Business

• China shares end at 14-month lows after late selling frenzy (Reuters)
• China Dec gold imports through Hong Kong highest since 2013 (Reuters)
• China Contagion Fades as European Stocks Pare Drop, Oil Rises (BBG)
• Apple set for slowest ever iPhone sales growth (Reuters)
• Saudis, Russia Seen by Iraq as More Flexible on Oil-Output Cuts (BBG)
• China Probes NEV sector for subsidy fraud (China Daily)
• J&J forecasts 2016 sales below analysts' estimates (Reuters)
• Wider China-Hong Kong Discrepancy Revives Fake Trade Doubts (BBG)

As we noted in the overnight wrap, after sliding by 1%, and hitting an overnight low of 1,850, just as Europe opened US equity futures staged a furious rebound jumping nearly 30 point in under three hours for reasons largely unknown: surely it wasn't hope that the Saudis would do any aggressive oil production cutting especially when considering what the CEO of Aramco Amin Nasser said moments ago, namely that the global economy is not encouraging for demand growth, adding that "The current price is definitely a supply-demand issue" hoping that "With low oil prices, demand hopefully will also

It has been another volatile, illiquid, whipsawed session, driven by the only two things that have mattered so far in 2016, China and oil.... and stop-hunting algos of course.

If politics makes for strange bedfellows, few issues make for more peculiar sleeping arrangements than that of distributed energy. There aren’t many others that put former Republican congressman (and son of “Mr. Conservative” himself) Barry Goldwater Jr. on the same side as the Sierra Club. But when it comes to efforts by electrical utilities to add special fees for homes that use rooftop solar, Goldwater sees his opposition as the truly conservative stance.

Gold Price May Lead Gold Mining Stocks – Latest Research

Dr Brian Lucey and Dr Fergal O’Connor have just published some interesting research on the correlations of the gold price and gold mining indices.