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• Grand jury expected to resume Ferguson police shooting deliberations (Reuters)
• PBOC Bounce Seen Short Lived as History Defies Bulls (BBG)
• Home prices dropped in September for the first time since January (HousingWire)
• UPS Teaches Holiday Recruits to Fend Off Dogs, Dodge NYC Taxis (BBG)
• US oil imports from Opec at 30-year low (FT)
• Hedge Funds Bet on Coal-Mining Failures (WSJ)
• Putin Woos Pakistan as Cold War Friend India Buys U.S. Arms (BBG)
• How the EU Plans to Turn $26 Billion Into $390 Billion (BBG)
• The $31 Billion Bet Against Brazil’s New Finance Minister (BBG)

A central bank was (and still is officially) supposed to be independent of politics, to be a buffer between a society’s long term interests and a politician’s short-term ones. In particular, no-one should issue huge amounts of money to make it look like they were just awesome leaders that make everyone rich, while sinking the future of a society in the process. Today’s central banks do nothing BUT engage in short term policies that keep incumbents as happy as they can be in bad economic circumstances. Central banks have become political instruments that pamper to the tastes of whoever may be in charge on any given day, which is the exact 180º opposite of why they exist in the first place. What drives central bankers in November 2014 is fear, pure and simple, if not absolute screaming panic.

"We are living in an aberrational world. It’s all driven by an orgy of money printing...it sure feels to me that we’re nearing the day that it spins out of control. By the end of this year or by the start of next year, without QE, the market is going down."

"To maintain your sanity, you need to turn off the hype machines of some of the financial media like CNBC."

 "The People's Bank of China decided to cut financial institutions RMB benchmark interest rate loans and deposits with effect from November 22, 2014. The one-year benchmark lending rate down 0.4 percentage points to 5.6%; one-year benchmark deposit rate down 0.25 percentage point to 2.75%, while the combination of market-oriented reforms to promote the interest rate, the upper limit of the floating range of interest rates on deposits of financial institutions by the benchmark deposit 1.1 times the adjusted interest rate is 1.2 times; other grades adjusted accordingly benchmark interest rate loans and deposits, and to make appropriate benchmark interest rate maturities degenerate."

The bad news: every central-planner is now all in.  The good news for the liquidity addicts, is that the S&P futures are now 12 points higher on what is clearly the only growth strategy left in a centrally-planned world, and are approaching 2070 and just 30 points away from Goldman's 2015 year end target.!

• Banks Had Unfair Advantage From Commodity Units (Bloomberg)
• Report Notes Deals Between Goldman, Deutsche and Others Drove Up Aluminum Prices (WSJ)
• Goldman, Morgan Stanley Commodity Heyday Gone as Units Faulted (BBG) - because when you can no longer manipulate, you move on...
• Lenders Shift to Help Struggling Student Borrowers (WSJ)
• Immigrants face major hurdles in signing up to new Obama plan (Reuters)
• Distressed Debt in China? Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet, Buyers Say (BBG)
• Banking culture breeds dishonesty, scientific study finds (Reuters)
• Amazon Robots Get Ready for Christmas (WSJ)

• Yellen Inherits Greenspan’s Conundrum as Long Rates Sink (BBG)
• West African Mining Projects Take Hit From Ebola Crisis (WSJ)
• Saudi oil policy uncertainty unleashes the conspiracy theorists (Reuters)
• Senate Rejection of Keystone XL Measure Sets Up 2015 Showdown (BBG)
• Ferguson, Missouri, remains on edge ahead of grand jury report (Reuters)
• Putin Said to Stun Advisers by Backing Corruption Crackdown (BBG)
• Italian ‘Invasion’ Has Swiss Fuming as Immigration Vote Looms (BBG)
• Apple and Others Encrypt Phones, Fueling Government Standoff (WSJ)

Since Ben Bernanke reminded the world of the existence of government printing-presses, echoed Milton Friedman's "helicopter drop" solution to fighting deflation, and decried Japan for not being as insane as it could be... it has only been a matter of time before some global central bank decided that the dropping of cash onto the populace was the key to economic recovery. Having blown their wad on QQE (and been left with a triple-dip recession), it appears Japan has reached that limit. As Japan's News47 reports, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has instructed his cabinet to develop economic measures such as handing out 'gift certificates' to the poor to "support personal consumption directly."

