Blackrock

• One in four Germans would back anti-euro party (Reuters)
• EU Chiefs Seeking to Stave Off Euro Crisis Turn to Cyprus (BBG)
• Ryan Says His Budget Would Slow Annual Spending Growth to 3.4% (BBG)
• Goldman leads decline as Wall Street commodity revenues plummet (Reuters)
• South Korea and US begin military drills (FT) and North Korea cuts off hotline with South Korea (Reuters)
• Karzai Inflames U.S. Tensions  (WSJ)
• Algorithms Get a Human Hand in Steering Web (NYT)
• Meeting Is Set to Choose Pope (WSJ)
• More U.S. Profits Parked Abroad, Saving on Taxes (WSJ)
• Banks rush to redraft pay deals (FT)
• Fugitive Fund Manager Stuffed Underwear With Cash, Fled (BBG)
• Post-Newtown Gun Limits Agenda Narrows in U.S. Congress (BBG)
• China Hints at Shift in One-Child Policy (WSJ)

I really need to stop being so pessimistic. I’m getting richer by the day. My home value is rising at a rate of 1% per month according to the National Association of Realtors. At that rate, my house will be worth $1 million in less than 10 years. Every mainstream media newspaper, magazine, and news channel is telling me the “strong” housing recovery is propelling the economy and creating millions of new jobs. Keynesian economists, Wall Street bankers, government apparatchiks and housing trade organizations are all in agreement that the wealth effect from rising home prices will be the jumpstart our economy needs to get back to the glory days of 2005. Who am I to argue with such honorable men with degrees from Ivy League schools and a track record of unquestioned accuracy as we can see in the chart below? These are the facts. But why trust facts when you can believe Baghdad Ben and the NAR? It’s always the best time to buy.

And by "you", we mean of course the average American worker, who according to the Census Bureau averaged a full-time income of $4,400 per month, and whose plight has been documented extensively as making less and less on an inflation-adjusted basis every year, having an ever older average age, putting off retirement indefinitely, and whose lifestyle continues to deteriorate in line with the progressive elimination of the US middle class. But for every million or so disenfranchised workers, there are a few hundred lucky ones, in this particular case interns who work at companies that pay better than the average American worker. So if you are tired of making next to minimum wage, here is your chance to start afresh as an intern with zero experience at one of these 25 companies, while probably making more than the current jobs pays.

• G20 struggles over forex, at odds over debts (Reuters)
• Alwaleed Sells Airbus A380 to Invest in Middle East Firms (BBG)
• GOP Stalls Vote on Pick for Pentagon (WSJ)
• ECB officials rebuff currency targeting as G20 meets (Reuters)
• Not good for the reflation effort: Muto leads as Japan PM close to choosing nominee for Bank of Japan chief (Reuters)
• M&A Surges as Confidence Spurs Deals in Computers to Consumer (BBG)
• JPMorgan’s head of equity prop trading Gulati to launch own fund (FT)
• Tiffany & Co. sues Costco over engagement rings labeled ‘Tiffany' (WaPo)
• JPMorgan Said to Fire Traders, Realign Pay Amid Slump (BBG)
• Broker draws Tullett into Libor scandal  (FT)
• Airbus drops Lithium-Ion batteries for A350 (Reuters)

Europe Q4 GDP declines 0.6%, and economy contracts 0.9%. No one should be surprised at the latest disappointing European GDP numbers, but they hide important trends – Germany’s Q4 0.6% GDP drop was worse than expected, although the expectations remain for growth later this year. For the rest of Europe the numbers were generally worse than expected – and no one credible is talking about significant growth prospects. (Sure, the Euro Elites are telling us they see growth tomorrow.. but tomorrow is always tomorrow..) My current interest in Spain was pricked by Blackrock CEO Larry Fink’s comments to ABC following a visit to Madrid. He reckons “Spain will be a star economy if reforms continue.” Spain last ran a balanced budget in Q1 2008 when growth was 2%. Now the economy is shrinking 1.7% on an annualised basis.” That’s a massive amount of catch up to be achieved. We are looking at another 3-4 years of economic misery just to get the Spanish economy back into the EU’s 3% deficit/GDP groove. Then we’re looking at on-going relative poverty for Spanish workers within Europe. At some point... something has to give...

