10 Things You Need To Know Before The Opening Bell (DIA, SPY, SPX, QQQ)

Good morning! Here are the major stories in markets you should know about today. China Is Slowing. China's HSBC manufacturing PMI fell to 49.6 in December from 50.0 in November. This was just marginally higher than the flash (preliminary) reading of 49.5. This was the first sub-50 reading since May, and any reading below signals contraction. German Minister Jorg Asmussen Has Been Meeting With Syriza Figures In Greece. German chancellor Angela Merkel has been preparing for weeks for a new, radical left-wing government in Athens, according to the Italian newspaper La Stampa. Labour minister and former ECB board member Jorg Asmussen has been visiting Athens for talks with the coalition. And Greece's Prime Minister Says Greece's Future In Europe Rests On The Upcoming Election. Greece's prime minister, Antonis Samaras, warned Tuesday the financially-stricken nation may be forced out of the eurozone if January's parliamentary election hands hard-left party Syriza power to reverse years of austerity measures. Markets Are Mixed. In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 is flat, France's CAC 40 is up 0.6%, and Spain's IBEX is down 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei closed down 1.57%, ending the year 8.91% higher than it began in January 2014. US futures are up a hair with Dow futures up 8 points and S&P futures up 2.4 points. Initial Jobless Claims Are Coming. It's a light day for economic data, but US figures on official jobless claims in the week to December 19 are out at 8.30 p.m. ET. Economists are expecting 290,000 initial applications for unemployment benefits. Chicago Purchasing Managers Index Is Coming. This regional activity index will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET. Economists estimate this activity index fell to 60.0 in December from 60.8 in November. "The Chicago business barometer index has been volatile recently, but has remained over 60 for the past four releases," Nomura economists noted. "The new orders and order backlog sub-indexes remained elevated in November, providing support for future activity." Home Sales Data Is Coming. We'll get the November pending home sales report at 10:00 a.m. ET. Economists estimate pending sales climbed by 0.5% in November. "MBA applications for purchase rose 4.5% m/m in November, and the NAHB buyer traffic measure rose to 45 (from 41), both indicating a rise in pending home sales on the month," Barclays economists said. Regional Fed President Naranya Kocherlakota Says The US Deflation Risk Is Serious. The chance of US inflation falling below 1% in 2015 is at a five-year high, and the risk of deflation is growing more likely, an analysis of market data released by Kocherlakota and the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank showed. Venezuela Is Plunging Even Deeper Into Recession. Venezuela's economy saw its third consecutive quarter of contraction, with a 2.3% drop in output during the three months to September. The oil-producing nation is also recording dramatic official inflation of close to 5% per month.  BP Is Investigating Whether Its Traders Were Linked To Forex Scandals. According to the FT, the energy giant is investigating its in-house foreign exchange market traders to see whether they were linked to market-rigging attempts which landed multi-billion dollar fines on major banks in December.Join the conversation about this story »

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TNH Person of the Year – 2014: Sylvia Mathews-Burwell

Our process for selecting the Person of the Year takes into account numerous criteria. First, as we are a newspaper whose primary mission is to serve the Greek-American community, our Person ideally ought to be of Greek descent. Second the Person’s should have done something meaningful in 2014 that should be an inspiration to Greek-Americans […] The post TNH Person of the Year – 2014: Sylvia Mathews-Burwell appeared first on The National Herald.

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Oil prices on course for biggest annual drop since 2008