A little more than a year ago, I did a post with a typically subtle headline: "Why Google Glass Will Fail Miserably". Well, this just appeared in Reuters, and although its headline isn't as blunt as mine, the article pretty much states that Glass is every bit the flop I predicted it would be. So there.

• "The hate us for our..." Americans’ Cellphones Targeted in Secret U.S. Spy Program (WSJ)
• Ukraine and Russia take center stage as leaders gather for G20 (Reuters)
• Moscow and Kiev trade accusations; U.S. warns Russia against escalation (Reuters)
• Heartland Central Banker Calls Asset Bubbles Top Concern (BBG)
• U.S. Said to Give Banks December Deadline in FX Probe (BBG)
• Series of Failures Enabled White House Breach, Report Finds (WSJ)
• Yen plumbs seven-year trough on likely Japan sales tax delay (Reuters)
• JPMorgan Chase Bankers Said to Lead Moscow Departure (BBG)

• Moar central banks! Asian Stocks Rise Amid Stimulus Speculation; Topix Jumps (BBG)
• Syria rebels in south emerge as West's last hope as moderates crushed elsewhere (Reuters)
• Bufett's Berkshire to Buy Duracell Business From Procter & Gamble in $3B Deal (AP)
• Weak Demand, Real-Estate Slump Signal Headwinds for China (WSJ)
• China Slowdown Deepens as Leaders Said to Mull Cutting Target (BBG)
• Saudis Reject Talk of OPEC Market Share War as Oil Slides (BBG)
• Oil Tankers Stream Toward China as Price Drop Sparks Boom (BBG)

• Banks to Pay $3.3 Billion in FX-Manipulation Probe (BBG)
• Symbolic being the key word: U.S., China sign symbolic emissions plan, play down rivalry (Reuters)
• Europe (so really Russian sanctions) is the new "snow in the winter" - Carney Sees Europe Stagnation Impact as Growth Outlook Cut (BBG)
• Eurozone Industrial Output Points to Weak Third Quarter Growth (WSJ)
• Not everyone around Abe is insane: Kuroda Ally Flags Warning on Delaying Sales-Tax Increase (BBG)
• Hong Kong to scrap daily yuan conversion limit to boost stock investment (Reuters)
• Barclays Falls After FX Settlement Delay Reduces Discount (BBG)
• Some unhappy Yahoo investors asking AOL for rescue (Reuters)

• Obama urges China to be partner in ensuring world order (Reuters)
• China Sees Itself at Center of New Asian Order (WSJ)
• Xi Dangles $1.25 Trillion as China Counters U.S. Refocus (BBG)
• China's Xi, Japan's Abe hold landmark meeting after awkward handshake (Reuters)
• Revenue Softness Worries Stock Investors (WSJ)
• How BOJ’s Kuroda Won the Vote for Stimulus Expansion (WSJ)
• Bonus Season Brings More Pain for Traders (WSJ)
• Russia’s Military Encounters Risk Clash in Europe (BBG)

Job cut announcements in tech doubled from a year ago. Worst year since 2009.

Ebola is solved. Oil price drops are "unequivocally good news". The US election is positive. Draghi promised to do whatever it takes again. And Ukraine is in ceasefire.So why is it that Donetsk's Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Purgin claims Ukrainian security officials have started full-scale fighting, clashing 26 times today according to Ukraine military.y. With tanks advancing, Purgin exclaims, "now there is a full-scale war... attacking us, we are defending." The Ruble has been crushed to new record lows over 46 to the USDollar and Russian stocks are tumbling.