18th Dec - Quiet Friday

EUROPE

Is There A Future For Europe? – Social Europe

The Spanish elections: a primer – Politico

  EU SUMMIT

EU leaders agree to ‘speed up’ actions on migration – Politico

The summit that wasn’t – Politico

UK’s renegotiation at last night’s EU summit – Open Europe

Cameron's Optimism Over EU Deal May Mean June 2016 Referendum – BB

OTHER

Paul Krugman: ‘The Big Short,’ Housing Bubbles and Retold Lies – NYT

Fed will have to reverse gears fast if anything goes wrong – The Telegraph

BoJ: fine-tuning the stimulus – Nordea

As expected no change to the QQE programme at the last meeting of the year. However, the BoJ fine-tuned the QQE programme with three changes: to purchase longer maturity bonds, to buy more ETFs that encourage investment, and to buy more J-REITs. These changes are small relatively to the existing QQE programme. Thus, we expect no noticeable and lasting effects on the JPY.

REGULARS

Morning MoneyBeat Asia – WSJ

U.S. Stocks Reverse Field, Follow Oil Lower

Morning MoneyBeat Europe – WSJ

Stocks Slip; Oil Weakness Weighs

Morning MoneyBeat US – WSJ

Value Stocks Get Increasing Endorsements for 2016

Danske Daily – Danske Bank

Euro rates update – Nordea

Eye-Opener – Nordea

BoJ easing moves disappoint, Treasury yields are a falling, Death Star usage limited * US Treasury yields continue to fall * Fed liftoff has gone very smoothly so far * Norges Bank gives clear signals of further cuts

Morning Markets – TF

Oil went into full-on defensive mode this week and managed to claw back some territory but the "park-the-bus" plan has most definitely been torn apart bringing into view the 2008 lows once again.

Daily FX Comment – Marc Chandler

BOJ Surprises, but Substance Minor

Daily Press Summary – Open Europe

Merkel raises prospect of EU Treaty change at later stage to accommodate UK demands *

Süddeutsche: Cameron’s EU reform wishes are achievable because the tone is right * EU summit makes little progress on tackling migration crisis * Juncker’s top aide under fire over misleading refugee statistics * Spanish PM open to grand coalition with Socialist Party ahead of uncertain election

US Open – ZH

Futures Slide As Quad-Witching Has A Violently Volatile Start After Massive BOJ FX Headfake; Oil Tumbles

Frontrunning – ZH

FX Update – TF

The BoJ normally keeps very quiet or announces bold measures. Last night it tinkered with policy and JPY shorts didn’t appreciate the move as it suggests the BoJ has lost the desire to impress with dramatic new measures — possibly for the duration.

From the Floor – TF

The Bank of Japan kept interest rates unchanged and refrained from providing more stimulus sending the yen initially down sharply then up again and knocking Japanese shares deeper into the red. The knee-jerk reaction to the BoJ news appeared to come from markets getting to grips with the central bank merely tinkering around the edges of its monetary policy rather than providing anything substantially new.