Opening Bell: 12.19.16

Apple Goes to War With EU Over $14 Billion Tax Bill: 'A Misunderstanding of How Corporations Operate' (BI)

Apple was singled out because of its success, General Counsel Bruce Sewell said, directly attacking European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager's motivations. “Apple is not an outlier in any sense that matters to the law. Apple is a convenient target because it generates lots of headlines. It allows the commissioner to become Dane of the year for 2016,” he said, referring to the title accorded by a Danish newspaper to Vestager last month.

Wall Street’s Annual Stock Forecasts: Bullish, and Often Wrong (NYT)

The forecasts are still coming in for 2017, but preliminary tallies suggest that — no surprise — strategists are bullish, probably mildly so. Through last year, since 2000, the consensus has always been bullish, holding that the market would rise, on average, about 9.5 percent a year, according to calculations by Bespoke Investment Group. In reality, it rose only 3.9 percent a year, on average, in that period.

Barclays Severing Ties With Up to 7,000 Business Clients (BBG)

The British bank launched a new computer system called Flight Deck this month that ranks every customer of its trading unit by the return they generate on the firm’s capital, allowing Barclays to jettison those that have become a drag. Since 2014, the bank has culled 17,000 clients, and the new system has identified a further 7,000 that may need to go.

Goldman Warns China Outflows Rising in Both Yuan Payments, Forex (BBG)

China’s capital outflows are accelerating and the central bank is selling larger amounts of foreign exchange, Goldman Sachs warned as the yuan headed for its biggest annual decline in more than 20 years. A net $69.2 billion exited the nation in November, compared with a monthly pace of around $50 billion since June.

Digital Currency Sales Take Off, But With No Regulation Questions Abound (Reuters)

The market is still tiny, but it has been growing at breakneck pace. About $225 million has been raised so far this year in 40 initial coin offerings (ICOs), compared with just $9.8 million in 2015, data from crypto-currency research firm Smith + Crown showed.

Monte dei Paschi Set to Launch Share Sale (WSJ)

The bank needs to raise about €5 billion ($5.23 billion) in fresh capital by the end of the year to stay afloat. If it fails to do so, the Italian government will step in and bail out the bank, according to a Treasury official.

The Fed Is Staring At A Nasty Rate Dilemma In 2017 (FT)

In a world of global capital flows there will be a limit to how far US rates can diverge from global interest rates without triggering volatility in markets and a much stronger dollar that reduces exports. That will make it much more difficult to predict longer term where the Fed goes from here.

It’s Apparently Possible To Buy A Company Without Noticing (FT)

You have to wonder about the internal culture of a business where staff complete acquisitions and… just don’t tell anyone? Perhaps their email system has an over zealous spam filter? Or maybe the company is run by millennials who don’t check their voicemails. (Confirmation might have been sent by Snapchat and deleted before the CEO could remember what the message said!)

The Real Winner in Goldman’s Management Reshuffle (WSJ)

Just take a wild guess.

Soros, Fallibility, Reflexivity, and the Importance of Adapting (Enterprising Investor)

Unlike philosophy, where students can go to the teachings of Plato and Aristotle, there is no such canon for investors to access. Take a moment to think how financial markets have changed in the past century. The continuous, hyper-connected global markets of today would be nearly unrecognizable to traders back in the early 1900s.

Brits Attempt to Send Meat Pie to Space Because Who on Earth Wants to Eat Meat Pie (Gizmodo)

British cuisine is generally considered to be some of worst in the world. In fact, staff poll at the travel guide Lonely Planet crowned it as the most terrible swill on Earth. So why not send that shit toward space for science?