Frontrunning: December 22

• The watchdogs that didn't bark (Reuters)
• Italy's Monti faces key final vote on austerity (Reuters)
• Finland 'finds Patriot missiles' on China-bound ship (BBC)
• Swiss Panel Studying Measures to Curb Franc’s Gains, Widmer-Schlumpf Says (Bloomberg)
• U.S. exporters brace for cutbacks in European bank lending (WaPo)
• Gundlach fears debt ‘crescendo’ (FT)
• China accuses US of protectionism (FT)
• China banks eye easing as household inflation view cools: PBOC (Reuters)
• Obama Gets a Lift From Tax Battle With Republicans (NYT)... yes, the NYT
• Yahoo to weigh deals for Asian assets: sources (Reuters)

European Economic Highlights

• Sweden PPI 0.8% m/m 0.3% y/y – higher than expected. Consensus 0.5% m/m 0.1% y/y. Previous -0.3% m/m 0.3% y/y.
• Italy Retail Sales 0.1% m/m -1.5% y/y – higher than expected. Consensus -0.2% m/m -1.5% y/y. Previous -0.3% m/m -1.6% y/y.
• Norway Unemployment Rate 2.4% - in line with expectations. Consensus 2.4%. Previous 2.4%.
• Poland Retail Sales -5.5% /m, 12.6% y/y – higher than expected. Consensus -7.1% m/m 10.5% y/y. Previous 4.1% m/m 11.2% y/y.
• Poland Unemployment Rate 12.1% - in line with expectations. Consensus 12.1%. Previous 11.8%.
• Spain Trade Balance EUR -3631M. Previous EUR -4853M.
• UK GDP 0.6% q/q 0.5% y/y – higher than expected. Consensus 0.5% m/m 0.5% y/y. Previous 0.5% m/m 0.5% y/y.
• UK Current Account £-15.2B – lower than expected. Consensus £-6.1B. Previous £-7.4B.

Comments

[Temporalist]

And Bloomberg said there was no news today...

[Schmuck Raker]

I was under the impression the confidence vote for Monti in Italy was expected to be a cakewalk.

Not that the market won't ramp with a successful conclusion.

[Schmuck Raker]

Add this one:

China lowering commodity-import tariffs‎ International Business Times

[youLilQuantFuker]

In today's edition of 'Survival' we are going to focus on defense.

When the system collapses you will get robbed all the time(just like old times but now it's from your neighbors instead of .gov). In most cases you will not be able to leave your house without getting robbed, assaulted, or deaded. Now is the time to train yourself and learn how to fight off your attackers.

I want you to set aside some time this weekend to practice some of the lessons on these videos:

Guns
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1283787/gun_firearm_defense_and_disarms/

Knifes
http://www.ehow.com/video_2368174_block-disarm-attacker-knife.html

In many cases you will find yourself in a knife fight and this is where skill will prevail.

Observe:
http://challenge.coldsteel.com/2011/Knife-Fighting.aspx

Study, prepare, survive.

[The Swedish Chef]

and whats up with silver? The NY opening looks like the tradebots had a seizure...

[ChasVoice]

How 2012 is shaping up and what it means for gold

Sharps Pixley's Ross Norman looks at what we can expect in 2012 and what the key drivers for precious metals are likely to be in the new year.

[El Viejo]

http://www.debka.com/article/21589/

[dcb]

here is where the market is BS, when we are oversold by this much on an hourly basis there is always a buy. but that doesn't happen when over bought

[chump666]

*Slovenia just downgraded by Moody's,

It's all Maya 2012 baby

[nmewn]

Hmmm...

"Actually in our investigation at the moment, we have got the information that we found 69 Patriot missiles on the ship and around 160 tonnes of explosives," said Detective Superintendent Timo Virtanen from the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation.

Interior Minister Rasanen said she had not heard of a similar case.

"Of course, there are legal transports of weapons or defence material [through Finland] but in this case the cargo was marked as containing fireworks," she told Finnish media. "That is quite unusual."

Ya think?!

[l.hauri]

I read about this situation in Poland. It is real what you said above. france yacht charter