VIX has been gapping around like a penny stock all morning with multiple slams producing an exuberant equity open (supported by soaring oil prices) but for now selling pressure is back as Oil and Stocks recouple.

Vix tails are back...

And that helped jam stocks to fresh record highs at the open...

And oil caught up to stocks...

All algos all the time.

When we looked at the latest disappointing spending data this morning, we warned that GDP would likely be weakned, however we had no idea by just how much. The answer was revealed moments ago courtesy of the Atlanta Fed, which moments ago updated its GDPNow model and said that its forecast for real GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2016 is 2.4 percent on November 30, down from 3.6 percent on November 23.

From the report:

The much anticipated headline is out and, as Bloomberg reports, OPEC has reached a deal agreeing to cut oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day to 32.5mmbpd, according to a delegate.

Following October's disappointment (+147k), November's ADP employment printed a much better than expected 216k (over 170k exp), thanks to a notable downward revision to October to 119k. Goods-producing jobs dropped once again (-11k) with a renewed surge in services employment (+228k). While this November post-Trump spike is noteworthy (highest in 5 months), there continues to be a medium-term trend of weakening job growth in America.

A good post-trump spike, but the 24-month trend continues to deteriorate:

Spot the odd one out...

While the term 'stress test' has been applied almost mockingly to European and US banks in an effort to create confidence for investors (because if the government sees risks 'contained' then why worry), this morning's Bank of England stress test results highlighted "capital inadequacies" for three major UK banks. While Barclays and Standard Chartered fell short, it is taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland that is slumping on a need to cut costs, raise capital, and sell assets.