• Obama, wiping tears, makes new push to tighten gun rules (Reuters)
• Global stocks hit by China worries, North Korea nuclear test (Reuters)
• Oil hits 11-year low, Saudi-Iran row cuts chances of output restraint (Reuters)
• North Korea says successfully conducts first H-bomb test (Reuters)
• Valeant Planning to Appoint New Leader as CEO Remains Hospitalized (WSJ)
• Treasuries Extend 2016 Winning Start With Growth Outlook Clouded (BBG)

Before we go into details of the overnight carnage, this is where we stand currently: S&P futures now down 33 points or 1.63% while 2Y Treasury rallies pushing its yield back below 1% as EU stocks extend their drop after China weakened its currency, North Korea says it tested a hydrogen bomb; Brent crude falls to lowest level since 2004.

Iceland refused to be blackmailed. Iceland refused to take on the extra debt (and debt slavery) that came with the blackmail. Iceland refused to touch its social programs. Iceland has the strongest economy in the Western world.

There is a populist idea of money printing. The idea is that banks can just print what they want, enriching themselves... does it really work this way?

Dr Strange Bomb...

See For Yourself ...

Default Rate Highest since 2009, US Distress Ratio Soars.

About 90 women have reported being robbed, threatened or sexually molested at the New Year's celebrations outside Cologne's cathedral by young, mostly drunk, men, police said on Tuesday.  The scale of the attacks has shocked Germany. About 1,000 drunk and aggressive young men were involved. City police chief Wolfgang Albers called it "a completely new dimension of crime" adding that "the men were of Arab or North African appearance." Cologne mayor Henriette Reker said the attacks were "monstrous" adding that "we cannot allow this to become a lawless area."

Evangelicals, Tea-partiers, Progressives, Libertarians, Ghettofied Blacks, Unionized Labor, and other groups will be tapped and lured by the career politicians in the two parties to receive their financial support and vote, in most instances without political voice… Our system of Presidentialism may have served us well in the past but its rigidity in the political process denies the multiple voices that need to be heard in a democracy, nor offers the required tools for political compromise.  Sadly... here we are, stepping into 2016 with the possible political prospect of having to elect as chief executive of this nation either a lady with questionable trust-credentials or a boisterous charlatan.

Update: North Korea has confirmed that it has "successfully tested a hydrogen bomb." The test was "an act of self-defense" against threats like the US.

A 5.1-magnitude earthquake detected near North Korea’s nuclear test site appears to have been artificial, according to South Korea’s meteorological service, raising the prospect the isolated regime tested a nuclear device. As Bloomberg reports, the "earthquake" follows North Korea’s threat in September that it is ready to use atomic weapons against the U.S. at any time and that its main nuclear facility was fully operational. The Pentagon is reportedly "looking into" the quake reports.

Many people start a new year with renewed optimism. However, "New Year, Same Problems" is the meme of 2016... and recent trading has dashed some of that optimistic 'This time it's different' hope.

Taking away from the government its power of compelling the citizenry to accept money that it monopolistically controls and abuses may serve as an important legal and economic change to force the government and those who live at its spending trough to face the reality of the welfare state’s ideological and fiscal bankruptcy before it is too late to avert a complete collapse of the society.

Dow futures are down over 170 points from the cash close, testing the lows of the day following carnage in the Chinese currency markets. Despite the biggest drop in onshore Yuan since August devaluation, Offshore Yuan has collapsed to its lowest since September 2010. What is more worrisome (or positive for Kyle Bass) is that the spread between onshore and offshore Yuan has blown out to 1250 pips - a record - indicating dramatic outflows and/or expectations of further devaluation to come.

"The next step will be, once they've tested it with several flights, they will bring down some of their fighter air power - SU-27s and SU-33's - and they will station them there permanently. That's what they're likely to do."

Turkey’s shoot-down of a Russian jet and the Saudi execution of a revered Shiite cleric, who threatened no one in prison, should cause the United States to undertake a cost-benefit analysis of the alliances and war guarantees we have outstanding, many of them dating back half a century. Do all, do any, still serve U.S. vital national interests?