US stocks predominantly closed lower on Wednesday, with heavy-cap tech stocks plummeting, leading indices lower, with the Nasdaq underperforming, while the Russell and Equal Weight S&P closed green.

Trump says have been told Iran will stop the killings, no plan for executions; US Retail Sales top expectations in Nov, PPI in Oct & Nov comes in mixed; Investors disappointed by US big bank earnings despite some names beating; China's trade surplus ticks higher in December, imports and exports top expectations; China's stock exchanges to raise margin ratio; Japan's CDP and Komeito parties reportedly said to have started talks on forming a new party; More jawboning from Japan officials; China's customs reportedly tell customs agents that NVDA H200 chips are not allowed to enter China.

"Everything's On The Table": JPM CFO Signals Possible Fight With Trump Over Credit Card Rate Cap

Private welfare, compared to public welfare, is less likely to create a sense of entitlement, will get a bigger bang for a buck and is less dependency-inducing than no-questions-asked public welfare...

First it was data centers in space. Now it's nuclear reactors on the moon.

Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon Fios, and U.S. Cellular ... 

"We downgrade RIVN to Sell, $15 PT seeing a less favorable ..." 

"the potential for significant market structure changes in the U.S. credit card market will be a continued overhang in the near term, and introduces uncertainty around the outlooks for Visa and Mastercard’s share of credit cards"

We have a rare moment where Fiscal, Monetary and Regulatory tailwinds are all hitting at the same time…

This looks like a battle that the establishment probably can't win. Indeed, while a brighter day might be on the horizon for the Iranian people, no help is coming for the liberal world order.

"Rich people are still buying ... just not so much at Saks."

...but energy prices were falling when this data was created?

Another big bank posting soggy earnings. 

The Trump administration is burning political capital faster than it can earn it back...

Beijing is no longer seeking to make new advances into LatAm in the near term, WSJ sources report; instead, focus shifted towards if the Western Hemisphere belongs to the US, then the Taiwan Strait belongs to China, but this does not mean immediate action.

...surrounding law-enforcement agencies moved quickly to capitalize on growing frustration inside SPD’s ranks.

...either a greater chance of recession needs to be priced in via lower yields and stock prices, or higher inflation should be reflected in higher yields, and likely equities too. Both ways, this has volatility written all over it.