United States

• Pressure Is on Mario Draghi to Show ECB Has Tools to Boost Low Inflation (WSJ)
• Euro dips as ECB sets sights on deeper negative rates (Reuters)
• Ohio's 'dirty little secret': blue-collar Democrats for Trump (Reuters)
• Irish Economy Expanded 7.8% in 2015, Fastest Pace Since 2000 (BBG)
• Too Many Boats for Too Little Cargo Leaves Shippers High and Dry (BBG)
• Abe pledges to boost tourism in tsunami-ravaged region, maintains nuclear policy stance  (Xinhua)
• Amazon Finds Air Freight Partner (WSJ)

Global stocks and U.S. equity futures are mostly higher this morning (despite China's historic NPL debt-for-equity proposal) as traders await the main event of the day: the ECB's 1:45pm CET announcement, more importantly what Mario Draghi will announce during the 2:30pm CET press conference, and most importantly, whether he will disappoint as he did in December or finally unleash the bazooka that the market has been desperately demanding.

The U.S. have dispatched three B-2 stealth bombers to the Asia-Pacific region amid escalating tensions with North Korea.  U.S. Strategic Command announced the deployment on Wednesday morning, but said the exact destination of the bombers were a secret. Townhall.com reports: The deployment was announced Wednesday by U.S. Strategic Command, which is responsible for U.S. nuclear forces. B-2 bombers are capable of launching nuclear as well as conventional weapons. They are based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

American political analyst Richard Forer has said that he believes the US government to be “cultivating the seeds of terrorism” by giving Israel unconditional support which, in turn, allows groups such as ISIS to thrive.  Speaking with Press TV, Forer noted that US Vice President Joe Biden’s vow to protect Israel at all costs, and his “deep and personal” friendship with Netanyahu means that America is aligning itself with ethnic cleansing policies and abuse of international law.

Via ConvergEx's Nick Colas,

Today we engage in a simple thought experiment: what 3 pieces of information would you need to confidently call the 2016 end-of-year level on the S&P 500?

 

A brief survey of senior Convergex traders yielded this list: year-end worldwide central bank rates, Chinese GDP growth in 2016, actual 2016 US corporate earnings, the winner of the U.S. presidential race, and the pace of increases in the Fed Funds rate for the year.