Bloomberg:
- No Happy New Year in China as Currency, Liquidity Fears Loom. (video) China bulls could be facing a grim New Year’s eve. The first day of 2017 is when an annual $50,000 quota to convert the yuan into foreign exchange resets, stoking concern there will be a rush to sell the local currency. With tax payments and a regulatory assessment also tightening liquidity in the money market toward year-end, January may bring scant relief as lenders prepare for stronger cash demand before Lunar New Year holidays, which are only a month away. China’s markets are seeing renewed pressure this month as the Federal Reserve projects a faster pace of rate increases for 2017 and its Chinese counterpart tightens monetary conditions to spur deleveraging and defend the exchange rate. The declines are capping off a tough year for investors during which bonds, shares and currency all slumped.
- Hao Hong: China Property Market Will Deflate. (video)
- What Are the Most Prevalent Risks for China in 2017? (video)
- Record Run for Company-Bond Sales Seen Coming to a 2017 Halt. Breaking habits can be hard, especially when they involve making money. That’s the prospect for bond investors in the coming year. After six straight years of growing U.S. investment-grade corporate-debt sales, bankers and investors are pegging 2017 as the year the frenzy finally fades. The new year has several hurdles in place already. For one, interest rates have risen to two-year highs, making borrowing more costly. And the pipeline for new-acquisition financing is smaller than 2016’s, which saw such mega-deals as Anheuser-Busch InBev NV’s $46 billion sale to fund its SABMiller Plc takeover, and Dell Inc.’s $20 billion offering to support its EMC Corp. bid. Uncertainty around potential tax reform and trade wars in a Trump administration may also sideline more issuers.
- Trump Shatters Peace With Obama With Tweet on ‘Roadblocks’. Donald Trump accused President Barack Obama of hobbling the transition to the Republican’s administration with unspecified “inflammatory” statements and “roadblocks,” as tensions between the two men spilled into the open less than a month before Inauguration Day. “Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks,” the president-elect tweeted on Wednesday. “Thought it was going to be a smooth transition -- NOT!” Trump’s Twitter eruption was the culmination of a growing set of grievances topped by Obama’s decision last week to have the U.S. abstain from a vote on a United Nations Security Council resolution declaring Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal. The move allowed the measure to pass, infuriating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump has promised to be friendlier to the U.S. ally, a theme he emphasized on Twitter Wednesday. “We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect,” Trump tweeted. “The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (U.N.!) Stay strong, Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!”
- Here Are the Best and Worst Performing Assets of 2016. (video)
- Pharma's Pricing Troubles Will Get Worse in 2017.
Wall Street Journal:
- As Home Prices Rise, Flippers Make a Comeback. Number of investors flipping homes returns to precrisis levels; big banks also get back in the game.
- France Poised for Pro-Russia Pivot. François Fillon and Marine Le Pen have spoken out against sanctions and argue for closer ties between Paris and Moscow.
- Toshiba Shares Crash After Write-Down Warning. Shares in Toshiba fall more than 20% after a warning about a multibillion-dollar write-down.
- ‘If I Had Run Again’. Coach Obama says his team’s big loss wasn’t his fault.
Fox News:
- Kerry defends US role in UN's Israel censure amid backlash. (video) A defiant Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday defended the U.S. decision allowing the United Nations to condemn Israeli settlements, while lashing out at the so-called “settler agenda” which he claimed is hurting prospects for peace – in a wide-ranging speech that inflamed tensions with Israel and drew a swift rebuke from the prime minister. During a farewell speech at the State Department, Kerry explained the U.N. decision in his most extensive terms yet. He said it was about preserving the two-state solution, which he called the only way to a “just and lasting peace.” “That future is now in jeopardy,” he warned.
CNBC:
- Oil faces a dollar 'double whammy': Lower demand and higher odds of OPEC cheating. (video) The U.S. dollar has been on a tear that threatens to derail the oil price rally and OPEC's effort to balance an oversupplied crude market, the editor of The Schork Report warned on Wednesday.
- Mohamed El-Erian: Don't underestimate the Fed. (video)
Zero Hedge:
- Global Debt Sales Hit A Record $6.6 Trillion In 2016. (graph)
- Ritterbusch Warns OPEC Agreement May "Collapse Within Months": Here's Why. (graph)
- China's Central Bank Slams "Irresponsible" Media Reports Than Yuan Broke The "Psychological Threshold" Of 7.00/$. (graph)
- Pending Home Sales Tumble As Surging Mortgage Rates Paralyze Housing Market. (graph)
- German Police Detain Alleged Accomplice To Berlin Truck Attack Suspect.
- A Market Update From JPM, And A Warning.
Business Insider:
- Short-seller Andrew Left has a new target. Citron Research has a new target for the new year: Nvidia Corporation.
- 'Enough is enough': Lindsey Graham says US sanctions 'will hit Russia hard'.
- Jewish settler leader: John Kerry is 'a stain on American foreign policy'.