disappointing Exports Story. Here’s one takeaway from data Thursday that showed South Korea’s gross domestic product in the third quarter was better than initially estimated, growing at the fastest pace in more than five years: Net exports were the biggest drag on the economy’s growth since 2013.
• Back to Reality for Hollande as Voters Flock to Le Pen Message. After three weeks spent decrying terrorists and occupying the world stage, French President Francois Hollande faces an abrupt return to domestic reality this weekend in the form of surging support for the far-right National Front that could give his party an electoral defeat. Voters head to the polls for the first round of regional elections Sunday. By the time results of the second round are in on Dec. 13, the anti-immigrant, anti-euro National Front may well win power in two or three of 12 regional assemblies for the first time and trounce Hollande’s Socialists in the popular vote, polls show.
• Why the Euro and Dollar Will Reach Parity by Year-End. (video)  
• Ringgit Drops as Oil Slide to Six-Year Low Dims Revenue Outlook. Malaysia’s ringgit fell after Brent crude’s slide to a six-year low dimmed prospects for Asia’s only major net exporter of oil. The commodity has dropped 26 percent this year, helping make the ringgit the region’s worst-performing currency and threatening to derail government efforts to cut the budget deficit. Malaysia is also the world’s second-biggest producer of palm oil, leaving the country extra vulnerable to the slowdown in China. “It’s the same old story with commodities, in particular oil, under pressure,” said Sue Trinh, Hong Kong-based senior currency strategist at Royal Bank of Canada. “That’s clearly a negative for the Malaysian ringgit.” The ringgit weakened 0.3 percent to 4.2465 a dollar as of 9:40 a.m. in Kuala Lumpur, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg. It has weakened 18 percent in 2015.
• Asian Stocks Slide Second Day as Drop in Oil Hits Energy Shares. Asian stocks fell for a second day, following U.S. equities lower, as a drop in oil weighed on energy shares. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.2 percent to 133.59 as of 9:01 a.m. in Tokyo, with material and energy companies leading losses among the regional measure’s 10 industry groups.
• In One OPEC Nation, the Rig Count Is Soaring Before Vienna Talks. All across the Americas, drilling rigs are being idled as oil prices hover near six-year lows. In Colombia, more than 57 percent have been pulled; in Mexico, 42 percent. Then there’s Venezuela. Starved for hard currency needed to ease a crushing recession and struggling to shore up slumping output, the state oil giant known as PDVSA has been adding rigs at a furious pace to search for new sources of crude. The number has climbed 19 percent this year, signaling a new push that comes at the same time the OPEC nation is urging its fellow members to cut output at Friday’s meeting to support prices. It’s a sacrifice that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro -- the successor to his mentor, the late Hugo Chavez -- isn’t willing to take in his own country, though, as a shortage of dollars fuels widespread shortages and runaway inflation and puts the opposition on the verge of taking control of congress in elections this weekend. 
• Iron Ore May Be on Cusp of $30s as Supply Gains, Demand Sags. Iron ore may be on the cusp of dropping into the $30s a metric ton as the biggest producers expand supply and the onset of winter in China dulls demand that’s been hurt by the slowdown in growth in the world’s top user. Miners’ shares retreated in Sydney. “The outlook remains grim for iron ore fines because end-demand from construction and manufacturing is uncertain,” said Jessica Fung, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto. “Steel inventories have been building.”Spot ore with 62 percent content delivered to Qingdao fell 2.6 percent to $41.13 a dry ton on Wednesday, a record low in daily prices compiled by Metal Bulletin Ltd. dating back to 2009. It’s dropped each day this week, losing 7.6 percent.
• Copper Drops as Metals Resume Losses After Yellen Rate Signal. Copper declined with other metals as cuts announced by Chinese smelters failed to support prices and comments by the chair of the Federal Reserve strengthened the dollar. The metal used in power cables and wiring fell 0.4 percent in London, extending a 1.5 percent slump on Wednesday. The metal traded at $4,543 a metric ton by 9:55 a.m. Shanghai time, just $100 above its lowest level in more than six years reached last month. Zinc dropped 0.7 percent, nickel slid 0.8 percent and aluminum slipped 0.8 percent. 
• JPMorgan(JPM), BofA(BAC), Citigroup(C) Among Eight U.S. Banks Cut by S&P. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. are among eight large U.S. banks that had credit grades cut one level by Standard & Poor’s on the prospect that the U.S. government is less likely to provide aid in a crisis. After signaling the move last month, S&P lowered its long-term issuer credit, senior unsecured, and nondeferrable subordinated debt ratings, according to a statement Wednesday. Firms affected also include Wells Fargo & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and State Street Corp.
• U.S. Health Spending Up Most Since '07, Fueled by Obamacare. U.S. health-care spending jumped 5.3 percent last year, the biggest increase since President Barack Obama took office, as millions of people gained insurance coverage under Obamacare. Spending on hospitals, doctors, drugs and other health-care expenses hit $3 trillion in 2014, or 17.5 percent of the economy, according to a study released Wednesday by government actuaries. Enrollment in private health plans increased by 2.2 million people to 189.9 million, while 7.7 million more people were covered by Medicaid, the U.S.-funded, state run program for the poor, bringing the total to 65.9 million. 
• For Facebook's(FB) Zuckerberg, Charitable Is in Eye of Beholder. However philanthropic the intentions of Mark Zuckerberg, he isn’t bound to give a penny of his $45 billion to charity despite his announcement Tuesday. In a widely publicized letter to his newborn daughter, Zuckerberg with his wife, Priscilla Chan, said they would give 99 percent of their Facebook Inc. shares to “advance” various missions, including promoting equality and curing disease. Although this step has been widely interpreted as Zuckerberg and Chan pledging their fortune to charity, they didn’t announce the establishment of a nonprofit group or a charitable foundation. Instead, they will set up a limited liability company. That’s right, an ordinary company. The vehicle can donate to charity, but it doesn’t have to give away some every year, as a foundation would. It can also make investments and participate in “policy debates.” That means it could turn a profit and make donations to political candidates and pay lobbyists. “This is not a charitable foundation,” said Victor Fleischer, a tax law professor at the University of San Diego. What they’ve done “is essentially nothing more than a promise to give some money to charity in the future. But the structure somewhat resembles a family office, used both for investment and charitable purposes. The level of activities in the charitable versus investment and political pieces isn’t specified.”

