Macro and Markets
- Russia has released multiple videos of a recent test of its nuclear-capable Avangard hypersonic boost-glide vehicle, offering the best imagery publicly available so far of the complete weapon system. – The Drive
- If forced to take sides, most countries would pick the US over China – CNBC
- Dow rallies 1,000 points, logging its biggest single-day point gain – CNBC – that’s 5% in a single session!!! When The Don says buy, Wall Street jumps…
- Economic growth is slowing all around the world – Washington Post
Americas
- Oil output goes AWOL in Venezuela as soldiers run petroleum industry – Reuters
- Ex-Mossad Head: Russia Decided Trump Was Their Best Candidate, and Ran Him for President – Haaretz
- President Trump and first lady Melania Trump make surprise visit to Iraq – CNNPolitics (finally….)
- U.S. holiday shopping season best in six years: report – Reuters
- Are Stock Buybacks Starving the Economy? – The Atlantic
Europe
- German industry views Brexit, Trump as biggest risks to economy – Reuters
- Russia Contemplates Constitution Changes as Putin Faces Term Limits – The Moscow Times
- Russia expands economic sanctions on Ukraine – Yahoo.com
Asia/Middle East
- North, South Korea Hold Groundbreaking Ceremony To Reconnect Railways – Newsy
- China is asking women to “have children for the country” after decades of curbing population – Newsweek (too late!)
- Japan to resume commercial whaling in 2019 – CNN (that’s a bold move)
- How China Built a Steel Behemoth and Convulsed World Trade – WSJ
Straya/NZ
- Amazon on track to dominate Australian retail within seven years, despite a shaky start – ABC
- What the banking commission might recommend in its final report – ABC (break up the banks? Forbid cross ownership? Nationalise superannuation administration?)
- Chinese-Australian relations have had a rollercoaster over 2018 – ABC
Miscellaneous:
- Dan Rather asks Trump what’s more ‘marginal’: ‘Believing in Santa at age 7 or not believing in climate change at age 72? – The Hill
- Older people can come to believe their own lies – New EEG research shows that within an hour of telling a falsehood, seniors may think it’s the truth. Findings suggest that telling a falsehood scrambles older people’s memory so they have a harder time recalling what really happened. – Brandeis (^see above 72 year old perhaps?)
- In Seattle, Washington, delaying the start time of two high schools by nearly an hour lengthened students’ daily sleep by more than half an hour, and was associated with reduced sleepiness and increased academic performance. – Eurekaalert
- The ‘clean plate’ mentality drives us to overeat: New research explores our tendency to overeat when we only have a little bit of food left over. Many of us were raised with a ‘clean your plate’ mentality, stemming from a desire to not be wasteful but this can also lead to overconsumption. – Vanderbilt