The US Oil Rig Count rose 2 to 574 last week. This is the first rise in rig count since mid August, continuing to track the lagged crude price. On top of rising production, surging inventories, and massive excess supply at sea, Crude is fading modestly on the news, hovering around $40.50.

There's been no shortage of discussion about the weather among economists this year as "snow in the winter" took the blame for a bevy of bad data in H1 while summer is Citi's new scapgoat for any weakness in August and September payrolls. Meanwhile, unseasonably mild temps took the fall for poor October retail sales and now, going into the winter, it's all about El Nino.

While the U.S. equity markets, until the last few days, seemed unconcerned about the prospects of the rate hike, the so called canaries in the coal mine are once again sending troubling signals, as the consequences of a reversal of Fed policy after 7 years of crisis management are significant, and the stresses are amplified as policy change looks likely to occur while most other central banks are taking the opposite monetary policy tact.

Amid the carnage in Macy's, Nordstrom, and JCPenney, one could be forgiven for expecting a weak retail sales print and sure enough...

In his rejection of an SEC settlement with Citigroup, Judge Jed Rakoff vowed to "see that the truth emerges." After presiding over the most high-profile insider trading cases since the crisis -- including Raj Rajaratnam and Rajit Gupta -- Judge Rakoff has come to symbolize the mantra that "nobody is above the law." In determining that Valeant and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman must face insider trading charges for their failed takeover of Allergan, U.S. District Judge David Carter may be the "new Rakoff."

Time to hike rates then?

The S&P Retail Sector ETF is down almost 9% in the last 8 days. That is the fastest collapse in this bellwether industry since August 2011... and it may be about to get a lot worse...