Wall Street Journal:

• Yellen Signals Fed on Track to Raise Rates in December. Fed chief says gains in labor market bolster her confidence that inflation will return to 2%. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen signaled she’s ready to raise short-term interest rates this month barring a surprise that shakes her confidence in the economy. She also suggested she sees dissension within her ranks, which could complicate her moves toward ending seven years of near-zero rates.
• French Authorities Close Four Mosques During State of Emergency. Authorities suspect members of mosques had been nurturing Islamist radicalization.
• U.S. Oil Falls Below $40 Amid New Signs of Glut. OPEC-U.S. battle for market share leaves flood of oil. Oil prices fell below $40 a barrel Wednesday amid a growing glut, putting more pressure on an industry that already is a major weak spot for global growth.
  The immediate cause was a 10th straight weekly rise in U.S. inventories of crude oil at a time of year when they are expected to shrink. The market’s broader problem, however, is that producers in OPEC and the U.S. are locked in a battle for market share that has left the world...
• 5 Questions About the ECB's Thursday Meeting.
• YouTube Seeks Streaming Rights to TV Shows, Movies. YouTube is seeking streaming rights to TV series and movies to bolster its new subscription service, intensifying its rivalry with Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Hulu in the competitive market for online video.
• Some Merrill Brokers Could See Cut in Base Pay. The move is the company’s biggest compensation change since 2009. Some Merrill Lynch brokers will see their base pay trimmed by 2% to 8% next year unless they increase the fees and commissions they generate.
• Obama’s Illegal Guantanamo Power Play. The president plans to close the facility and ship detainees to U.S. soil, despite a ban by Congress. Two days after terrorists rampaged in Paris, the Obama administration announced that it had transferred five prisoners—including a former Osama bin Laden bodyguard—from the U.S. prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United Arab Emirates.
• America at Obama’s End. Hope and change was the promise. What happened? We are near the end of the seventh year of Barack Obama’s presidency, and by any measure the United States is a fractured nation. Its people are more divided politically than any time in recent memory. Personally, many are anxious, angry or just down. Whatever Mr. Obama promised in that famous first Inaugural Address, any sense of a nation united and raised up is gone. This isn’t normal second-term blues. It’s a sense of bust.

Breaking News:

• San Bernardino, California, Shooting Updates.

Fox News:

• Shootout follows manhunt for suspects in California massacre, 1 believed at large. (video) Police chasing a black SUV believed to be the getaway car for three suspects who shot up an office holiday party in San Bernardino, Calif., Wednesday, murdering 14 people, captured or killed two suspects and were going house-to-house pursuing a third who fled on foot. The shootout occurred less than two miles from the social services center where the massacre occurred hours earlier, and police sources told Fox KTTV they believe the suspects in the SUV were the ones responsible for the earlier attack. There were conflicting reports about two suspects, with some saying they were killed and others that they were captured. The suspect who remained at large was initially believed to be inside a nearby residence, but police were seen going house-to-house looking for him. Police Chief Jarrod Burguan warned all area residents to remain indoors. "It's still, again a very active, fluid situation," said San Bernardino Police spokeswoman Vickie Cervantes, who said the chase began after police doing "follow-up work" in the wake of the mass shooting located the suspects' vehicle.

MarketWatch.com:

• Obamacare bailouts prove that the law is flawed and lousy. And Congress shouldn’t vote to spend billions of dollars keeping health insurers afloat. 
• Moody’s sounds alarming bell over junk bonds issued by commodity companies. Nearly $2 trillion in bonds issued since 2010 — much of it junk-rated. The oil and gas and metals and mining sectors are facing a spike in defaults and downgrades in 2016 and investors that have piled into their bonds in the hunt for yield are facing major losses, Moody’s warned Wednesday. Companies in those two sectors have issued nearly $2 trillion in bonds globally since 2010, according to the rating agency, many of them in the high-yield — or “junk bond” — category. Now prices of a range of commodities, from oil, to copper, iron ore, gold and coal are at multiyear lows, battered by weak demand and oversupply.
• 40% of European government bonds sport negative yields, and more may follow.

