Europe

• China trade surprise brings relief (Reuters)
• Obama knocks Trump, voices optimism (Reuters)
• Republican Candidates Criticize Obama’s State of the Union Address (WSJ)
• Republicans and Democrats Agree: We Hate Wall Street (WSJ)
• Oil rises for first time in eight sessions on China, U.S. stocks draw (Reuters)
• U.S. Exports First Freely Traded Oil in 40 Years (WSJ)
• China Imports Record Crude as Price Crash Accelerates Buying (BBG)
• Can We Fix American Cities by Tearing Them Down? (BBG)

• Oil slips toward $30, traders bet on more falls (Reuters)
• Oil Plunge Sparks Bankruptcy Concerns (WSJ)
• RBS cries 'sell everything' as deflationary crisis nears (Telegraph)
• World stocks drop but Europe shrugs off oil slide, China money market surge (Reuters)
• Canadian Stocks Fall in Longest Slump Since 2002 as Oil Slides (BBG)
• State of Union Speech to Note Work Yet to Be Done (WSJ)
• "Murderous" Yuan Rate Jolts Hong Kong as Top Currency Hub (BBG)
• Putin Says Sheltering Assad Would Be Easier Than Snowden Asylum (BBG)

As reported last night, now that the PBOC has devalued the Yuan to a level China's central bank is comfortable with, if only for the time being,and having done so by unleashing a "murderous" short squeeze "to deter bearish bets and helping to stabilize equity markets", manifesting itself in the offshore Yuan 1 week deposit rate exploding to a record 82%...

Submitted by Pater Tenebrarum via Acting-Man.com,

Portugal’s Rickety Banking System

After the unseemly bankruptcy of the Espirito Santo Group and the associated bank, then Portugal’s second biggest (likely a result of not praying enough, see: “Big Portuguese Bank Gets Into Trouble” and “Fears Over Banco Espirito Santo Escalate” for the gory details), Portugal’s state-run deposit insurance fund basically ran out of money.

In an interview in Germany’s Bild am Sonntag, the country’s Development Minister, Gerd Müller, says:

The people fleeing hunger, misery, violence, and because they see no future for themselves and their families. But we live in a globalized world. We can not build fences around Germany and Europe. When people suffer, they will come. … The biggest refugee movements are ahead: Africa’s population will double in the coming decades.

Und: