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Mega Mall Merger: French Bid For Westfield Creates $72BN Mall Giant As Online Threat Looms

Mega Mall Merger: French Bid For Westfield Creates $72BN Mall Giant As Online Threat Looms

The need for consolidation in the face of the ongoing Amazon - and broader online menace - is becoming irresistible, even for the biggest and best mall operators. Today the French-based Unibail-Rodamco, the biggest commercial landlord in Europe, agreed to purchase Westfield, the Australian-based mall operator. Unibail is offering 0.018844 shares and $2.67 cash for each Westfield share – a 65/35 stock/cash ratio – which values Westfield at an enterprise value of $24.7 billion. Westfield owns 35 shopping malls in the UK and US and is building a new mall in the Italian city of Milan.

US Producer Prices Rise At Fastest Pace In 6 Years As Payday Loan Demand Soars

US Producer Prices Rise At Fastest Pace In 6 Years As Payday Loan Demand Soars

US Producer Prices beat across the board this morning with the biggest headline being a 3.1% YoY surge in Final Demand - the biggest jump since Dec 2011.

 

The index for final demand goods jumped 1.0 percent in November, the largest advance since a 1.0-percent increase in January. Over three-fourths of the broad-based November rise can be traced to prices for final demand energy, which climbed 4.6 percent.

Three Bubbles/Strikes And You're Out

Three Bubbles/Strikes And You're Out

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Those betting on a fourth bubble of even greater extremes will find their time at bat has come to an end.

The conventional investment wisdom holds that central banks will never let markets decline. This is an interesting belief, given that two previous asset bubbles based on central bank "easy money" both imploded, impoverishing believers in central bank omnipotence.

Is Bitcoin Really Stealing Demand For Gold? Here Is Goldman's Answer

Is Bitcoin Really Stealing Demand For Gold? Here Is Goldman's Answer

A few days ago we first showed a chart of a dramatic divergence between the price of gold and bitcoin...

... which together with a recent unscientific poll showing that more Ron Paul followers prefer bitcoin to gold...

Futures Flat As FOMC Meeting Begins; Brent Jumps Over $65 For First Time Since 2015

Futures Flat As FOMC Meeting Begins; Brent Jumps Over $65 For First Time Since 2015

E-mini futures are modestly in the green this morning, though net of fair value the S&P index is poised for another record high open as the FOMC begins its last meeting for 2017 in which it is expected to raise rates by 25bps. European stocks gain while Asian equities slide led by weakness in Chinese airplane stocks.

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