Tepid, Holiday Week Trading Begins

Economic Data

- (PT) Portugal Oct Current Account Balance: 0.5B v €0.6B prior
- (IL) Israel Nov Unemployment Rate: 5.6% v 5.7% prior
- (BR) Brazil Nov Total Outstanding Loans (BRL): 2.963 v 2.926T prior; M/M: 1.3 v 0.8% prior; Banks' Lending (BRL): 1.377 v 1.364T prior; Personal Loan Default Rate: 6.5 v 6.5% prior
- (US) Nov Chicago Fed Nat Activity Index: 0.73 v 0.25e
- (MX) Mexico Q3 Aggregate Supply and Demand: 3.0% v 3.2%e
- (US) Nov Existing Home Sales: 4.93M v 5.20Me
- (EU) Euro Zone Dec Advance Consumer Confidence: -10.9 v 11.0e

The second-to-last week of 2014 has begun with pretty slack trading and modest equity gains. As of writing, the DJIA is up 0.44%, while the S&P500 and the Nasdaq are more or less unchanged.

Energy market volatility has hit natural gas hard this morning. The front-month Henry Hub contract is down about 9% on the session to $3.16, the biggest one-day loss in a year. There are no proximate causes for today's slide, however unseasonably warm weather in the US should continue through the end of the year and gas stockpiles are building as a result. Natural gas names Chesapeake and Range Resources are down 6% a piece this morning. WTI crude is around $55.70, off earlier highs north of $58. Saudi Arabia said Sunday it would not cut output to prop up oil markets even if non-OPEC nations did so.

Russia's situation continues to deteriorate. The Russian central bank has bailed out its first bank, and more bailouts are expected. The bank said it would inject 30 billion rubles ($530M) into Trust bank, the country's 28th-largest lender by assets, to prevent bankruptcy. The ruble has firmed up a bit, with USD/RUB rising 9.9 percent to 55.86.

November existing home sales were lower than the one-year highs seen in the October report. The NAR's chief economist said November's drop in sales was likely a one-month aberration, suggesting that stock market swings in October may have caused investors to retreat from the market. Median sale prices were up 5% y/y.

Shares of Ocwen Financial are down 24% after reaching a settlement deal with the New York Department of Financial Services. The founder and executive chairman of the mortgage company will resign in January and the company will pay a $100 million fine and $50 million in restitution to resolve charges of mishandling foreclosures and abusing delinquent borrowers.

Express Scripts reached a deal to make AbbVie's Viekira hepatitis C drug an exclusive option for patients with the most common form of the disease. The deal is hurting Gilead Sciences, which makes the blockbuster Sovaldi. Shares of Express Scripts are up slightly and AbbVie is off a bit, while shares of GILD are down more than 13%.

Looking Ahead

- 13:00 (US) Treasury to sell $21B in 2-Year Notes
- 16:00 (CO) Colombia Oct Trade Balance: -$1.0Be v -$0.5B prior; Total Imports: $5.6Be v $5.8B prior
- 16:45 (NZ) New Zealand Nov Trade Balance (NZD): -0.6Be v -0.9B prior; Exports: 4.0Be v 4.0B prior; Imports: 4.6Be v 4.9B prior