United States

For the past two years, while largely nonchalant with broader price levels, the Fed has been warning about two particular asset bubbles: that of easy lending particularly in junk bond, and of a commercial real estate bubble. Following the recent rout which has seen the biggest HY selloff since the financial crisis, especially in the energy sector, it is safe to say that the junk bubble has burst - the only question is how much worse it will get before it bottoms (UBS had some unpleasant thoughts on that matter).

Originally posted at The Daily Bell,

Stock markets suspect Federal Reserve has interest rate jitters ... Hints that the Fed won't raise interest rates in March are proving to be good news for miners and oil producers' share prices The Federal Reserve's William Dudley said further strengthening in the dollar could have 'significant consequences' for the health of the US economy. – UK Guardian

Blame it on the dollar!

As we documented last autumn in “Syria Showdown: Russia, Iran Rally Forces, US Rearms Rebels As ‘Promised’ Battle For Aleppo Begins,” Syria’s largest city has been among the hardest hit of the country’s urban centers over the course of the last five years.

Newsweek documented the destruction in a series of stark and profoundly indelible images in 2012, perhaps the most striking of which was this:

Recapturing the city is critical to restoring Bashar al-Assad’s grip on power.

The US has slammed comments by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in which he vowed to regain control of Syria. A spokesman for the US state department said there was no military solution to the years-long conflict  in Syria after Assad said he planned to liberate the entire country from the the control of terrorists.

With Q4 earnings season drawing to a close, here is a quick recap of the key issues facing corporate CEOs and CFOs based on their conference calls as summarized by Goldman's David Kostin: 1) Company managements forecast positive US GDP growth in 2016, in contrast with investor concerns of a potential recession. However, global growth prospects appear grim, particularly within commodity-exposed nations. (2) Strong domestic consumer demand persists amid industrial weakness. (3) Several firms announced large or accelerated share repurchase programs in 2016.