• The Man Who Killed Osama bin Laden... Is Screwed (Esquire)
• G7 fires currency warning shot, Japan sanguine (Reuters)
• North Korea Confirms It Conducted 3rd Nuclear Test (NYT)
• Italian Police Arrest Finmeccanica CEO (WSJ)
• Legacy, political calendar frame Obama's State of the Union address (Reuters)
• China joins U.S., Japan, EU in condemning North Korea nuclear test (Reuters)
• Wall Street Fading as Emerging-Market Banks Gain Share (BBG)
• Berlin Conference 2.0: Drugmakers eye Africa's middle classes as next growth market (Reuters)
• Barclays to Cut 3,700 Jobs After Full-Year Loss (BBG)
• US Treasury comment triggers fall in yen (FT)
• ECB Ready to Offset Banks’ Accelerated LTRO Payback (BBG)
• Fed's Yellen Supports Stimulus to Spur Jobs (WSJ)
• Libor Scrutiny Turns to Middlemen (WSJ)
• Samsung Girds for Life After Apple in Disruption Devotion (BBG)

• Euro Tremors Risk Market Respite on Spain-Italy, Banks (Bloomberg)
• Obama Says U.S. Needs Revenue Along With Spending Cuts (Bloomberg) 
• China Regulators Moved to Restrain Lending (WSJ)
• Low Rates Force Companies to Pour Cash Into Pensions (WSJ)
• JAL wants to discuss 787 grounding compensation with Boeing (Reuters)
• Abe Shortens List for BOJ Chief as Japan Faces Monetary Overhaul (Bloomberg)
• Monte Paschi probe to widen as Italian election nears (Reuters)
• Hedge funds up bets against Italy's Monte Paschi (Reuters)
• Spain's opposition Socialists tell Rajoy to resign (Reuters)
• Electric cars head toward another dead end (Reuters)
• BlackRock Sued by Funds Over Securities Lending Fees (Bloomberg)

If there was any confusion where New York's uberwealthy were scrambling to dump their money in December ahead of the now official tax hike on the wealthiest, we now know: some two hours north on the Long Island Expressway, or the Hamptons to be precise. Bloomberg reports: "Home prices in New York’s Hamptons, the resort towns on the Long Island coast, rose to the highest on record as deals at the upper end of the market surged before expected tax increases for sellers. The average price of homes that sold in the fourth quarter jumped 35 percent from a year earlier to $2.13 million, the highest since Miller Samuel Inc. begin tracking Hamptons sales in 1999." Needless to say the when a handful of the 0.001%, and quite close to the New Normal discount window - i.e., the Fed's excess reserves - purchase homes with no price discrimination, it has the same impact as when foreign oligrachs come to the US to launder illgotten cash (with the NAR's blessings), sending prices up some 35% in one year. And since the average price of all houses is dragged higher as a result, TV pundits can spin it as a housing recovery, and get consumers to consume even more by "charging it", making the abovementioned Hamptons' home purchasers even richer: there's your recovery. And it is a recovery, all right, for some: like Lloyd Blankfein who just parked another $32.5 million in prime 8,000 square foot Bridgehampton mansion set on some 7.3 acres.

AAPL's after-hours loss in market cap is greater than the market cap of one BlackRock, Starbucks, Target, Costco, or Nike. Down almost 9% from yesterday's close, AAPL is trading down to January 2012 levels (off 35% from its highs) and is now notably less capitalized than the entire European banking system. Of course, this has had serious consequences for the major indices that are trading after-hours (and futures). Futures traded down to the day-session lows before closing but QQQ are now trading at 6-day lows in after-hours...and as S&P futures reopen they are gapping down a little more.

