Holiday Bell: 12.30.15

Warren Buffett faces worst year on stock market since 2009 (FT)
Investment guru Warren Buffett is headed for his worst year relative to the rest of the US stock market since 2009, with shares in his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway down 11 per cent with two more trading days to go.

The Market’s Latest Comeback Story: Biotech Stocks (WSJ)
After an autumn selloff, the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index has rallied 18% from its 2015 low in September, and is now up 13% for the year. It has outpaced the broader market since the September trough, and that puts the sector back on familiar footing: Shares of drug and health-care companies rallied more than the market in recent years as investors sought companies that have the potential to boost earnings and revenue.

Pep Boys Agrees to Be Acquired by Icahn for More Than $1 Billion (Bloomberg)
The auto-parts chain said on Wednesday that it terminated an earlier merger pact with Bridgestone and signed a definitive agreement to be bought by Icahn Enterprises for $18.50 a share. Icahn’s investment firm also will pay Bridgestone a $39.5 million termination fee on behalf of Pep Boys.

In World With Too Much Crude Oil, 1,100-Foot Steel Monsters Rule (Bloomberg)
With the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries abandoning output limits in a drive for market share, ships that carry as much as 2 million barrels a trip are in demand to haul crude from the Middle East to Asia and North America. While oil prices fell about 35 percent in 2015, average earnings for these carriers jumped to $67,366 a day, the most since at least 2009, according to Clarkson Plc, the world’s largest shipbroker.

Indiana Woman, 69, Stockpiled Her Urine So She Could Dump It On Neighbor's Home (TSG)
Jackie VanTyle was charged Monday with a pair of misdemeanor criminal mischief counts for the alleged urine attack on the property in Lynn, a town about 80 miles east of Indianapolis. According to court records, victim Joseph Basler contacted police two months ago to report suspicions that VanTyle had been dousing his home’s exterior with urine. A patrolman noted that "a very strong odor of urine hit me" upon arriving at Basler’s residence. Additionally, Officer Travis Jones noted damaged siding made it “obvious something was thrown on the house.” When confronted by police, VanTyle initially denied dousing her neighbor’s home, but subsequently copped to the vandalism, police say. VanTyle admitted that, for several months, she had been urinating in a blue bucket. When Basler would leave his house, she would toss the waste on his home.

Puerto Rico Debt Crisis Closes In on Jan. 1 Deadline (Dealbook)
It is possible, the island’s leaders have suggested in official filings, that enough cash can be found to pay about $330 million due on general obligation bonds — those given top priority by Puerto Rico’s Constitution — but only by diverting cash from other types of bonds. A failure to make payments due on those would leave a mysterious hierarchy of bondholders in a legal quandary over whether to sue now or hope for some payment, even a lower one, down the road.

Global growth will be disappointing in 2016: IMF's Lagarde (Reuters)
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the prospect of rising interest rates in the United States and an economic slowdown in China were contributing to uncertainty and a higher risk of economic vulnerability worldwide. Added to that, growth in global trade has slowed considerably and a decline in raw material prices is posing problems for economies based on these, while the financial sector in many countries still has weaknesses and financial risks are rising in emerging markets, she said.

Palantir, Investors Spar Over How to Cash In (WSJ)
Palantir Technologies Inc. is one of the world’s most valuable private companies but has no interest in going public. Some of its earliest investors, employees and even Palantir co-founders are trying to cash in anyway. Their moves reflect a deepening rift in Silicon Valley between private companies that want to stay that way and investors who want to unlock at least some of the profits from their most successful investments. Investment firms launched by Peter Thiel, a Palantir co-founder and chairman, are seeking to sell more than $100 million of their shares in the Palo Alto, Calif., data-mining company, say stockbrokers and venture capitalists. Another co-founder, Joe Lonsdale, has urged Mr. Thiel to create a large “special-purpose vehicle” to help facilitate employee and investor stock sales.

Hot pink hoverboard takes down Mike Tyson (UPI)
The former world heavyweight boxing champion posted a video to Instagram Monday showing him taking his daughter's new hot pink hoverboard for a test drive. Iron Mike initially appears to be in control of the situation, even showing off some spin maneuvers on the hardwood floor. However, an encounter with the edge of a carpet sends the boxer into an unfamiliar position -- on his back. Tyson hashtagged the video, "Mike Tyson breaks back," but he later clarified in a tweet that he wasn't injured -- but the hoverboard was cracked.