Every year, Pew Research Center looks back at the most memorable facts that illustrate important trends shaping our world. From faltering faith in government to the decline of Christians in America and from increased racial tensions to the shrinking American middle-class, here are some of our most striking findings of 2015.

Authored by George Gao via Pew Research,

Happy Holidays...

This is the best 'week before Christmas' since 2011... Did we pull forward all that hope-strewn Santa Rally meme?

With massive infrastructure, nuclear and military deals, Japan has nudged India to take a militaristic stance in South China Sea that has China foaming in the mouth.

For all the talk that the BOJ would unleash more stimulus, buy REITs, more ETFs (both existent or non-existent), or outright stocks, today the USDJPY did something it has not done in 7 weeks: the world's preferred carry trade currency just slumped to the lowest level since early November. If it wasn't for  the recent bounce in crude, and if the traditional USDJPY-ES correlation pair had not broken down as a result, the S&P would be well below 2000 at this moment.

Despite the commercialism of Christmas, some positive messages break through, often in movie classics, such as Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” and Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol.” But another entry should be “Joyeux Noel,” a movie about the soldiers’ Christmas truce in 1914, writes Gary G. Kohls. By Gary G. Kohls On Christmas Eve,…