Good morning New York,
FT ALPHAVILLE
Amazon drones and the coming robot smog: Cardiff analyses a future in which robots will occupy an increasing amount of what we now consider to be personal space and wonders to what degree the recent Amazon drone announcement was a wake-up call to the regulatory authorities to get rules and regulations in order.
We need to talk about deflation, again: Dan notes that CLSA's Russell Napier is concerned that inflation has fallen to 1.1 per cent in the US, and 0.7 per cent in the Eurozone, close to a threshold at which fear of deflation (and the stagnation it implies) again begins to dominate.
UAH you wanna convert? David looks at the pressures the Ukraine's FX reserves are facing as protests over the rejection of an EU free trade deal continue and people start converting their deposits ever more decisively into FX.
NEWS
RBS apologises for Cyber Monday technology breakdown: Royal Bank of Scotland was forced to apologise for its fourth technology breakdown in two years that left millions of customers unable to pay for goods using their credit or debit cards on the busiest online shopping day of the year. (Financial Times)
Fed clears Goldman and JPM capital plans: The Federal Reserve on Monday approved revised capital plans from JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, allowing the banks to press ahead with share buybacks and dividends. In a surprise move in March, Goldman and JPMorgan were singled out by the Fed for "weaknesses" in their procedures for planning payouts to shareholders. Their ability to continue buybacks and dividends was made conditional on better processes. (Financial Times)
Rio Tinto pledges to cut capex by $6bn in two years: Rio Tinto pledged to cut capital spending by at least 20 per cent in each of the next two years in an attempt to woo back investors dismayed by the miner's misguided investments during the resources boom. The Anglo-Australian mining group said its capital expenditure would fall from $14bn this year to $11bn next year and to $8bn in 2015. (Financial Times)
Pearson buys Brazilian language school chain Grupo Multi: Pearson has paid an enterprise value of more than £500m for Brazil's largest private network of English language schools, in effect spending the proceeds from last week's sale of financial information service Mergermarket. (Financial Times) (Bloomberg)
"Dow Chemical plans to shed at least $5 billion worth of low-margin businesses, including the products that sparked its creation more than a century ago. If the largest U.S. chemical maker by revenue succeeds in selling or spinning off almost 10% of its business, Dow might consider dropping "Chemical" from the name it has used since 1897, Chairman and Chief Executive Andrew Liveris said in an interview on Monday." (WSJ)
Apple buys Topsy to track Twitter: Apple has acquired Topsy Labs, a provider of analytics about activity on Twitter, in a deal that could improve its advertising services, iTunes content recommendations or the iPhone's virtual assistant, Siri. (Financial Times)
Ukraine government faces no-confidence vote: Ukraine's government was facing a vote of no-confidence in the national parliament on Tuesday as demonstrations continued over the country's decision to turn away from an integration deal with the EU. (Financial Times)
Petrobas shares fall on subsidy announcement: Petrobras said it would stop subsidizing fuel prices but without supplying details on how fast it would make the change or how big it would be. (Wall Street Journal)
Inflation takes root in Japan: "Japan's salaries extended the longest tumble since 2010, increasing pressure on household finances as inflation begins to take root. Regular wages excluding overtime and bonuses fell 0.4 percent in October from a year earlier, a 17th straight monthly decline, according to labor ministry data released today. Total cash earnings rose 0.1 percent." (Bloomberg)
Gold price tumbles to lowest since July: Gold sank to its lowest level since July, hit hard by a strengthening US dollar and economic data that fuelled concerns about a withdrawal of monetary stimulus by the US Federal Reserve. (Financial Times)
Markets: Global equities were generally softer as some investors perceived Wall Street showing signs of fading momentum after eight straight weeks of record-reaching gains. Treasury yields were nudging down from two-month highs and gold was steadier after the previous session's sharp declines, while a falling yen made Tokyo an outperformer on talk of additional stimulus from the Bank of Japan. The dollar and industrial commodities were little changed. The FTSE All-World equity index, which last week hit a near six-year closing high of 264.8, was easing 0.1 per cent to 263.3. More weakness in miners pushed the FTSE Eurofirst 300 down 0.2 per cent and the FTSE Asia-Pacific index was shedding 0.2 per cent. US index futures showed the S&P 500 holding at its Monday close of 1,801. The Wall Street benchmark had looked to be starting December by hitting another record, at one point touching 1,810 for the first time, but it faded to finish with a small loss. (Financial Times)
