Blackrock

• Goldman to Fidelity Call for Calm After Global Stock Wipeout (BBG)
• Turnabout on Global Outlook Darkens Investor Mood (Hilsenrath)
• EU Said to Weigh Extending Greek Loans to 50 Years (BBG)
• Second Storm Hitting Northeast Halts Planes, Schools (BBG)
• Small Banks Face TARP Hit (WSJ)
• As Sony prepares PCs exit, pressure mounts for reboot on TVs (Reuters)
• IBM Uses Dutch Tax Haven to Boost Profits as Sales Slide (BBG)
• ECB faces dilemma with inflation drop (FT)
• London Subway Strike Snarls Traffic as Union Opposes Cuts  (BBG)

Reality will reassert itself in 2014, with lemmings, flippers, and hedgies getting slaughtered as the housing market comes back to earth with a thud. The continued tapering by the Fed will remove the marginal dollars used by Wall Street to fund this housing Ponzi. The Wall Street lemmings all follow the same MBA created financial models. They will all attempt to exit the market simultaneously when their models all say sell. If the economy improves, interest rates will rise and kill the housing market. If the economy tanks, the stock market will plunge, creating fear and killing the housing market. Once it becomes clear that prices have begun to fall, the flippers will panic and start dumping, exacerbating the price declines. This scenario never grows old.

What a difference half a year makes. It seems like it was yesterday when Blackrock head Larry Fink, when discussing the future of capital markets with the now defunct money honey, uttered these infamous words about any and all possible risks: "it doesn't matter." Suddenly, it matters. Speaking in Davos, Fink warned there is 'way too much optimism' in financial markets as he predicted repeats of the market turmoil that roiled investors this week.  As Bloomberg reports, Fink warned a Davos panel that "the experience of the marketplace this past week is going to be indicative of this entire year... We’re going to be in a world of much greater volatility."

Tech isn’t exactly booming, but that hasn’t kept “valuations” of tech startups from being pushed into the stratosphere, for the benefit of an elite club.

• Charter, Comcast in renewed talks on Time Warner Cable bid (Reuters)
• Bankers' Stock Awards Jet Higher (WSJ)
• Yahoo CEO Mayer Dismisses Operating Chief De Castro (BBG)
• Amazon Employees Vote to Reject Union (Reuters)
• Luxury in China loses luster as wealthy flee (Reuters)
• UnitedHealth Profit Up on Stronger Enrollments (WSJ)
• U.S. government failed to secure Obamacare site: experts (Reuters)
• Spain Sells Bonds at Record-Low Yield as Rajoy Touts Rebound (BBG)
• Newport Beach’s $100,000 Lifeguards Feel Pension Squeeze (BBG)
• Bailed-Out Euro Nations Expect Painful Challenges to Remain (BBG)

Like in the bubble days of 2007: the big numbers, the deal exuberance, the craziness, the hoopla

• From the guy who said the market is not overvalued: Q&A with Fed’s Williams on Upbeat 2014 Outlook and What Keeps Him up at Night (Hilsenrath)
• Obama Readies Revamp of NSA (WSJ)
• Indian envoy leaves U.S. in deal to calm diplomatic row (Reuters)
• China overtakes US as largest goods trader (FT)
• Wall Street Predicts $50 Billion Bill to Settle U.S. Mortgage Suits (NYT)
• Low-End Retailers Had a Rough Holiday: Family Dollar, Sears Struggle as Lower-Income Customers Remain Under Pressure (WSJ)
• ECB charts familiar course as Japan, US and UK begin to diverge (FT)
• Housing experts warn of hiccups as new U.S. mortgage rules go live (Reuters)
• It's a HFT eat HFT world: Infinium ex-employees sue over $4.1m loss (FT)
• Slowing China crude imports to challenge exporters (FT)

• Carney Guidance Threshold Strained as BOE Holds Policy (BBG)
• Does one laugh or cry: China Tells Banks to Improve Disclosures in Shadow-Lending Fight (BBG)
• Big Business Doubles Down on GOP Civil War With Tea Party (BBG)
• CIA sued for records on possible role in Nelson Mandela arrest (RT)
• Bridge Scandal Destroys Christie's 'Nice Jerk' Image (BBG)
• Borrowers Hit Social-Media Hurdles (WSJ)
• U.S. Leverage in Iraq Tested As Fears of Civil War Mount (WSJ)
• Austerity drive cuts into Chinese inflation (FT)
• Dish Pulling Its Bid for LightSquared (WSJ)
• BlackRock agrees to end analyst surveys (Reuters)
• Germany defends economic policies after US criticism (FT)
• Bank of Korea Holds Rate Even as Yen Clouds Export Outlook (BBG)

As usual, in 2013, sticking to facts was a mistake in a world fueled by misinformation, propaganda, delusion and wishful thinking. Those in power have successfully held off the unavoidable collapse which will be brought about by their ravenous unbridled greed, and blatant disregard for the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution and rights and liberties of the American people.

