United States

Crude prices are lower this morning following API's huge reported build at Cushing (biggest since 2008) and fears over OPEC deal realities. With expectations for a crude draw (on lower imports), DOE confirmed a bigger than expected overall draw but also Cushing saw a 3.78mm barrel build - the biggest since Jan 2009. Both Distillates and Gasoline (most since Jan) also saw bigger than expected builds as US production dropped very modestly.

API

Continuing in the tradition of making a selection of calls aimed at provoking conversation on what might surprise or shock the investment returns in the year ahead this year's predictions cover a range of scenarios, including a Chinese growth rebound, an Italian bank rally, Brexit giving way to Bremain and the EU's willingness to change in the face of populist backlash, among others.

There is over a month left until Trump's inauguration, and the President-elect's hard-hitting negotiating style may have scored yet another economic victory: according to a statement issued by Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer and a major Apple Inc supplier, the company said it was in preliminary discussions to expand its operations in the United States.

It seems that Trump's phone call with Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen as well a recent pair of tweets from the president-elect blasting China for devaluing their currency, taxing U.S. imports and military provocations in the South China Sea have served their purpose of ruffling some feathers in Beijing.

Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 4, 2016

Mallaby knives Greenspan following gold comments

Contributed by:  Sprott Money News

December 5th, 2016

Two years ago, Alan Greenspan humiliated America’s financial and political establishment by publicly highlighting the US dollar’s secondary role. "Gold is a currency,” Greenspan said, at a Council on Foreign Relations conference. “No fiat currency, including the (US) dollar, can match it."