Updated throughout the day
December 23, 2015
The markets are rallying around good cheer as commodities and junk bonds look ready to leave 2015 on a high note — a bit of market irony, if you ask us. They’ve been clunkers all year. But as we wrote earlier, economist David Rosenberg says the lowly shall rise and the winners, well, won’t be winners. The S&P 500 galloped 1.23% ahead, closing at 2,064; the Dow Jones Industrials sprinted 1.07% to 17,603, and the Nasdaq rose 0.90% to 5,046. This marks the third consecutive session for a triple-digit gain on the Dow. Volatility can be fun. Thursday is Christmas eve and markets will be closing at 1 p.m. ET giving those last minute shoppers a last chance to buy gifts.
Here’s what else you need to know:
Beatles’ publisher says yeah, yeah, yeah to streaming. On Christmas eve, London-based Apple Corps. said it would make Beatles’ music available on services like Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, and more. That’s 224 songs from 13 studio albums. And you know that can’t be bad. Buzzfeed
Amazon distances itself from UPS. As delivery costs rise, Amazon is looking into leasing its own planes to trim expenses. The retail phenom and delivery powerhouse have been the dynamic duo for years and may now be set to become competitors. Best friends, worst enemies. Wall Street Journal (paywall)
Economic news for November mixed. New home sales were somewhat disappointing; and the numbers for August, September, and October were all revised down. New home sales though November totaled 461,000, up 14.5% from a year earlier. Not bad at all. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported the personal income and spending each rose 0.3% in November. Core inflation, excluding food and energy, rose 1.3% in November. That number is a favorite at the Federal Reserve. Calculated Risk
One million refugees have arrived in Europe. More than 1 million migrants have reached Europe this year, passing a symbolic threshold that will confirm the refugee crisis as the continent’s most divisive political issue. The figure reported by the International Organization for Migration is almost five times greater than the total last year, and represents the highest migration flow since the second world war. The Financial Times
Five of the world’s biggest banks didn’t pay UK taxes last year. According to an analysis of the banks’ corporate filings by Reuters, JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank AG, Nomura Holding and Morgan Stanley all made billions of pounds in profits. Sign us up for this tax program! Independent
Chinese man found alive after 67 hours trapped in rubble. The man was buried a a huge man-made mound of earth and construction waste collapsed after heavy rains hit Shenzhen, China. The Sunday landslide engulfed more than 30 buildings in an industrial district. Rescuers pulled the first body from the rubble on Tuesday. More than 70 people are still missing. BBC
Caixin: Regulator halts fund management qualifications for 17 banks. In a massive setback for Chinese banks, the China Banking Regulatory Commission is reportedly set to revoke the direct equity investment qualifications of 17 commercial lenders. The registrations apparently conflict with the nation’s commercial banking law, which forbids banks from directly investing in non-bank financial firms. Reuters
Guotai Junan chairman returns to work. Yim Fung, the brokerage’s chairman and chief executive, has returned to work five weeks after helping mainland authorities with their investigation on stock market irregularities. He was among China’s “missing” executives. The Financial Times
Kim Dotcom eligible to be extradited to U.S., New Zealand court rules. The internet entrepreneur and three co-defendants are to be extradited to face charges including criminal copyright infringement, money laundering and conspiracy to commit racketeering. The Wall Street Journal
Deutsche Bank widens investigation on Russian trades. Originally the probe focused on $6 billion in suspicious mirror trades. The German bank has reportedly found an additional $4 billion of transactions that could fit into a similar pattern. The trades facilitated capital flight from the region, and could possibly be tied to money laundering. The Financial Times
Nippon Steel to slash costs. The land of the rising sun’s second-largest steelmaker aims to slash costs and lower its maintenance times in 2016 as the specter of a Chinese downturn looms over the nation’s steel industry. “We will revise capital investment priorities as well as time frames for implementation.” Nikkei Asian Review
Bah, humbug. Sultan of Brunei bans Christmas. Brunei has banned public celebrations of Christmas, warning that putting up festive decorations or singing carols could threaten the country’s Muslim faith. The conservative Islamic country on the island of Borneo allows non-Muslims to celebrate Christmas, but only within their communities, and they must first alert the authorities. The Telegraph
You won’t believe this…
Madonna can’t manage her teenager either. Rocco, age 15, balked at boarding a plane in London to join his songbird mother for Christmas. What do you do when your adolescent says: Make me! Get an order from a Manhattan Supreme Court Justice. Anyone want to bet on whether or not he arrives on time? New York Post
Photo: Zoli Erdos