Updated throughout the day
December 30, 2015
The respite in the oil rout was oh, so brief, punched down by the Saudis and an unexpected rise in oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate crude closing down 2.8%, above its lows at $36.80/barrel after Saudi Arabia said it would not pull back on production. Stocks took back Tuesday’s gains with the S&P 500 losing 0.72% to 2,063.36. But the index is still in the green, if barely, in a threadbare Santa Claus rally. Thursday marks the last day of trading for 2015 — any bets on whether the index will end in the plus column?
Here’s what else you need to know:
White House prepares new Iran sanctions. The move would target companies and individuals in Iran, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates. This would be the first such move since the Obama Administration signed a nuclear pacts with Iran in July. The move would punish anyone who has helped Iran develop a ballistic-missile program. Wall Street Journal (paywall)
Farewell to a soldier. It was a grim day in New York City, where thousands of policemen lined the streets to bid farewell to Detective Joseph Lemm, killed last week in Afghanistan by a suicide bomber. New York Times (paywall)
Housing data disappoint. The pending home sales index fell 0.9% in November to 106.9. The index, which is a leading indicator for home sales, is up 2.7% year-over year, but was expected to rise 0.5% for the month. Calculated Risk
Warren Buffett faces worst year on stock market for six years. Shares in the investment guru’s conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway are down 11% this year with two more trading days to go. This would be their worst performance relative to the rest of the U.S. stock market since 2009 and comes after he told investors earlier this year that they should judge his record based on Berkshire’s share price, rather than the book value of the company, his preferred yardstick for decades. Financial Times (paywall)
KaloBios files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Investors had expected the biotech firm to go under weeks ago — until the much maligned Martin Shkreli scooped up a 50% stake in the ailing company. The unexpected move killed traders who had set up shorts after the company had announced it was at death’s door. Last week, KaloBios said it had fired Shkreli after he was arrested on charges of financial chicanery. The stock has been halted since December 17 and Nasdaq has started the process to de-list KaloBios — which the company has fought. Wall Street Journal (paywall)
Actor and comedian Bill Cosby arrested for sexual assault. The case involves an alleged crime in Pennsylvania in 2004. The woman says Cosby drugged and then sexually attacked her at her home. In the past year, dozens of women have stepped forward to accuse the beloved actor of shocking sexual crimes. New York Times (paywall)
Traffic on Mississippi closed to traffic as flood threatens St Louis area. A five-mile section of the Mississippi River has been closed to vessels as rising water levels caused “hazardous conditions,” the U.S. Coast Guard said. About 17 million people, mainly around this stretch of the Mississippi, are under flood warning in the U.S. The flooding came after severe storms over the Christmas holiday claimed at least 49 lives across southern and western states of the U.S. CNN, BBC
IMF: Global economic growth will disappoint in 2016. Managing director Christine Lagarde says the rising interest rates in the U.S. and the economic slowdown in China will make the world economy vulnerable next year. “Global growth will be disappointing and uneven in 2016,” wrote Lagarde in a German newspaper. Reuters
Apple to pay $348 million in Italy. Apple’s Italian subsidiary will pay to settle tax fraud allegations in the country. Italy says Apple failed to pay 880 million euros in taxes between 2008 and 2013. BBC
Islamic State issues rules for sex with captive women. IS theologians have issued a ruling or fatwa on when “owners” of women enslaved by the extremist group can have sex with them, in an apparent bid to curb what they called violations in the treatment of captured females. The United Nations and human rights groups have accused the IS of the systematic abduction and rape of thousands of women and girls as young as 12. Reuters
No year-end cheer for Noble Group. The share price of the Singapore-listed commodities trader dropped 4.6% after Moody’s Investors Services cut its credit rating to junk status. Shares in the firm, which has faced allegations of accounting irregularities, have fallen 64% this year. Financial Times (paywall)
Top aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un killed in a car crash. State media report that Kim Yang-gon died in a traffic accident on Tuesday. Kim was a secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party and was in charge of ties with South Korea. BBC
China revises current account surplus lower. The country’s current-account surplus in the three months ended September was cut to $60.3 billion from an initial estimate of $63.4 billion, the country’s foreign-exchange regulator said. MarketWatch
Southeast Asia launches Asean Economic Community (AEC). After a decade-long process, 10 countries officially form a regional common market for capital, labor and goods and services on Thursday. It aims to create a trading bloc from diverse nations ranging from Singapore to Myanmar. The Wall Street Journal (paywall)
Macau casinos’ falling house of cards. Full-year gambling revenue in the Chinese territory is expected to have fallen by about a third compared with last year to $30 billion when leading operators report next week. Revenue in November was 16.43 billion patacas ($2.06 billion), the lowest monthly figure since 2010. The Wall Street Journal (paywall)
You won’t believe this…
Why did the seal try to cross the road? The rescue workers who tranquilized the 900-pound elephant seal have no idea. But the wayward pinniped threw a wrench into traffic in Northern California for two days. New York Post
Photo: Tom Lohdan