• Obama's Gun Curbs Face a Slog in Congress (BBG)
• Euro Area Seen Stalling as Draghi’s Pessimism Shared (BBG)
• China Begins to Lose Edge as World's Factory Floor (WSJ)
• EU Car Sales Slump (WSJ)
• Fed Concerned About Overheated Markets Amid Record Bond-Buying (BBG)
• Australia Posts Worst Back-to-Back Job Growth Since ’97 (BBG)
• Abe Currency Policy Stokes Gaffe Risk as Amari Roils Yen (BBG)
• Japan Opposition Party Won’t Back BOJ Officials for Governor (BBG)
• Fed Reports Point to Subdued Economic Growth (WSJ)
• China Set to Exit Slowdown by Boosting Infrastructure (BBG)
• Greece not out of woods, must stick to reforms: finance minister (Reuters)
• Russian Rate Debate Flares Up as Cabinet Seeks Growth (BBG)

• Obama Picking Lew for Treasury Fuels Fight on Budget (BBG)
• Deutsche Bank Bank Made Huge Bet, and Profit, on Libor (WSJ)
• Spain Beats Maximum Target in First 2013 Debt Sale (BBG) - In other news, the social security fund is now running on negative?
• "Icahn is also believed to have taken a long position in Herbalife" (NYPost) - HLF +5% premarket
• Lew-for-Geithner Switch Closes Era of Tight Fed-Treasury Ties (BBG)
• Turkey Beating Norway as Biggest Regional Oil Driller (BBG)
• Greek State Firms are Facing Closure (WSJ)
• Draghi Spared as Confidence Swing Quells Rate-Cut Talk (BBG)
• China’s Yuan Loans Trail Estimates (BBG)
• SEC enforcement chief steps down (WSJ)
• CFPB releases new mortgage rules in bid to reduce risky lending (WaPo)
• Japan Bond Investors Expect Extra Sales From February (BBG)

As loathed as we are to say "we told you so," but we did and sure enough eKathimerini is reporting this evening that: thanks to the 'voluntary' haircuts the Greek banks were force-fed via the latest buyback scheme and the political uncertainty causing non-performing loans (NPLs) to rise (in a magically unknowable way), they will need significantly more 'capital' to plug their increasingly leaky boats. The original Blackrock report from a year did not foresee a rise in NPLs (which Ernst & Young now estimates stands at 24% of all loans) and the buyback dramatically reduces the expected profitability of the banks as it removes critical interest payments that would have been due. Whocouldanode? Well, plenty of people who did not just buy-in blindly to the promise of future hockey-stick returns to growth. Expectations are now for the Greek bank recap to be over EUR30bn.

• IMF Demands Partial Default for Cyprus (Spiegel)
• Boehner's 'Plan B' Gets Pushback (WSJ)
• Beijing criticises US ‘political checks’ (FT)
• White House Said to Tell Business Groups Talks Stall (BBG)
• NYSE tries to get hitched again: IntercontinentalExchange in talks to buy NYSE (Reuters) -> N-Ice coming?
• Greece faces ‘make or break’ year (FT)
• Fed rejects idea of consensus forecasts, "maybe forever": Fisher (Reuters)
• Rajoy Drives Spanish Revolution With Low-Cost Manufacture (BBG)
• Italian Senate Set for Budget Vote Before Monti Resigns (BBG)
• BOJ Loosens With Pledge to Review Inflation Objectives (BBG)
• Bowing To Abe, BOJ To Review Price Goal (WSJ)

New Fed minutes reveal powerful CEO voted to make William Dudley president of FRBNY and grant him conflicts waivers for investments in CEO's own company.

It seems like it was only yesterday when we were praising the miraculous 4 sigma move in AAPL stock, when it soared by nearly $40 in one trading session. It wasn't: it was November 19. Which is why it probably shouldn't be surprising that two short weeks later AAPL stock has just seen its biggest dollar fall in absolute terms in history, down $37 dollars or nearly 7%, its biggest one-day percentage drop since September 2008. Why? Nobody really knows, but when the world's biggest company by market cap trades increasingly like a penny stock, does anyone really care? In absolute terms, AAPL has lost nearly $35 billion in market cap in several hours today: more than the market cap of BlackRock, Morgan Stanley or Wal-Green, with no real material news except for the occasional weak order hearsay (which one didn't really need considering the US and global consumer is totally tapped out), and various other rumors. One thing is certain: the 240+ hedge funds who owned the stock as of September 30, and which did their best to paint the tape for November, are now at a complete loss what to do to delay what was certainly going to be a redemption avalanche for the second month in a row.