Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• China Factory Inflation Eases as Consumer Prices Remain Subdued. The producer price index rose 5.8 percent in November from a year earlier, matching the projection in a Bloomberg survey and slowing from 6.9 percent in October. The consumer price index climbed 1.7 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Saturday, less than the median forecast of 1.8 percent.

• It Could Be a Perfect Year for the Stock Market. Bouncing technology shares are putting a perfect year back within reach of the U.S. stock market. While short of a recovery, the advance in the market’s biggest industry has helped the S&P 500 Index rebound from four days of losses at the start of the month. The FANG group of Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Netflix Inc. and Google parent Alphabet Inc. gained 1.4 percent over five days, retracing two-fifths of the worst weekly loss in five months.

• Bitcoin `Looks Remarkably Like A Bubble,’ New Zealand's Central Banker Warns. Bitcoin’s spectacular gains look like a speculative bubble and the cryptocurrency is too unstable to be useful in the future, New Zealand’s central banker said. “It looks remarkably like a bubble forming to me,” Reserve Bank of New Zealand Acting Governor Grant Spencer said in interview with TVNZ broadcast on Sunday. “Over the centuries we’ve seen bubbles, and this appears to be a bit of a classic case. With a bubble, you never know how far it’s going to go before it comes down.”

• Pharma Lobby Group Sues to Bar California's Drug Price Law.

Wall Street Journal: 

• The Economy Revs Up. The jobless rate for non-high school grads is down to 5.2%.

• Snow Slows Down Much of the Normally Sunny Deep South. More than 400 flights were canceled at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

• Israel Carries Out Airstrikes on Hamas Following Fire From Gaza. Strikes come amid heightened tensions in wake of U.S. Embassy decision.

• Opioids: The Mother Who Knew Everything and Saw Nothing.

MarketWatch.com: 

• Bitcoin futures: Here’s what you need to know.

Fox News: 

• Touring Mississippi civil rights museum, Trump honors those 'who sacrificed so much'. (video)

• Trump says CNN was 'caught red handed' with fake news on WikiLeaks email. (video)

CNBC: 

• Trump says US 'cannot afford' Roy Moore loss in Alabama.

• Retail landlords flex muscle as stores close, and Starbucks, Whole Foods emerge as losers.

• Iraq declares final victory in war against 'eternal enemy' Islamic State.

• Top VC deals: Baidu invests in electric vehicles, Gilead buys cancer-fighting start-up.

Zero Hedge:

• Trump Lashes Out At "Fake News" CNN For "Vicious And Purposeful" Mistake, Demands Terminations.

• CNN Botches "Bombshell" Report "Proving" Collusion Between Trump Jr And Wikileaks.

• Wisconsin Governor Pushes Forward With Plan To Drug Test Food Stamp Recipients.

• Bulgaria Government Shocked To Discover It Owns $3 Billion In Bitcoin.

• Mueller's 'Right Hand Man' Represented Hillary Clinton IT Staffer Who Installed Her Illegal Server.

• More Evidence That Rising Minimum Wages Are Going To Crush The Restaurant Industry.

• Enron 2.0? ECB, Global Banks On The Hook For $21 Billion In Steinhoff Implosion.

• QE Unwind is Really Happening: Fed Assets Drop To Lowest Level In Over Three Years.

• America First (After All Of You...) - Mapping Billions Of Dollars In Foreign Aid.

• Obama Appointed Judge Mysteriously Recuses Himself From Michael Flynn Case.

• Watered Down And Delayed - European Bank Shares Love The Final Basel III Capital Rules.

• DOJ Launches Investigation Into Planned Parenthood Over Fetal Tissue Harvesting Practices.

• Deep State Drained: Top DOJ Official "Demoted" After Working With Fusion GPS To Push Trump Disinformation-Dossier.

• Weekend Reading: Recession Risk Hidden In Tax Bill.

• Precious Metals Pounded As Bitcoin Soars To Best Week Since 2013.

Business Insider:

• A South Korean 'decapitation unit' aimed at taking out Kim Jong Un will be armed with drones and grenade machines guns.

• 40% of the world's bitcoins are held by just 1000 people.

Weekly Scoreboard*

S&P 500 Index 2,648.04 +.33%

 




The Weekly Wrap by Briefing.com.

