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US court favors Apple in patent dispute against Samsung





Apple Inc. gained victory in its patent case versus Samsung Electronics Co. when the District Court in San Jose ordered the South Korean firm to halt the usage, sale, or development of software in the United States which aids mobile phones transgress on such patents. The said ruling encompasses software utilized in older Samsung devices, including Galaxy S II, SIII, and Note smartphones. Both smartphone giants have filed cases against each other in several courts around the world, claiming the other's phones violating their respective patents. Both companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.


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NZ Dollar Drops Against Majors





The New Zealand dollar weakened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Wednesday. The NZ dollar fell to more than a 3-month low of 1.7165 against the euro and a 5-day low of 74.61 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.7000 and 75.38, respectively. Against the U.S. and the Australian dollars, the kiwi dropped to nearly a 4-month low of 0.6366 and more than a 5-week low of 1.0841 from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.6408 and 1.0775, respectively. If the kiwi extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 1.73 against the euro, 73.00 against the yen, 0.62 against the greenback and 1.10 against the aussie.


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Oversupply may saturate oil market, says IEA





Oversupply may submerge the overall crude oil market until at least in the latter part of 2016 due to increasing supply and unusual warm weather. Based on the International Energy Agency's monthly report, such factors could push oil prices lower than its present 12-year troughs. It also warned of more price declines ahead. Also, the IEA said oil supply worldwide could surpass demand by 1.5 million barrels per day in the first half of the year, with Iran adding 600,000 bpd by mid-2016 and other nations keeping current output. Brent futures LCOc1, sliding below $30 a barrel, have hit its lowest level since late 2003 after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided not to reduce output to stop the price decline amid oversupply.


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Fitch: Rising Interest Rates to Ease Taiwan Life Insurers' Negative Spreads





Fitch Ratings says in a new report that a persistent decline in the costs of insurance liabilities and improvements in recurring investment yields on rising market interest rates will reduce Taiwanese life insurers' negative interest spreads. However, the Sector Outlook remains Negative as Fitch expects that the high guaranteed rates of legacy policies will still constrain the sector's profitability at least in the near term. Life insurers' costs of insurance liabilities have been dropping by about 10 bp per year with inflows of low-guaranteed-rate policies. Fitch estimates that large insurers have lower funding costs at below 3.5% after including mortality/morbidity and loading gains, versus above 4.5% for some small insurers. Rising interest rates would help improve returns from life insurers' assets, which have shorter duration than their insurance liabilities. Asset risk is the key concern in the life sector, as life insurers have taken significant overseas investments at 55.7% of invested assets at end-August 2015. They are increasingly involved in corporate bonds, financial debentures and sovereign bonds of emerging markets, shifting from treasuries and agency bonds issued by developed countries. Their capitalisation, therefore, is vulnerable to unfavourable movements in the capital and currency markets. For non-life insurers, their Stable Sector Outlook is supported by strong capital buffers and satisfactory underwriting performance, with combined ratios generally below 95%. Non-life insurers' aggregate equity-to-assets ratio was 32% at end-August 2015. They had also accumulated claims equalisation reserves of 13% of total assets by end-2014. The sector's underwriting leverage remains low, at around 1x between 2011 and 2014, as measured by net premiums written/shareholders' equity.


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Wall Street slumps to 2014 trough as oil prices hit 2003 lows





Wall Street plummeted as the S&P 500 touched its lowest since October 2014 and US oil prices plunged to 2003 troughs. US crude slid 6.6% as a supply glut affected bearish financial reports, aggravating woes over demand. But a bounce in US oil prices helped counter losses in stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 15,766.74 points, down 1.56%. The Nasdaq Composite ended at 4,471.69, down 0.12%. The S&P 500 settled at 1,859.33, down 1.17%. Also, the CBOE volatility index was at 27.59, up 5.9%.


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Taiwan Dec Jobless Rate Rises More Than Expected





Taiwan's unemployment rate increased more-than-expected December, figures from the Directorate General of Budget Accounting and Statistics, or DGBAS, showed Friday. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate rose to 3.88 percent in December from 3.84 percent in November. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to climb marginally to 3.85 percent. The number of unemployed people grew to 453,000 in December from 449,000 in the previous month. A year ago, the jobless figure totaled 442,000. Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate held steady for the second straight month in December at 58.67 percent. On an unadjusted basis, the unemployment rate came in at 3.87 percent in December, down from 3.91 percent a month earlier.


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China to look after stock traders, says Li





China assures stock market investors the country will uphold their interests to ensure speculators won't benefit at their expense, and that the government is willing to intervene, if necessary. Vice President Li Yuanchao said the administration would improve regulation in order to curb volatility, saying the Chinese market is not yet mature. Both the Hang Seng China and the Shanghai composite indices have wiped out over 15% this year even though the People's Bank of China injected cash into the system to bolster the economy and pull down borrowing costs.


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Treasuries Give Back Ground Amid Global Stock Market Rally





Following the pullback seen in the previous session, treasuries saw some further downside during trading on Friday. Bond prices came under pressure in early trading but managed to regain some ground as the day progressed. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose by 2.9 basis points to 2.048 percent. With the increase on the day, the ten-year yield climbed further off the three-month closing low set on Wednesday. The continued weakness among treasuries came amid a pickup in risk appetite the helped drive a global stock markets rally. A notable increase by the price of crude oil also reduced the appeal of treasuries, with crude for March delivery jumping $2.66 to $32.19 a barrel. The price of crude added to the $1.18 a barrel increase seen in the previous session to climb back above the $30 a barrel level. On the U.S. economic front, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing that existing home sales rebounded strongly in December after seeing a steep drop in the previous month. NAR said existing home sales jumped 14.7 percent to an annual rate of 5.46 million in December from a rate of 4.76 million in November. Economists had expected sales to climb to a rate of 5.20 million. A separate report from the Conference Board showed a modest decrease by its index of leading economic indicators in December. The Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement is likely to attract attention next week, although the central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged. Trading could also be impacted by reaction to reports on consumer confidence, new home sales, durable goods orders and pending home sales. Bond traders are also likely to keep an eye on the Treasury Department's auctions of two-year, five-year and seven-year notes. The Treasury is due to auction $26 billion worth of two-year notes next Tuesday, $35 billion worth of five-year notes next Wednesday and $29 billion worth of seven-year notes next Thursday.


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Investors shift away from stocks, says BlackRock





Combating Investors are moving away from stocks and turning to more illiquid holdings, including private credit and real estate in order to counter market volatility and gain profits. According to a survey by BlackRock Inc., people are avoiding stocks in general. More than half of biggest institutional clients are planning to raise allotments to private credit and real estate assets, while 33% wanting to lower their equity allocations. BlackRock's senior managing director and global head of institutional client business Mark McCombe said recent events made investors manage their risks actively.


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Franc Little Changed After Swiss Trade Data





Swiss Federal Customs Administration published foreign trade data for December in the pre-European session on Tuesday at 2:00 am ET. After the data, the Swiss franc changed little against its major rivals. As of 2:01 am ET, the Swiss franc was trading at 1.0993 against the euro, 1.4393 against the pound, 1.0128 against the U.S. dollar and 116.33 against the yen.


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