CNBC:

• Trader buys 'disaster insurance' on this index. (video) On Monday, the trader bet more than $20 million that the IWM, the Russell 2000 ETF will fall 25 percent by the second quarter of next year.
• This is how low traders see oil going now. (video)

Zero Hedge:

• Two Suspects Down, One At Large After Mass Shooting Leaves 14 Dead, 17 Wounded In San Bernardino.
• China Services PMI Jumps To 4-Month High (And Drops Near 2015 Lows). (graph)
• Here's Why "Philanthropic" Mark Zuckerberg Will Place Facebook Shares In A For-Profit LLC. 
• "Equities Peak 12-18 Months After A Peak In Margins; We Are Now 15 Months After The Peak In Margins". (graph)
• Did Something Blow Up in Junk? (graph)
• The One Record That Was Broken On Black Friday That Mainstream Media Will Not Be Excited About.
• The End Of Keynesian Orthodoxy.
• Brazil Devolves Into Full-Blown Political Crisis With Launch Of Impeachment Proceedings Against President Rouseff.
• Credit Card Data Reveals First Holiday Spending Decline Since The Recession. (graph)
• Stocks Plunge Back To Bonds' Reality Amid Crude Carnage. (graph)

Business Insider:

• BRITAIN IS GOING TO BOMB ISIS IN SYRIA.
• Spain just hit a dangerous population milestone. Spain, long concerned about its aging population and emptying countryside, passed a milestone in population decline on Wednesday when it recorded more deaths than births in the first half of this year.
• Watchdog report: Iran's weaponization work went on for 6 years longer than believed.
• Africa's deadliest terrorist group is making a comeback.
• Iran is emerging as one of the most dangerous cyber threats to the US.

Breitbart: 

• Hillary Clinton Calls For More Gun Control Before San Bernardino Attackers Apprehended. Even as authorities were still working to clear the Inland Regional Services complex and find the attackers who caused the San Bernardino mayhem, Democrat presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton took to Twitter to call for more gun control.

@Breaking911:

• NEWS ALERT!! Suspect in #SanBernardino shooting identified as Sayeed Farook.

New York Daily News: 

• EXCLUSIVE: Father of San Bernardino shooting suspect Syed Farook says son worked as health tech inspecting restaurants, hotels. A man who identified himself as Farook’s father told the Daily News his son worked as a health technician inspecting restaurants and hotels. “I haven’t heard anything. He worked in a county office,” Farook's dad told The News. “He’s married and has a kid. We’re estranged because my wife got the divorce, and they are together. She doesn’t want to see me.” Farook said he hasn’t seen his son in some time. “He was very religious. He would go to work, come back, go to pray, come back. He’s Muslim.”

Evening Recommendations 

• None of note

Night Trading 

• Asian equity indices are -.75% to -.25% on average.
• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 129.0 -.25 basis point.
• Asia Pacific Sovereign CDS Index 68.25 +1.0 basis point.
• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 70.18 -.09%.
• S&P 500 futures unch.
• NASDAQ 100 futures +.03%.

Morning Preview Links 

Earnings of Note 
Company/Estimate

• (CM)/2.34
• (DG)/.87
• (KR)/.39
• (LE)/.30
• (MDT)/1.00
• (MIK)/.36
• (SHLD)/-2.84
• (TITN)  
• (TTC)/.39
• (TD)/1.13
• (BKS)/-.32
• (COO)/2.10
• (MRVL)/.14
• (OVTI)/.32
• (ULTA)/1.05
• (ZUMZ)/.29   

Economic Releases
7:30 am EST

• Challenger Job Cuts for November.

8:30 am EST

• Initial Jobless Claims are estimated to rise to 269K versus 260K the prior week.
• Continuing Claims are estimated to fall to 2190K versus 2207K prior. 

9:45 am EST:

• Final Markit US Services PMI for November is estimated at 56.5 versus a 56.5 prior estimate.

10:00 am EST

• ISM Non-Manufacturing for November is estimated to fall to 58.0 versus 59.1 in October.
• Factory Orders for October are estimated to rise +1.4% versus a -1.0% decline in September.
• Factory Orders Ex Transports for October are estimated to rise +.2% versus a -.6% decline in September.
  

Upcoming Splits

• None of note

Other Potential Market Movers

• The Fed's Yellen speaking, Fed's Fischer speaking, Fed's Mester speaking, ECB rate decision/press conference, weekly Bloomberg Consumer Confidence Index, weekly EIA natural gas inventory report, (ALK) investor day and the (SKX) analyst meeting could also impact trading today.

BOTTOM LINE: Asian indices are lower, weighed down by commodity and technology shares in the region. I expect US stocks to open mixed and to weaken into the afternoon, finishing modestly lower. The Portfolio is 25% net long heading into the day.