General Motors

• CDC says returning Ebola medical workers should not be quarantined (Reuters)
• Sweden’s central bank cuts rates to zero (FT)
• Hacking Trail Leads to Russia, Experts Say (WSJ)
• Discount-Hunting Shoppers Threaten Stores’ Holiday Cheer (BBG)
• Apple CEO fires back as retailers block Pay (Reuters)
• Repeat after us: all China data is fake - China Fake Invoice Evidence Mounts as HK Figures Diverge (BBG)
• FX Traders’ Facebook Chats Said to Be Sought in EU Probe (BBG)
• Euro Outflows at Record Pace as ECB Promotes Exodus (BBG)
• Apple boosts R&D spending in new product hunt (FT)

Though there is some debate over the exact income a middle class household brings in, USA Today notes that we do have an idea of who the middle class are — most working class people. Today's bourgeoisie is composed of laborers and skilled workers, white collar and blue collar workers, many of whom face financial challenges. Bill Maher reminded us a few months back that 50 years ago, the largest employer was General Motors, where workers earned an equivalent of $50 per hour (in today's money). Today, the largest employer — Wal-Mart — pays around $8 per hour. The middle class has certainly changed. USA Today's Cheat Sheet has ranked a list of things the middle class can no longer really afford.

When stock prices go all wonky, as they have in recent days, it pays to think a little about what really moves asset prices and determines long term business success.  For ConvergEx's Nick Colas, the key driver has been – and always will be – return on capital.  What investment analysts know as the DuPont model is now 100 years old, but its lessons and applications still drive innovation today.

If the ultimate goal of yesterday's leak was to push the EUR lower (and stocks higher of course), then the reason why today's second rejection did little to rebound the Euro is because once again, just after Europe's open, Spanish Efe newswire reported that 11 banks from 6 European countries had failed the ECB stress test. Specifically, Efe said Erste, along with banks from Italy, Belgium, Cyprus, Portugal and Greece, had failed the ECB review based on preliminary data, but gave no details of the size of the capital holes at the banks.

• Total CEO de Margerie killed in Moscow as jet hits snow plough (Reuters)
• China GDP Growth Rate Is Slowest in Five Years (WSJ)
• Oil at $80 a Barrel Muffles Forecasts for U.S. Shale Boom (BBG)
• Carney Faces Scrutiny on Worst Payments Outage Since 2007 (BBG)
• Ebola crisis turns a corner as U.S. issues new treatment protocols (Reuters)
• Gold Buying Rebounds in India on Diwali Jewelry Sales (BBG)
• China-backed hackers may have infiltrated Apple's iCloud (Reuters)
• Greece Said to Seek Recycling of Bank Funds for Exit (BBG)

• No Happy Ending for Investors in Central Bank Fairy Tale (BBG)
• Ebola Response Strains Hospitals (WSJ)
• Obama, foreign military chiefs, to thrash out Islamic State plans (Reuters)
• Draghi’s ‘Whatever It Takes’ Plan on Trial at EU Court (BBG)
• Too-Big-to-Fail Banks Face Up to $870 Billion Capital Gap (BBG)
• Iran’s Message to World: You Need Us to Fight Islamists (BBG)
• Facing new oil glut, Saudis avoid 1980s mistakes to halt price slide (Reuters)
• Ukraine Grannies Outprice Banks on Hryvnia Black Market (BBG)
• HK police use sledgehammers, chainsaws to clear protest barriers, open road (Reuters)
• Gazprom Quarterly Net Rises 13%, Misses Estimate on Ukraine Debt (BBG)

According to Bloomberg, China’s vehicle sales grew at the slowest pace in 19 months in September as demand for trucks and buses slumped with the weaker economy. Total vehicle sales, which include passenger and commercial vehicles, rose 2.5 percent from a year earlier to 1.98 million units, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said today. That was the slowest pace since February 2013.

• It wasn't Obama this time: Pakistani teen, Indian activist win Nobel Peace Prize (Reuters)
• Surging VIX Shakes Bulls as S&P 500 Charts Go Haywire (BBG)
• Global shares hit six-month low as growth worries mount (Reuters)
• Police, protesters clash in St. Louis ahead of weekend of rallies (Reuters)
• We're Sitting on 10 Billion Barrels of Oil! OK, Two (BBG)
• Spain seeks answers as seven more enter Ebola isolation (Reuters)
• Iran will sell its oil to Asia in November at the biggest discount (BBG)
• Redefining honeypot: U.S. DEA 'most interested' in U.S. investors in Canadian marijuana firms (Reuters)
• UKIP Wins First Commons District With Conservative Defector (BBG)
• Fake Ebola Patients Help Hospitals Prepare for Next Case (BBG)

On Tuesday, the Dow fell 272 points. No big deal, of course - we rebounded the most in 3 years yesterday. But what if it continued? Just six years ago it fell 51%. It could easily do so again – back down to, say, 8,000. There would be nothing unusual about it. 50% corrections are normal. You know what would happen, don’t you? Ever since the "Black Monday" stock market crash in 1987 it has been standard procedure for the Fed to react quickly. But what if Yellen & Co. got out the party favors... set up the booze on the counter... laid out some dishes with pretzels and olives... and nobody came? What if the stock market stayed down for 30 years, as it has in Japan?

