Wells Fargo

But the oil-price crash was supposed to goose consumer spending.

• Average 10-year yield of U.S., Japan and Germany dropped below 1% for the first time ever: Free Money in Bond Markets Shows Global Economy Still Struggling (BBG)
• Brent falls below $52 as oil hits new five and a half year lows (Reuters)
• China Fast-Tracks $1 Trillion in Projects to Spur Growth (BBG)
• Saudi Arabia Raises Price of Main Oil Grade for Asian Buyers (BBG)
• Oilfield Writedowns Loom as Crude Slump Guts Drilling Values (BBG)
• Biggest Oil-Rig Drop Since 2009 Spells Tough Year Ahead (BBG)
• CIA says its inspector general is resigning at end of month (Reuters)
• Pipeline IPOs Climb on Demand for Returns Immune to Oil (BBG)
• Natural Gas No Savior for Investors Seeking Oil Refuge (BBG)
• Euro zone economy ended 2014 in poor shape (Reuters)

• Economists sceptical ECB bond-buying would revive eurozone (FT)
• Indonesia naval captain says may have located missing plane's tail section (Reuters)
• Oil hits five and a half year low under $55 (Reuters)
• Samaras Warns of Euro Exit Risk as Greek Campaign Starts (BBG)
• The death of active investing: Vanguard Sets Record Funds Inflow (WSJ) - thank you Fed
• Oil Downturn Has Many Wondering How Lone Star State Will Weather a Bust (WSJ)
• Hollande Says France Must Exceed 1% Economic Growth to Spur Jobs (BBG)

"most investors take a relatively short-term view and assume that what has happened most recently will continue. They fail to recognize that economic and market forces are always working to press companies (and whole industries) back toward their respective grooves... companies rarely perform way above the industry average or way below it indefinitely. There is a constant tendency to regress toward the mean..."

On July 15th 2014, The Federal Reserve uttered the following warning to exuberant equity investors, "Valuation metrics in some sectors do appear substantially stretched -- particularly those for smaller firms in the social-media and biotechnology industries." 5 months later, Yellen Capital LP is half right...

Wells Fargo Director/Senior Analyst James Spicer re-imagines Gloria Gaynor's Disco anthem for the High Yield E&P market... "At first I was afraid, I was petrified, When OPEC didn't cut and oil prices began to slide. But then I spent so many nights thinking how the Saudis did us wrong; And I grew strong - and I learned how to scrape along..."

• Russia says NATO turning Ukraine into 'frontline of confrontation' (Reuters)
• Oil Drillers Under Pressure to Scrap Rigs to Cope With Downturn (BBG)
• Demonstrators Defy NYC Mayor's Call to Suspend Police Protests (BBG)
• U.S. to send more private contractors to Iraq (Reuters)
• ISIS Shoots Down Jet From U.S.-Led Coalition, Syrian Monitors Say (NYT)
• Russians Race to Secure Mortgages Before Costs Spiral (BBG)
• Abe Brings in Former Soldier Nakatani as Defense Minister (BBG)
• At Coke, Newest Flavor Is Austerity (WSJ)
• Fear and retribution in Xi's corruption purge (Reuters)
• UBS Raises Flag on China’s $1 Trillion Overseas Debt Pile (BBG)

The mainstream economics narrative is so far down the monetary rabbit hole that the blinding clarity of the chart below has no chance whatsoever of seeing the light of day. That’s because it dramatizes the real truth regarding all the Fed gibberish about “accommodation” and “stimulus”. Namely, that what lies beneath its “extraordinary measures”, such as ZIRP, QE, wealth effects and the rest of the litany, is a central banking regime that systematically destroy savers. Period. TARP wasn’t “repaid” with a profit. It was simply perpetuated and  morphed into a new form of destructive state subvention and malinvestment.

