UNITED STATES
- Futures are up slightly with a Fed policy meeting starting this afternoon
- This has been the worst December for US markets since 1931
- markets hit their lowest point in 14 months amid persistent geopolitical tensions and the likelihood that the government will shut down on Friday
- First it was Amazon, then Apple, now Google is announcing plans for a $1bn campus in New York
- New orders and hiring are up sharply for New York manufacturers despite disappointing activity (Expected 20.0 | Actual 10.9)
- A second multibillion-dollar payment will be made to farmers struggling with tariffs on soybeans, pork, and dairy
OTHER
- Japan's biggest IPO is set for Wednesday with shares in Softbank's telecom business begin trading - it is the second biggest IPO globally, behind Alibaba
- German unemployment is at its lowest level since East and West were reunified in 1990, causing a shortage of workers to dress up as Santa.
- France expects to raise $570 million a year when they begin taxing big tech firms on January 1
CHINA
- China celebrates the 40th anniversary of the "reform and opening up" Communist Party meeting which dismantled Mao Zedong's planned economy
- Chinese pet cloning service, Sinogene, successfully cloned a dog.
- The cost for the service: $55,065
- Electricity production in Guangdong (a key manufacturing hub) is the weakest on record outside of the global financial crisis.
- They have stopped publishing their PMI
Submitted December 18, 2018 at 07:32AM by ogordained https://ift.tt/2ClDdsT