Carmen Segarra said, “I come from the world of legal and compliance, we deal with hard evidence. It’s like, we don’t deal with, you know, perceptions.”

How ironic. Segarra worked at the Fed.

• How you know it is all a lie: Pelosi Presses Obama to Talk Up Stronger U.S. Economy (BBG)
• Secret Goldman Sachs Tapes Put Pressure on New York Fed (NYT), Uh, no they don't
• Clashes Break Out at Hong Kong Protest Site (WSJ)
• N.Y. Fed Lawyer Says AIG Got Billions Without Paperwork (BBG)
• Ebola’s Disease Detectives Race to Track Others Exposed (BBG)
• UPS, FedEx Want Retailers to Get Real on Holiday Shipping (WSJ)
• No more mailman at the door under U.S. Postal Service plan (Reuters)

• Hong Kong protesters stockpile supplies, fear fresh police advance (Reuters)
• Protesters stay out on Hong Kong streets, defying Beijing (Reuters)
• Traders Turn Up Grilling Sausages at Hong Kong Protests (BBG)
• Ukraine Army Sees Worst Day Since Truce as Battles Flare (BBG)
• Islamic State uses grain to tighten grip in Iraq (Reuters)
• For Putin Ally, U.S. Sanctions Only Add to Anti-Russia Conspiracy Theory (WSJ)
• Coinbase Leads Move to Bring Bitcoin to Masses (BBG) - good luck
• Austria Cracks Down on Spies -- and Jihadis (BBG)
• EU Believes Apple, Fiat Tax Deals Broke Rules (WSJ); Apple’s Irish Tax Deal ‘Engineered’ to Boost Employment, EU Says (BBG)

• Apple CEO Cook Goes From Record Sales to IPhone Stumbles (BBG)
• Deal With Saudis Paved Way for Syrian Airstrikes (WSJ)
• Drone delivery: DHL 'parcelcopter' flies to German isle (Reuters)
• Tory Burch Hires Ralph Lauren Veteran as Co-CEO (WSJ)
• Apple releases iOS 8 workaround to fix dropped cell service (Reuters)
• Ukraine Probes Ex-Minister Over $3 Billion Russian Bond (BBG)
• Goldman Sachs-Led Group Near Deal to Buy Messaging Startup Perzo (WSJ)
• U.K. Seeks to Criminalize Manipulation of 7 Benchmarks (BBG)

• -0.07%: Germany Secures Record Low Funding Cost at Bond Auction (WSJ)
• Pentagon Sees Possible Role for U.S. Ground Forces Against Islamic State Militants (WSJ)
• China Joins ECB in Adding Stimulus as Fed Scales Back (BBG)
• Stealthy or Normal? Analysts Diverge on PBOC’s Action (BBG)
• Sony Forecasts Massive $2B Loss as Smartphones Lag (AP)
• Islamic State campaign tests Obama's commitment to Mideast allies (Reuters)
• Brent Crude Rebounds as Libya’s Sharara Oilfield Shut (BBG)
• Market calm over Scottish vote at odds with disaster warnings (Reuters)

• Thank you market Chief Risk Officer Bernanke/Yellen: Calpers to Exit Hedge Funds, Divest $4 Billion Stake (BBG)
• World stocks hit one-month low, caution ahead of Fed (Reuters)
• U.S. Efforts to Build Coalition Against Islamic State in Iraq, Syria Are Hampered by Sectarian Divide (WSJ)
• Time to throw away some more good money: Sears Borrows $400 Million From Lampert’s ESL Investments (BBG)
• Wildfires rage in California drought, hundreds forced to flee (Reuters)
• United Offers $100,000 Buyouts to Flight Attendants (BBG)
• Biggest Banks Said to Overhaul FX Trading After Scandals (BBG)
• You mean you have to pay? Administration threatens to cut off ObamaCare subsidies to 360,000 (The Hill)
• RBS Said to Dismiss Most of Team Overseeing Central Europe Debt (BBG) they will be hired by the ECB