10 Things You Need To Know Before European Markets Open
"Considerable Time" Is Gone. The Federal Reserve removed the phrase "considerable time" from its policy statement, which was previously used to describe the amount of time between the end of the tapering of QE purchases and the first US interest rate.
Tumbling Oil Prices Pushed Chevron To Cancel Arctic Drilling. Chevron Corp is putting a plan to drill for oil in the Beaufort Sea in Canada's Arctic on hold indefinitely because of what it called "economic uncertainty in the industry" as oil prices fall.
UK Retail Sales Are Coming. At 9:30 a.m. GMT, UK retail sales figures for November will be released by the Office for National Statistics. Analysts are expecting a 4.4% bounce from the same month last year, giving a look at the country's economic conditions in the fourth quarter.
Swtizerland's Central Bank Brought In Negative Interest Rates. The Swiss National Bank just brought in a a -0.25% deposit rate. The SNB follows a policy of pegging the Swiss Franc to the euro, and with the euro depreciating, it must cut rates to follow the decline.
Petrobras' CEO Won't Resign. Saying she had President Dilma Rousseff's "trust," CEO Graca Foster said she and her board of directors would all be investigated as part of an independent audit ordered after investigators accused a corrupt network of laundering more than $4 billion of company money.
Asian Markets Are Up. The Nikkei rose 2.32%, reclaiming some recent losses. Hong Kong's Hang Seng is currently up 0.99%, and China's Shanghai Composite index is up 0.16%.
Plunging Oil Prices Are Killing Renewables. Tesla Motors, Denmark's Vestas and China's Yingli Green Energy have all seen their share prices crumble in the wake of cheaper oil, raising questions about how a long period of much lower oil prices will hit green investment, according to the Financial Times.
US Authorities Say North Korea Did Hack Sony. US officials believe North Korea is "centrally involved" in hacking Sony Pictures, reports The New York Times.
Chinese Property Prices Are Falling For The Third Month. Reuters say that property prices are down 3.7% in November from the same period last year, across 70 Chinese cities. That's the fastest drop on record for the country. In October, prices fell 2.6%.
The Government Is Selling Off Another Chunk Of Lloyds. The Treasury is reducing its stake from around 25% to 20% in the part-nationalised bank by spring 2015, following its reduction from 40%, according to the Financial Times.