Business

Having laid off 10,000 employees (and boosted his share buyback program by $10 billion - because that has worked out so well in the past), it appears Schlumberger CEO Paal Kibsgaard unleashes some very uncomfortable truthiness on his audience this morning during the earnings call... "For many of our customers, available cash and annual budgets were exhausted well before the halfway point for the fourth quarter... as pricing levels for frackers has dropped into unsustainable territory."

Last May, after the "harsh snowfall" of Q1 crushed US GDP (when it was really the bursting of China's shadow banking bubble) leading to sellside analysts first, and then the Bureau of Economic Analysis to decide the time has come to double seasonally GDP data to avoid such embarrassments as a negative print in the middle of a recovery, Bank of America's chief economist Ethan Harris rushed to declare victory.

Explicitly targeting the "perma-bears" this is what Harris said:

Just around half an hour ago, we pointed out that while the rest of the market was surging, one stock - a core commodity bellwether - was not buying it:

no bounce for FCX?

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 22, 2016

Fast forward when things have gone from bad to worse for the copper giant: either biggest holder Icahn is dumping his stake or the "real" economy is not buying this short squeeze in commodities, or China was just "unfixed" yet again...

Submitted by Julianne Geiger via OilPrice.com,

With oil prices dipping below $30 and dire forecasts for the already-low Canadian dollar, the National Hockey League (NHL) is taking a hit that would normally lead to a mass exodus of players to Russia - if the ruble wasn’t tanking as well.

The NHL’s revenue depends on the Canadian dollar, which in turn is on the downward slide thanks to the plummeting oil prices. As NHL revenues decline, player salaries go down, and roster cuts go up.

Following November's collapse in existing home sales (-10.5% - worst since July 2010), December saw home sales soar 14.7% (the biggest MoM jump ever). Don't get too excited as this is simply the new (know before you owe) mortgage rules delayed sales coming back. All in all it was a wash over the 2 months and NAR is careful to warn not to expect 2016 to be as good as 2015 for sales.

Biggest jump ever after biggest drop since the crisis...

Here is a regional breakdown of existing home sales: