Prudential

After yesterday's historic -6.9% rout in the Shanghai Composite, which saw the first new marketwide circuit breaker trading halt applied to Chinese stocks (on its first day of operation), many were wondering if the Chinese government would intervene in both the once again imploding stock market, as well as China's plunging and rapidly devaluing currency. And, after the SHCOMP opened down -3%, the government did not disappoint and promptly intervened in both the Yuan as well as the stock market, however with very mixed results which global stocks took a sign that the "national team" is no longer focused solely on stocks, and have resumed selling for a second consecutive day. 

After a furious three day "dash for trash", no volume, no breadth, commodity-driven rally, even Santa is now exhausted and overnight US equity index futures were little changed with European and Asian shares mixed. The dollar has declines as gold, silver gain, with WTI initially continuing its recent meteoric rise (up over 8% in the past three days, nearly hitting $38), only to reverse and give up all overnight gains moments ago. Copper falls after Chinese stocks see a second day of weakness, down 0.7% while an unexpected tumble in the USDJPY to 7 weeks lows has dragged the Nikkei (-0.5%) and its futures down.

Because the Novo Banco auction process went so smoothly, Portugal has decided to throw billions more in taxpayer dollars at a failed lender. This time it's Banif, which will be split into a "good" and "bad" bank just weeks ahead of new EU rules that would have seen uninsured depositors take a haircut as part of the wind down process.

• Obama in speech to nation vows to defeat 'new phase' of terrorist threat (Reuters)
• Clinton Urges Social-Media Intelligence Sharing in Terror Fight (WSJ)
• Obama urges tech, law enforcement to address social media used for plots (Reuters)
• NATO says won't send ground troops to fight IS (Reuters)
• Le Pen Scores Historic Victory in France's Regional Elections (BBG)

With Draghi's Friday comments, which as we noted previously were meant solely to push markets higher, taking place after both Europe and Asia closed for the week, today has been a session of catch up for both Asian and Europe, with Japan and China up 1% and 0.3% respectively, and Europe surging 1.4%, pushing government bond yields lower as the dollar resumes its climb on expectations that Draghi will jawbone the European currency lower once more, which in turn forced Goldman to announce two hours ago that it is "scaling back our expectation for Euro downside."

"This is legal?" Stephanie Ruhle on CDS after watching "The Big Short" (Bloomberg TV) 

Good Thing Debt Doesn't Matter! </sarc>

Today we got yet another tortured admission of just how ugly Greek balance sheets are, the ECB has admitted what we knew months ago, namely that more than  half of all Greek loans are now nonperforming, and that as much as 57% of the loans made by Piraeus Bank the bank which fared worst, are at risk with the other Greek banks not much better off.

• Fed puts December rate hike firmly on the agenda (Reuters)
• Charting the Markets: A More Hawkish Fed Rattles Investors (BBG)
• China to modernize and improve fiscal and tax systems (Reuters)
• Deutsche Bank to Cut 35,000 Jobs in Overhaul (WSJ)
• Deutsche Bank Said to Near $200 Million Sanctions Settlement (BBG)
• Barclays profits drop as it abandons cost-cutting targets (FT)

Yesterday Doi and Gina were back at 7 Little Bloomfield Street, Surry Hills. Their fingers crossed for greater fools because Doi was keen to offload his March purchase. The reason? Like most of us who've bought $800k crack shacks, Doi had a healthy dose of buyers' regret and came to his senses "after realising just how small the property was he decided to sell." How lucky was Doi? This is Australia! Doi found a plumber willing to go 60k higher than he'd paid six months earlier

• McDonald’s Close to Deciding Whether to Change Structure of U.S. Real Estate (WSJ)
• Stocks Rise as Stimulus Bets Spur $4.1 Trillion Gain; Oil Climbs (BBG)
• Wall Street bonuses likely to plunge as trading revenue drops (Reuters)
• Syrian army launches Aleppo offensive with Iranian support (Reuters)
• Malaysia’s Najib Razak Played Key Role at Troubled 1MDB Investment Fund (WSJ)
• VW Loses Market Share in Europe as Diesel-Motor Recalls Loom (BBG)

Overnight we got confirmation that Glencore has indeed become a systemic risk from a regulatory standpoint after the FT reported that the Bank of England has asked British financial institutions to reveal their full exposure to commodity traders and falling prices of raw materials amid concerns over the impact of the oil and metals slump. Or, in other words, their exposure to Glencore, Trafigura, Vitol, Gunvor and Mecuria.

Deutsche Bank warned it expects to record a third-quarter loss of $7 billion, tied to a huge write-down in its corporate-banking-and-securities segment.  The bank said the charges are driven by the impact of expected higher regulatory capital requirements and its disposal of Postbank. It also said it will consider reducing or eliminating its common dividend for fiscal 2015.

DEUTSCHE BANK SEES 3Q NET LOSS EUR 6.2 BLN
DEUTSCHE BANK TO RECOMMEND DIVIDEND CUT OR POSSIBLE ELIMINATION

News That Matters

• MOAR: Euro-Area Growth Seen Slowing in Sign More Stimulus May Be Ahead (BBG)
• MOAR: Japan's wage growth slows in August, keeping pressure on BOJ for more stimulus (Reuters)
• MOAR: Stocks, Copper, Emerging Markets Jump as Fed Delay on Rates Seen (BBG)
• And yet... Central Banks Lose Bond-Market Credibility as Woes Mount (BBG)
• World Bank cuts Asia growth forecast on China and US rates (BBC)