"There is no disputing the facts. The economic situation is deteriorating for the average American, the mood of the country is darkening, and the world is awash in debt and turmoil. Every country is attempting to print their way to renewed prosperity. No one wins a race to the bottom. The oligarchs have chosen a path of currency debasement, propping up insolvent banks, propaganda and impoverishing the masses as their preferred course. They attempt to keep the masses distracted with political theater, gun control vitriol, reality TV and iGadgets. What can be said about a society where 10% of the population follows Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga on Twitter and where 50% think the National Debt is a monument in Washington D.C. The country is controlled by evil sycophants, intellectually dishonest toadies and blood sucking leeches. Their lies and deception have held sway for the last four years, but they have only delayed the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. They will not reverse course and believe their intellectual superiority will allow them to retain their control after the collapse.”

From the first headline to the last, the following brief month-by-month summary of the year shows just how far markets and global happenings have come...

This past week the Federal Reserve began tapering their current large scale asset purchase (LSAP) program, more commonly referred to as Quantitative Easing (QE), by trimming $10 billion in bond purchases from the previous monthly totals.  This week's "Things To Ponder" is a diverse set of views on the potential effect of the taper on the financial markets and the impact to investors.  Regardless of your personal expectations as to the impact of the reduction of liquidity in the months ahead, it is always a good mental exercise to consider opposing viewpoints to balance your own views by eliminating confirmation bias.  Here are 5 disparate views on the effect, and potential outcome, of the Federal Reserve's latest move.

Strategists were largely wrong about the yes taper in September, and then they were just as largely wrong about the no taper in December, and yet their opinion is just as largely gospel and people continue to listen to them (what else is there to be distracted by in a still very much centrally-planned market and economy). Which is why the below summary by Bloomberg of what global financial strategists and investors, also known as "they", are saying about how to trade assets in the post-taper world, should probably be taken, largely, with a grain of salt.

There is a rising belief that when the Federal Reserve begins to taper that interest rates are set to rise.  It is believed that as rates rise due to stronger economic strength that the stock market will act as a hedge against falling bond prices. However, historically speaking rotating from bonds to stocks after the initial spike in rates has occurred was akin to jumping from the "frying pan into the fire."

• Tough Question for Fed: Time to Act? (Hilsenrath )
• Merkel Begins Third Term Strengthened by SPD Partner Backing (BBG)
• Wary of Roma, Europe cold-shoulders its new eastern workmates (Reuters)
• New Medicines Emerge, but Few Blockbusters (WSJ)
• SIP in the crosshairs: U.S. Exchanges Near Deal for Infrastructure Upgrade (WSJ)
• Secret Inside BofA Office of CEO Stymied Needy Homeowners (BBG)
• AIG Said to Near Sale of Plane Unit to AerCap (BBG)
• Inside the Saudi 9/11 coverup (NYPost)
• Russian Bank Chief Weighs Firings as Costs Absorb Revenue (BBG)
• Video Boom Forces Verizon to Upgrade Network (WSJ)
• Chinese Manufacturing Slows (AP)

Following last night's freak central-planning accident (previously in history known as "selling") in the S&P futures, we said that "we expect Overnight Ramp Capital to arrive promptly or else confidence in central-planning may take a hit ahead of the Wednesday Taperish FOMC, and Thursday's double POMO." A few hours later, even we were surprised by how high the low volume tape managed to drag ES, which staged a dramatic 20 point comeback, on the back of a sharp reversal in FX driven higher by both a stronger Euro (helped by better than expected German and Eurozone PMIs offsetting China PMI weakness, and lack of optimism in the core Japanese Tankan) and a weaker Yen, the two key signals for E-mini directionality. Sure enough, at last check the futures we trading just why of the "independence day" 1776, after briefly breaking the 50-DMA and then being supported by 1760 in the futures. The rest is perfectly predictable central-planning history.