UK home owners pay off mortgage debtBrent crude oil price down 49% in 2014ECB warns more measures may be neededUS opens door to oil exportsActivity in China’s factories falls in DecemberGoldman pays top London bankers £3m each 12.12pm GMT An ally of the German chancellor Angela Merkel has claimed the eurozone is no longer obliged to rescue Greece.Michael Fuchs, a senior member of Merkel’s Christian Democratic party, said Greece was no longer of systemic importance to the single currency bloc, leaving Greek politicians unable to “blackmail” their counterparts in the rest of the eurozone.“If Alexis Tsipras of the Greek left party Syriza thinks he can cut back the reform efforts and austerity measures, then the troika will have to cut back the credits for Greece.The times where we had to rescue Greece are over. There is no potential for political blackmail anymore. Greece is no longer of systemic importance for the euro. 11.25am GMT Oil is heading for its biggest annual price decline since 2008.Brent crude oil is down 49% over 2014 on the back of weaker demand and a supply glut. It is currently trading at close to $56 a barrel, after hitting a peak of $115 in the summer. 11.02am GMT President Obama has signalled an end to a 40-year ban on domestic crude oil exports.Reuters reports:The Obama administration on Tuesday bowed to months of growing pressure over a 40-year-old ban on exports of most domestic crude, taking two steps expected to unleash a wave of ultra-light shale oil onto global markets. The Bureau of Industry and Security, or BIS, which regulates export controls, said it had granted permission to “some” companies to sell lightly treated condensate abroad. Condensate is a form of ultra-light crude. 10.54am GMT The latest data from the Bank of England shows UK home owners took advantage of low interest rates in the third quarter, paying off mortgage debt. In past years, housing equity withdrawal has been used significantly to support consumer spending. So regardless of the causes of the switch to a net injection of housing equity since early-2008, the fact that housing equity withdrawal is no longer happening has been a limiting factor on consumers’ spending power. There is certainly a compelling case for many people to be looking to take advantage of very low mortgage interest rates to reduce their outstanding mortgage levels to improve their balance sheets – if they can afford to do so.The fall in housing equity withdrawal since the financial crisis is likely to reflect a fall in the number of housing transactions, with little sign that households in aggregate are making an active effort to pay down debt more quickly than in the past. 10.00am GMT The European Central Bank’s chief economist has warned that measures taken so far might not be enough to stimulate the eurozone’s flagging economy. Peter Praet has stressed in an interview that the battle against deflation and weak growth in the single currency bloc is still very much on. We have always emphasised that there are two contingencies for further action: first, our measures taken so far have not been enough to have the intended effect – that is, are not sufficiently sizeable in terms of expanding our balance sheet to provide the stimulus that is necessary in current conditions; and second, the inflation outlook itself has deteriorated since we decided on the measures we took in the past. Now we have a little bit of both.There is the risk that we won’t have achieved the degree of monetary accommodation that we had intended. And the Eurosystem staff have also substantially revised downwards their inflation projections. This is why we have to be very vigilant and ask ourselves: have we done enough? The sense of urgency was expressed when we said that we would reassess the situation “early next year”.Praet: There is risk of real economic vicious cycle: less investment, which in turn reduces potential growth http://t.co/pHkGcFmRR5Praet in Börsen-Zeitung: If we come to the conclusion that our objective is at risk, we have an obligation to act http://t.co/pHkGcFmRR5 9.33am GMT The dollar is on course for its strongest year in almost a decade. The US currency is likely to end 2014 up more than 12% against a basket of major currencies. It would be the biggest gain since 2005, when the dollar rose almost 13%. Most currency experts at major banks expect the greenback to climb further in 2015.Recent solid data has reinforced the view that the US economy is improving enough for the Federal Reserve to consider raising interest rates in mid-2015.If the Fed hikes rates (even once), two-year yields will be a lot higher than this in a year’s time and the dollar will be stronger. 9.19am GMT Supermarket chain Asda is handing its customers a New Year’s gift by knocking another 2p a litre off its petrol and diesel prices. The cuts take effect from Thursday and mean Asda customers will pay no more than 107.7p a litre for petrol, with diesel at 114.7p a litre.Down down deeper and down! Asda cut another 2p from unleaded - now at 107.9ppl.. Diesel hits 114.7 9.01am GMT City Link, the collapsed courier firm, is expected to deliver redundancy notices to workers today. More than 3,000 jobs are at risk as administrators - appointed on Christmas Eve - struggle to find a buyer for the business. 8.48am GMT US investment bank Goldman Sachs paid its top 121 London bankers about £3m ($4.7m) each in 2013, making it the highest paying of 13 leading banks. 8.29am GMT In the final day of trading in 2014, European shares are up slightly. Some of the regions markets are closed today, including Germany’s DAX, while others are open for half a day. 8.16am GMT More on the those weak manufacturing figures from China. Domestic demand led the slowdown, with new orders shrinking for the first time since April. The report prompted speculation that Beijing will further ease monetary policy in 2015.Today’s data confirmed the further slowdown in the manufacturing sector towards year end. We believe that weaker economic activity and stronger disinflationary pressures warrant further monetary easing in the coming months. 8.00am GMT Good morning, and welcome to our final blog for 2014 on the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and the business world.China’s manufacturing sector shrank for the first time in seven months in December according to the HSBC/Markit manufacturing PMI report. In the latest sign of a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy, the headline index fell to 49.6 from 50 in November, where anything below 50 signals contraction. Continue reading...

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Greece Dissolves Parliament to Prepare for Early Elections

The vote, which is due to be held on on Jan. 25, will pit the prime minister’s party against a left-wing party opposed to recent austerity measures.

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Greek Parliament Formally Dissolved, Campaigning Begins

ATHENS—Greece’s parliament was formally dissolved Wednesday, officially marking the start of a monthlong election campaign which has renewed concerns about political stability in the country at the heart of the eurozone’s debt crisis. As per ...

