Business

• Analysts Cut iPhone X Shipment Forecasts, Citing Lukewarm Demand (BBG)
• North Korea likely to pursue talks, says South (Reuters)
• The quiet probe into Clinton email investigation could be a landmine for Robert Mueller (USA Today)
• Bitcoin rises 10 percent, recovers from last week's brutal selloff (Reuters)
• U.S. Retailers Feel Christmas Cheer After a Tough Year (WSJ)
• Kremlin Sees ‘Unbearable’ Risk to U.S. Ties in New Sanctions (BBG)
• Murder in America: What Makes Cities More Dangerous (WSJ)

The February 2014 collapse of Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox was, for more than 24,000 investors around the world, a traumatic event. It also ushered in a two-year crypto bear market that saw the price of a single bitcoin plunge from a peak of $1,200 to a low of around $200 before the torrid bull market of the present day began.

Goldnomics Podcast - Gold, Stocks, Bitcoin in 2018. Everything Bubble Bursts? 

Click here to listen to podcast

In this our first GoldNomics podcast we take a look at the major financial market themes of 2017 and delve into the outlook in 2018. GoldCore CEO Stephen Flood and GoldCore's Research Director and world renowned precious metals commentator Mark O'Byrne are interviewed by Dave Russell.

For the second day in a row, most Asian markets - at least the ones that are open - were dragged lower by tech stocks and Apple suppliers, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index down 0.2% led by Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing in response to the previously noted report that Apple will slash Q1 sales forecasts for iPhone X sales by 40% from 50 million to 30 million. Most Asian equity benchmarks fell except those in China. European stocks were mixed in a quiet session while U.S.

Authore by Leonid Brershidky via Bloomberg.com,

During Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual press conference on Thursday, a friendly journalist asked Putin whether the escalating tension in relations with the U.S. and the crumbling of arms control treaties would draw Russia into an unsustainable arms race. "We will ensure our security without engaging in an arms race," the president replied, citing widely diverging dollar numbers for the U.S. and Russian defense budgets.