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Frontrunning: November 27

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 11/27/2015 08:33 -0400

Russia Takes Aim at Turkish Economy Amid Fighter-Jet Spat (WSJ)
‘Commercial scale’ oil smuggling into Turkey becomes priority target of anti-ISIS strikes (RT)
Russia-Turkey Ties Are Headed Into a Deep Freeze (WSJ)
France signals softer stance on Assad after Russia talks (FT)
China Calm Shattered as Brokerage Probe Sparks Selloff in Stocks (BBG)
China Stock Bulls Hit Breaking Point as State Dials Back Support (BBG)
China's Bond Stresses Mount as Two More Companies Flag Concerns (BBG)
Paris Attacks Plot Was Hatched in Plain Sight (WSJ)
German Police Arrest Suspected Arms Dealer as Paris Link Probed (BBG)
Online Sales Surge Ahead of Brick-and-Mortar Retailers' Big Day (BBG)
How Google Inspired Raspberry Pi’s $5 Computer (WSJ)
China’s ‘national team’ owns 6% of stock market (FT)
Euro-Area Confidence at Four-Year High as ECB Mulls Stimulus (BBG)
Paris attacks: Sarkozy shifts right with swipe at multiculturalism (FT)
HSBC Said to Close Down Private Banking Operations in India (BBG)
Fattest-Ever U.S. Cattle Herd Signals End to Record Beef Prices (BBG)

Overnight Media Digest

WSJ

- China plans to build its first overseas naval installation in the East African nation of Djibouti, expanding the geographical reach of its armed forces as Beijing seeks to protect its growing economic and security interests around the globe. (http://on.wsj.com/1Hrko6c)

- Russia announced plans to impose sanctions on an array of Turkish economic interests in response to Turkey's shoot down of a Russian warplane, as Ankara called for calm. (http://on.wsj.com/1HrkyKO)

- The biggest banks in the United States are making far fewer loans to small businesses than they did a decade ago, ceding market share to alternative lenders that charge significantly higher rates, according to an analysis of the banks' federal regulatory filings. (http://on.wsj.com/1Hrl0Ja)

- China's SZ DJI Technology Co, the world's top consumer-drone maker, is setting its sights on the agriculture industry with the launch of a crop sprayer that will test whether farming is fertile ground for drone technology. (http://on.wsj.com/1Hrlw9X)

- The Raspberry Pi Foundation, a U.K.-based nonprofit that makes cheap, bare-necessities computer processors, on Thursday released its cheapest product yet - a $5 computer called Pi Zero. (http://on.wsj.com/1HrlGhI)

According to figures from the labour ministry, the number of jobless in France rose to a new record of 3.59 million in October, with 42,000 more people out of work last month.

South Korea on Thursday became the first country outside the United States to punish Volkswagen AG on the basis of its own emissions tests, slapping the German automaker with a record fine and ordering a recall of 125,000 vehicles.

Barclays Plc on Thursday was fined about 72 million stg by the Financial Conduct Authority for an attempt to bag an "elephant-deal". The regulator put out details of the bank's careless financial-crime controls and willingness to ignore its own procedures.

NYT

- The once-booming gambling industry in Macau now confronts an array of obstacles, ranging from restrictive local policies to China's economic slowdown and crackdown on corruption. (http://nyti.ms/1HrlWgG)

- Luis Stuhlberger, whose fund has had a remarkable run in Brazil, has grown increasingly bearish about his country's economic outlook. (http://nyti.ms/1HrmfrI)

- Canada's new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has moved climate change policy to the top of the country's political agenda after it spent nearly a decade as an afterthought. (http://nyti.ms/1HrmRgY)

- In April, Republicans newly in control of Congress celebrated their agreement on a plan to save $5 trillion. Yet as the year closes, Congress instead is planning to repeal one of the few spending cuts it has passed into law since approving that budget resolution - $3 billion over a decade from subsidies for crop insurers. (http://nyti.ms/1HrndEq)

- Amid a building boom, New York has seen an increase in fatalities and injuries which have mostly affected undocumented immigrant laborers and far exceeded the rate of new construction. (http://nyti.ms/1HrnI1f)

Hong Kong

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

- One of the strongest El Ninos and the onslaught of global warming have put Hong Kong on course for its hottest year on record. The summer has already been the hottest since the Observatory began records in 1884 with mean temperatures for January-October at 24.7 Celsius degrees. Observatory director Shun Chi-ming said this year may very likely be the warmest since historical records began. (http://bit.ly/1LCwu7n)

- The arms race between China's big three Internet companies is heating up in financial services as online search giant Baidu , global insurer Allianz and Asian investor Hillhouse Capital Group form a digital insurance company on the mainland. This new venture, called Bai An, hopes to expand the domestic market for digital insurance products. (http://bit.ly/1Oji2Yv)

- Dollar strength and high rents are killing the retail business in Hong Kong, the latest half-year result reports of two pillar businesses of the Hong Kong retail sector showed. Sincere Co Ltd, the operator of Hong Kong's oldest department store Sincere, posted a biggest first-half loss of HK$93 million ($12 million), while jeweller Luk Fook's profit dived 42.6 percent year on year. (http://bit.ly/1MUjvQl)