• Christmas rally enters sixth day in Europe (Reuters)
• Downing North Korea's Internet not much of a scalp (Reuters)
• North Korean Internet Access Restored After Hours-Long Outage (BBG)
• At U.N. council, U.S. calls life in North Korea 'living nightmare' (Reuters)
• Ukraine Cuts Gold Reserve to Nine-Year Low as Russia Buys (BBG)
• De Blasio Seeks to Heal Rifts With Police After Officers Slain (BBG)
• Oil steady around $60 on hopes of strong U.S. data (Reuters) - so it fell below $60 because...
• Australian Dollar Hits Four and a Half Year Low on Chine Growth Worries (Reuters)

• Police officers' slaying raises pressure on New York mayor (Reuters)
• People Call for Cooling of Racial Tensions After Murder of NYPD Officers (BBG)
• The $6.3 Trillion Frenzy That Vanquished Treasury Bears (BBG)
• China Investigates Possible Stock-Price Manipulation (WSJ)
• Citigroup Was Wary of Metals-Backed Loans (WSJ)
• UPS Turns Parking Lots Into Sorting Centers to Add Speed (BBG)
• U.S. Move to Normalize Cuba Ties Boosts Firms’ Asset Claims (WSJ)
• Meredith Whitney’s Fund Said to Drop 11% as Office Put on Market (BBG)
• Railcar Bottleneck Looms for Oil (WSJ)

• Icahn, Paulson Suffer Large Losses as Energy-Related Bets Sour (WSJ)
• Oil Investors Keep Betting Wrong on When Market Will Bottom (BBG)
• U.S. to sell final $1.25 billion shares of Ally Financial from bailout (Reuters)
• Ally Financial Gets Subpoena Related to Subprime Automotive Finance (WSJ)
• Russia's parliament rushes through bill boosting banking capital (Reuters)
• How a Memo Cost Big Banks $37 Billion (WSJ)
• ECB considers making weaker euro zone states bear more quantitative easing risk (Reuters)
• How the U.S. Could Retaliate Against North Korea (BBG)

• Ruble Sinks to 80 a Dollar Defying Surprise Russia Rate Increase (BBG)
• Oil slumps near $59 for first time since 2009 on oversupply (Reuters)
• Oil sinks, Russian moves fail to quell nerves (Reuters)
• Fed Seen Looking Past Low Inflation to Drop ‘Considerable Time (BBG)
• Students Among Dead as Pakistan Gunmen Kill 126 at Army School (BBG)
• Repsol to buy Talisman Energy for $13 billion (Reuters)
• Indonesia’s Rupiah Erases Decline After Central Bank Intervenes (BBG)
• Anti-Islam Rally Grows as Immigrant Backlash Hits Europe (BBG)
• Saudi Arabia is playing chicken with its oil (Reuters)

• Shale operaters Goodrich, Oasis Petroleum cut spending for 2015 as oil slides (Reuters)
• Greece to hold elections in January if president vote fails (Reuters)
• Norway’s Shock Rate Cut Drives Krone to Lowest Since 2009 (BBG)
• ‘Severe Downturn’ Threatening Norway, Central Bank Governor Says (BBG)
• Russia’s Fifth Rate Increase Fails to Halt Ruble Slide to Record (BBG)
• SNB Says Deflation Risks Increased as Franc Cap Maintained (BBG)
• China eases bank lending restrictions, PBOC targets 10 trillion yuan in loans for 2014 (Reuters)
• Mobius Says China’s Bull Market Is Just Getting Started (BBG)
• How Wal-Mart Made Its Crumbling China Business Look So Good for So Long (BBG)

The Department of Treasury is spending $200,000 on survival kits for all of its employees who oversee the federal banking system, according to a new solicitation. As FreeBeacon reports, survival kits will be delivered to every major bank in the United States and includes a solar blanket, food bar, water-purification tablets, and dust mask (among other things). The question, obviously, is just what do they know that the rest of us don't?

• China’s Stocks Sink Most Since 2009 as Turnover Jumps to Record (BBG)
• Greek Stocks, Bonds Tumble (WSJ)
• China tightens LGFV funding screws (BBG)
• Crude Rebounds From Five-Year Low Amid Shale-Oil Spending Curbs (BBG)
• Sexual threats, other CIA methods detailed in Senate report (Reuters)
• U.S. Takes Security Precautions Overseas Ahead of CIA Report (WSJ)
• Light-Speed Treasury Trading Governed by Rules Dating to 1998 (BBG)
• Delhi to ban all internet taxi firms after Uber rape claim (Reuters)
• Supreme Group Fined $389 Million for Overcharging Pentagon (WSJ)