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Disaster avoided as runaway ship stopped off Italy with 900 aboard

Gallipoli (Italy) (AFP) - Italy's coastguard said Wednesday it had narrowly averted another high seas disaster by intercepting a freighter that was on a collision course with the country's rocky shoreline with more than 900 Syrian refugees on board.In what was the second maritime drama of recent days, officers revealed that the huge cargo ship's engine had been locked on with the steering set on a direction that would have led to it crashing ashore somewhere in the Puglia region on the "heel" of Italy.The coastguard, already working flat out because of the Norman Atlantic ferry fire, scrambled two helicopters overnight after realising that the Moldovan-registered Blue Sky M, was headed for disaster.Six coastguard officers boarded the vessel and, after some frantic moments on the bridge, were able to unlock the engines and bring the boat under control just five miles from the coast.- Distress call - "It was a real race against the clock," coastguard spokesman Filippo Marini said. "Unlocking the engines was a difficult and delicate operation, but they managed to do it."In a tweet from its official account, the coastguard said a "massacre" had been avoided.The migrants on board, including a heavily pregnant woman whose waters broke during the drama, were taken to the port of Gallipoli as an inquest began into how the alarming incident had occurred.Greece's coastguard had on Tuesday afternoon received a distress call from someone on board the Blue Sky M who reported that it was being navigated by heavily armed men.A navy frigate, a helicopter and two patrol vessels were dispatched to intercept the boat off the island of Corfu.But after what now appears to have been a very cursory check, the vessel was allowed to continue its journey.A spokesman for Greek port police told AFP at the time that an inspection had revealed "no (mechanical) problems and nothing suspicious on the boat."Italian officials suspect that the vessel was then under the control of people smugglers who later jumped ship, as they frequently do in the knowledge that their human cargo will be picked up by navy or merchant ships. One man suspected of involvement with the traffickers was arrested after the boat arrived in Gallipoli.- Conflict and poverty - The drama came as Italy and Greece were coping with the aftermath of the Norman Atlantic disaster, which has left at least 13 people dead and dozens more unaccounted for.The Italian-owned, Greek-operated ferry was due to be towed Wednesday from waters off Albania back to Italy.The cause of a killer blaze that erupted on the ferry on Sunday remains unknown and investigations aimed at finding out what happened have been opened in Italy and Greece.Survivors who waited up to 24 hours to be rescued from the burning ship have highlighted major shortcomings in the crew's response to the emergency.Doubts over the accuracy of the passenger list have hampered attempts to establish the true scale of the tragedy.The prosecutor in charge of the Italian investigation has said he expects to find more bodies aboard the burnt-out ferry, which was carrying an unknown number of stowaways and more than 400 passengers and crew.Three stowaways who were rescued, two Afghans and a Syrian, have requested political asylum.It is feared some passengers may have died in cabins that were engulfed in smoke early in the incident.An unknown number reported by witnesses to have made it into a lifeboat have not been accounted for.Italy's coastguard has vast experience in rescuing boat people fleeing conflict or poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.More than 170,000 have landed in Italy this year and hundreds, possibly thousands, more have perished at sea while attempting the crossing.With the onset of winter, traffickers have switched to using bigger boats like the Blue Sky M, rather than the converted fishing boats and dinghies they previously deployed.Join the conversation about this story »

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Financial Times: Fears of Fresh Greek Crisis

A new Greek crisis is on the horizon after the snap general elections that could bring leftist SYRIZA to power which may lead the country to a direct confrontation with its international creditors, according to the Financial Times. The elections in Greece next month and the likely victory of far left SYRIZA will scare politicians and investors. Once again, there would be the gloomy debate of related potential disasters: default, mass exit of depositors, social unrest and a possible exit of Greece from the eurozone. The dormant question about Greece’s place in the eurozone has returned, just two years after the country’s debt crisis nearly triggered a break-up of the currency union and shook the European project to its core, says the Financial Times article. It comes with several eurozone countries struggling with weak growth, the rise of populist anti-EU parties and widespread disenchantment with the politics of austerity promoted by Germany. European policy has forced many voters to rise against economic austerity and to cast their vote in antisystemic parties who reject the European consensus on how to preserve monetary union. Investors are worried at the prospect of a victory by SYRIZA, which has pledged to write off much of Greece’s debt and renegotiate the terms of its bailout. The Athens stock exchange fell almost 11 percent to a two-year low before regaining some ground. Greek 10-year bond yields jumped to a year high of 9.8 percent while the government’s short-term borrowing costs hit a record high of 12 percent. Germany is cautious with SYRIZA as a big haircut of the Greek debt may be economically feasible, but will certainly open the door for other similar requests from Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and even France.

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