 
Indices

• DJIA 24,300.90 +.28%

• NASDAQ 6,837.73 +.07%

• Russell 2000 1,522.91 -.68%

• S&P 500 High Beta 41.90 +1.39%

• Goldman 50 Most Shorted 138.92 +1.0%

• Wilshire 5000 27,410.65 +.21%

• Russell 1000 Growth 1,340.84 +.45%

• Russell 1000 Value 1,209.06 +.16%

• S&P 500 Consumer Staples 579.91 +.34%

• Vanda Cyclicals-Defensives 1.4026 +.16%
  

• NYSE Technology 1,687.21 +.20%

• Transports 10,404.10 +2.38%

• Utilities 754.82 -1.49%

• Bloomberg European Bank/Financial Services 100.65 +2.79%

• MSCI Emerging Markets 45.73 -.51%

• HFRX Equity Hedge 1,244.14 -.92%

• HFRX Equity Market Neutral 1,009.69 -.14%

Sentiment/Internals

• NYSE Cumulative A/D Line 310,243 -.13%

• Bloomberg New Highs-Lows Index -9 -964

• Bloomberg Crude Oil % Bulls 28.89 +58.91%

• CFTC Oil Net Speculative Position 609,833 +5.68%

• CFTC Oil Total Open Interest 2,489,012 -.92%

• Total Put/Call .94 +22.1%

• OEX Put/Call 2.89 +188.7%

• ISE Sentiment 98.0 -5.45%

• NYSE Arms .59 -37.5%

• Volatility(VIX) 9.70 -15.84%

• S&P 500 Implied Correlation 36.81 -3.64%

• G7 Currency Volatility (VXY) 7.45 +.13% 

• Emerging Markets Currency Volatility (EM-VXY) 7.96 +1.14%

• Smart Money Flow Index 20,272.27 -1.51%

• ICI Money Mkt Mutual Fund Assets $2.807 Trillion +.3%

• ICI US Equity Weekly Net New Cash Flow -$4.507 Billion

• AAII % Bulls 36.9 +2.6%

• AAII % Bears 34.2 +8.2%

Futures Spot Prices

• CRB Index 185.02 -3.01%

• Crude Oil 57.32 -1.84%

• Reformulated Gasoline 171.66 -1.0%

• Natural Gas 2.77 -9.32%

• Heating Oil 192.92 -.39%

• Gold 1,250.20 -2.67%

• Bloomberg Base Metals Index 193.98 -2.71%

• Copper 297.70 -3.80%

• US No. 1 Heavy Melt Scrap Steel 258.33 USD/Metric Tonne unch.

• China Iron Ore Spot 502.0 CNY/100 Metric Tonnes -8.06%

• Lumber 427.20 -1.76%

• UBS-Bloomberg Agriculture 1,004.25 -2.88%

Economy

• Atlanta Fed GDPNow Forecast +2.9% -60.0 basis points

• ECRI Weekly Leading Economic Index Growth Rate 2.9% +30.0 basis points
  

• Philly Fed ADS Real-Time Business Conditions Index .2507 -5.5% 

• US Economic Policy Uncertainty Index 91.59 +10.76%

• S&P 500 Blended Forward 12 Months Mean EPS Estimate 144.63 +.17%

• Citi US Economic Surprise Index 65.2 +5.1 points

• Citi Eurozone Economic Surprise Index 60.10 -10.2 points

• Citi Emerging Markets Economic Surprise Index 8.7 +6.9 points

• Fed Fund Futures imply 0.0% chance of no change, 100.0% chance of 25 basis point hike on 12/13

• US Dollar Index 93.93 +1.12%

• MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index 1,643.56 -.23%

• Euro/Yen Carry Return Index 139.18 +.05%

• Yield Curve 58.50 -1.5 basis points
  

• 10-Year US Treasury Yield 2.38% +2.0 basis points

• Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet $4.397 Trillion -.01%

• U.S. Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 23.77 -4.12%

• Illinois Municipal Debt Credit Default Swap 336.78 -.06%

• Western Europe Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap Index 3.44 -1.15%

• Asia Pacific Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap Index 14.23 +3.19%
  

• Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt CDS Index 43.05 -6.02%
  

• Israel Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 58.21 +2.96%

• South Korea Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 57.27 -1.42%

• Russia Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 130.21 -2.50%

• iBoxx Offshore RMB China Corporate High Yield Index 145.89 +.20%

• 10-Year TIPS Spread 1.90% +2.0 basis points

• TED Spread 26.0 +3.0 basis points

• 2-Year Swap Spread 19.5 +1.25 basis points

• 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -60.75  -13.0 basis points

• N. America Investment Grade Credit Default Swap Index 51.10 -1.33%

• America Energy Sector High-Yield Credit Default Swap Index 373.0 +.82%

• European Financial Sector Credit Default Swap Index 45.85 -3.21%
  

• Emerging Markets Credit Default Swap Index 177.42 -2.11%
  

• CMBS AAA Super Senior 10-Year Treasury Spread to Swaps 160.0 unch.
  

• M1 Money Supply $3.639 Trillion +.13%

• Commercial Paper Outstanding 1,052.70 +.9%

• 4-Week Moving Average of Jobless Claims 241,500 -750

• Continuing Claims Unemployment Rate 1.4% unch.
  

• Average 30-Year Mortgage Rate 3.94% +4.0 basis points

• Weekly Mortgage Applications 408.30 +4.69%

• Bloomberg Consumer Comfort 52.3 +.7 point

• Weekly Retail Sales +3.0% -50.0 basis points

• Nationwide Gas $2.47/gallon -.02/gallon

• Baltic Dry Index 1,679 +3.26%

• China (Export) Containerized Freight Index 763.14 -1.25%

• Oil Tanker Rate(Arabian Gulf to U.S. Gulf Coast) 25.0 unch.

• Rail Freight Carloads 292,443 +25.36%

Best Performing Style

• Large-Cap Growth +.5%

Worst Performing Style

• Small-Cap Value -1.0%

Leading Sectors

• Retail +3.2%

• Road & Rail +2.7%

• Airlines +2.5%

• Steel +2.1%

• Educaiton +2.0%

Lagging Sectors

• Medical Equipment -1.6% 

• Shipping -2.4%

• Oil Service -2.6%

• Telecom -2.7%

• Gold & Silver -3.6%

Weekly High-Volume Stock Gainers (21)

• MDGL, ENTL, BGC, VRA, LE, SCMP, AVAV, GEF, TITN, RVNC, AMWD, FMI, MGLN, NCS, GIII, RGC, FSLR, KLXI, AMBA, HOME and OXM

Weekly High-Volume Stock Losers (21)

• NYT, GRBK, BL, HOFT, TOL, VIVO, COUP, GCO, HQY, VEEV, VRNT, QRVO, EIX, TMST, TROX, EGBN, DLTH, TRHC, AGX, OSIS and IDT

Weekly Charts

ETFs

• High-Volume Gainers

• High-Volume Losers

Stocks

• High-Volume Gainers

• High-Volume Losers

*5-Day Change