United States

• Global stocks, dollar struggle ahead of Fed as oil falters (Reuters)
• Bond Bulls Bank on Fed Mention of Market Chaos as Drag on Growth (BBG)
• Fees on Mutual Funds and ETFs Tumble Toward Zero (WSJ)
• China Climbs Back Up Janet Yellen's Worry List (BBG)
• The World’s Favorite New Tax Haven Is the United States (BBG)
• New Jersey Gov. Christie backs Atlantic City takeover plan (Reuters)
• U.S. Universities Raised a Record $40.3 Billion Last Year (BBG)
• With China weakening, Apple turns to India (Reuters)

While the focus in the overnight session has traditionally been about two things, namely oil and China, today one can also throw in AAPL which is down 4% in the pre-market after its disappointing earnings yesterday in which it confirmed our channel-checked warnings about China from last summer, and the Fed which is set to release the January FOMC statement this afternoon.

For 175 years the United States was not a country known for its self-consciously conservative thought. America’s “Tories,” after all, had been on the wrong side of the Revolutionary War. The names of our great political parties—Whig, Republican, Democratic—were everywhere else labels for liberal or radical groupings. Americans may have had their own kind of conservatism, but they rarely called it that.

Submitted by Justin Raimondo via AntiWar.com,

Dow futures are down 100 points and Chinese stocks are pressing new 14-month lows, extending last night's carnage after Chinese Industrial Profits tumbled. With a dismal 4.7% drop year-over-year, led by a near 60% collapse in the mining industry, early strength (after some jawboning from Abe) gave way to fresh lows and US equity futures are also responding. Offshore Yuan refuses to drop since Xinhua wrote a 3rd hit piece against George Soros and his "speculative snap profits."

This year is just getting uglier...