Business

Despite extending gains overnight on the heels of Libya's planned production boost stalling, oil prices are sinking back into the red this morning as yet another major short-squeeze appears to have run its course for now.

As Bloomberg reports, oil extended gains (over $53 a barrel for Feb 2017 WTI) overnight as a planned production boost from Libya stalled amid continuing tension in the OPEC member that’s exempt from output cuts.

Update: Here is what happened during the NYSE Trading suspension...

Following a 15 minute "technical issue" glitch, which forced the NYSE to halte trading from 10:50am to 11:05am, and which according to CNBC's Bob Pisani was again the result of a "software update", the NYSE is back online and running, and according to an update post on its Alerts site, "all systems are now functioning normally."

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Having recently (before the election) found that stock buybacks have tumbled to the lowest level in 5 years, coupled with the lowest amount of insider buying since 2011, this morning TrimTabs Investment Research reported what regular readers already know, namely that U.S. equity exchange-traded funds received a record $97.6 billion from Tuesday, November 8 through Thursday, December 15, promptly TrimTabs to ask if "investors are all-in on US stocks?"

The key economic releases this week are durable goods and GDP on Thursday. Chair Yellen’s speech on the labor market on Monday afternoon is also likely to garner considerable attention. While the calendar gets quieter in the weeks ahead over the holiday season, there are a few notable macro events to keep traders occupied.

This week, the Bank of Japan and Riksbank deliver their latest policy verdicts, and we also get the RBA Minutes, while in the first week of the new year attention turns to FOMC Minutes and NFP, as well as Eurozone inflation.

• Electoral college expected to officially select Trump (Reuters)
• China says discussing return of undersea drone with U.S. military (Reuters)
• Neutral PBOC Sets Up First U.S.-China Tightening Since 2006 (BBG)
• Wall St sleepwalking into Trump volatility surge (FT)
• Ukraine's largest bank rescued by state, prompts call for calm (Reuters)
• U.S. Factories Are Working Again; Factory Workers, Not So Much (WSJ)
• Senators call for probe of cyber attacks (Reuters)