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.

Following yesterday's press reports that Steve Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross would be selected for two of the top economic posts in Donald Trump's administration, earlier today the two confirmed their nominations to lead the U.S. Treasury and Commerce Department, respectively. Mnuchin and Ross spoke on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

In keeping with the recent tradition of making major announcements on Twitter early in the morning, President-elect Donald Trump said early Wednesday that he will announce in December that is leaving his business "in total" to "fully focus on running the country."

The announcement is in response to recent media reports that running Trump's businesses presents a major conflict of interest should he continue to do so as president.

An event is planned for Dec. 15 in New York, he tweeted.

Israeli fighter jets fired missiles on a government-held town west of Damascus according to Syrian state media. Some reports indicate that four missiles had hit Hezbollah militia targets near Al-Saboorah, a government-controlled suburb of Syria’s capital. No casualties were reported, though there have been conflicting reports over the initial target of the raid.