21Dec2015 Market Update: Markets Recovering From The Morning Lows, WTI Stable At 35’s, Brent Very Volatile, Markets Closing Higher Predicted

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

North and South American markets are mixed. The S&P 500 is higher by 0.43%, while the Bovespa is leading the IPC lower. They are down 0.95% and 0.44% respectively.

McDonald’s exploring sale of stake in Japanese arm: Nikkei

(Reuters) – McDonald’s Corp is reaching out to investors about selling a part of the fast-food company’s stake in its Japanese arm for about 100 billion yen ($826.2 million), the Nikkei business daily reported, without citing sources.

BMW hit with $40 million U.S. penalty for safety lapses

(Reuters) – U.S. auto safety regulators on Monday fined BMW $10 million, part of a $40 million civil settlement over the German automaker’s safety lapses.

Oil prices hit eleven-year low as global supply balloons

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Brent crude oil prices hit their lowest in more than 11 years on Monday, while U.S. crude flirted with seven-year lows on more signs that swelling global supply looked set to outpace tepid demand again next year.

Carl Icahn raises offer for Pep Boys, tops Bridgestone’s offer

(Reuters) – Pep Boys – Manny Moe & Jack, a U.S. auto parts retailer, said billionaire investor Carl Icahn raised his offer for the company, topping Bridgestone Corp’s bid by $1.00 a share, to value the company at about $900 million.

Wall Street higher on financials; Brent slides

(Reuters) – Financial stocks led a cheerful start to the Christmas holiday week for the U.S. stock markets, rebounding from two days of losses, with investors taking in stride a slide in crude prices.

Ericsson signs patent deal with Apple, shares soar

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedish mobile telecom gear maker Ericsson said it had signed a patent license deal with Apple Inc over technology that helps smartphones and tablets connect to mobile networks, sending its shares up much as 8 percent.

JPMorgan to pay $150 million in ‘London Whale’ U.S. class action

NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co has agreed to pay $150 million to resolve a securities fraud lawsuit by investors suing the bank over its “London Whale” trading scandal, which caused a $6.2 billion loss.

FTC rejected raised divestiture offer for Staples-Office Depot deal

(Reuters) – Office supply retailer Staples Inc said the U.S. Federal Trade Commission had rejected its raised offer to divest up to $1.25 billion of commercial contracts to secure approval for its acquisition of smaller rival Office Depot Inc.

Is This The Missing Scene From The American Version Of Star Wars?

Presented with no comment…

Source: Townhall.com

Do Not Show Fed’s Lockhart This Chart

There’s this – *LOCKHART: FED RATE RISE WAS VOTE OF CONFIDENCE IN U.S. ECONOMY

And then there’s the market’s reaction to this “vote of confidence.”

Do you feel more or less confident now?

Two words – “Policy Error”

“I Know Of No One Who Predicted This”: Russian Oil Production Hits Record As Saudi Gambit Fails

In late October, we noted that for the second time this year, Russia overtook Saudi Arabia as the biggest exporter of crude to China.

Russia also took the top spot in May, marking the first time in history that Moscow beat out Riyadh when it comes to crude exports to Beijing. œMoscow is wrestling with crippling Western economic sanctions and building closer ties with Beijing is key to mitigating the pain, we said in October, on the way to explaining that closer ties between Russia and China as it relates to energy are part and parcel of a burgeoning relationship between the two countries who have voted together on the Security Council on matters of geopolitical significance. Here’s a look at the longer-term trend:

You may also recall that Gazprom Neft (which is the number three oil producer in Russia) began settling all sales to China in yuan starting in January. This, we said, is yet another sign of the petrodollar’s imminent demise.

On Monday, we learn that for the third time in 2015, Russia has once again bested the Saudis for the top spot on China’s crude suppliers list. œRussia overtook Saudi Arabia for …

We Are Now Entering The “Discovery” Phase Of Financial Collapse

Submitted by James H Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

Theory du jour: the new Star Wars movie is sucking in whatever meager disposable lucre remains among the economically-flayed mid-to-lower orders of America. In fact, I propose a new index showing an inverse relationship between Star Wars box office receipts and soundness of the financial commonweal. In other words, Star Wars is all that remains of the US economy outside of the obscure workings of Wall Street — and that heretofore magical realm is not looking too rosy either in this season of the Great Rate Hike after puking up 623 points of the DJIA last Thursday and Friday.

Here I confess: for thirty years I have hated those stupid space movies, as much for their badly-written scripts (all mumbo-jumbo exposition of nonsensical story-lines between explosions) as for the degenerate techno-narcissism they promote in a society literally dying from the diminishing returns and unintended consequences of technology.

It adds up to an ominous Yuletide. Turns out that the vehicle the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee was driving in its game of “chicken” with oncoming reality was a hearse. The occupants are ghosts, but don’t know it. A lot of commentators around the web think that the Fed “pulled the trigger” on interest rates to save its credibility. Uh, wrong. They had already lost their credibility. What remains is for these ghosts to helplessly watch over the awesome workout, which has obviously been underway for quite a while in the crash of commodity prices (and whole national economies — e.g. Brazil, Canada, Australia), the junky regions of the bond markets, the related death of the shale oil industry, and the imploding hedge fund scene.

As it were, all credit these days looks shopworn and th …

Brent Crude Falls to Lowest Level Since 2004

Brent oil prices dropped to the lowest level since 2004 amid ongoing concerns about a global supply glut.

U.S. Stocks Pare Gains

U.S. stocks pared gains to trade near flat Monday, while European stocks extended losses and junk bonds headed lower, the latest bout of volatility following the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate announcement last week.

Banks Battle Staffers’ Vulnerability to Hacks

Terrified by a string of recent hacks, banks are spending billions of dollars trying to fend off a faceless army of digital intruders. But the biggest threats may come from within.

Futures Movers: Brent oil tumbles to lowest level since 2004

U.S. oil prices also fell after last week’s climb in the number of active oil rigs for the first time in five weeks.