THE STANDARD

- Hong Kong Monetary Authority chief Norman Chan Tak-lam said the shrinking rate of the yuan capital pool in Hong Kong has slowed. He said recently there has been a decline in liquidity of offshore yuan, mainly due to the supply and demand imbalance, but the interbank interest rate remained largely stable. (http://bit.ly/1PReiyL)

- Two residential buildings in North Point in Hong Kong were withdrawn from an auction for redevelopment on Thursday, as no developers have offered bids amid lacklustre sentiment in the local property market. The Urban Renewal Authority has assisted owners of the two 50-year-old buildings to launch a joint sale. (http://bit.ly/1QK8maS)

- Lawmakers are demanding the government explain whether a shock one-year delay in the construction of the local portion of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge will further bloat the costs of the mega project. The Highways Department said the delay was due to unstable supply of materials, restrictions in airport height, shortage of labour, and constraints in environmental protection requirements. (http://bit.ly/1XuhorI)

HONG KONG ECONOMIC JOURNAL

- Watch retailer Stelux Holdings International Ltd posted a loss of HK$33.08 million in the first half, compared with a profit a year earlier, on fewer shop visitors in Hong Kong and Macau in weak consumer sentiment. Chief executive Joseph Wong said he was not optimistic on the performance in Christmas while the company will focus on developing China market next year.

HONG KONG ECONOMIC TIMES

- Hong Kong Trade Development Council has revised down forecast for the city's exports to "negative growth" from "zero growth" as November and December exports may continue to decline amid the shaking consumer confidence in the United States and Europe, according to the Council's principal economist Daniel Poon Wing-choi.

Britain

The Times

Net migration has reached a record 336,000 as figures published yesterday showed that Romanians are now the third biggest group coming to the UK. (http://thetim.es/1IkAeu9)

George Osborne's decision to spend the bulk of the 27 billion stg windfall from changes to the borrowing forecast in the autumn statement may prove a reckless gamble, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned. (http://thetim.es/1NRtc25)

The Guardian

An "elephant deal' executed three years ago has cost Barclays Plc 72 million stg in penalties after the FCA concluded that the bank ran the risk of being used to launder money or finance terrorism. (http://bit.ly/1ljyGvl)

Volkswagen AG's luxury flagship Audi has suspended two engineers after its larger diesel engines were found evading emissions limits in the U.S. (http://bit.ly/1Xt6mTp)

The Telegraph

A wave of company failures is "inevitable" in Britain's oil and gas industry, with businesses supporting the wider energy sector the first to fail, according to advisory firm FRP. (http://bit.ly/1MGxc7O)

Tesco Plc has agreed to pay $12 million to settle a U.S. lawsuit over the accounting scandal last year which saw its shares crumble. (http://bit.ly/1kVJArA)

Sky News

An early investor in Facebook Inc is poised to invest millions of pounds in CarWow, a UK-based online dealer which has been described as the Expedia for new vehicles. (http://bit.ly/1T8Bbvj)

The rate of car tax avoidance has more than doubled, partly because some buyers of used cars do not realise new rules mean they have to pay tax on the vehicle immediately. Figures from the Department for Transport show that the rate of unlicensed vehicles in traffic increased to 1.4 percent in 2015 from 0.6 percent in 2013, the last time it carried out a survey. (http://bit.ly/1jmklwM)

The Independent

The Chancellor's U-turn on tax credit cuts has only delayed, rather than avoided, a severe squeeze on the incomes of poor working families, according to two of the country's most respected think tanks, Resolution Foundation and the Institute for Fiscal Studies. (http://ind.pn/1NwR5le)

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Fri, 11/27/2015 - 09:01 | 6845245 FranSix

So the Russian shoot down occurred immediately following air strikes against oil. No mystery there.

They were using geriatric, flying antiques that were expendable. SU-24 notably in use and being shot down during the Georgian invasion of South Ossetia.

The rift between Russia and the West is easily kept alive. I think Turkey was very hasty, since Russia now can bomb targets with impunity and defend their aircraft.

Begs the question Is Turkey really part of Europe, and does NATO really believe that Turkey necessarily need be part of NATO, now that the Crimea is under exclusive Russian control?

Fri, 11/27/2015 - 09:23 | 6845270 Deus Irate

It may be old, but it's extremely effective. The UK dropped a load in their shorts when Argentina "leased" a dozen or so SU-24s. Also, their age makes them invulnerable to a lot of modern countermeasures. I know if I were putting together an air force I would include some Fencers. It's a damn good airframe.

http://www.janes.com/article/47293/uk-reviews-falklands-defence-as-russi...

Fri, 11/27/2015 - 10:14 | 6845481 FranSix

Just look at a map of the Black Sea, where Georgia, Crimea, Turkey and Syria are all located. Ukraine is also in the news.

The missing component has been anti-aircraft missiles in the Syrian conflict.

Fri, 11/27/2015 - 09:17 | 6845272 MalteseFalcon

"Russia Takes Aim at Turkish Economy Amid Fighter-Jet Spat (WSJ)"

The US threatened to annihilate Syria, if the Syrians harassed any US planes, but the shooting down of a Russian plane is cause for a mere spat.

Since it changed hands the WSJ has devolved from a serious daily national newspaper that I read every day to a silly-ass propaganda organ that I won't wipe my ass with.

Fri, 11/27/2015 - 09:28 | 6845300 Noplebian