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Analyst comments:

Friday US markets on close: Dow +0.7%, S&P500 +0.6%, Nasdaq +0.5%

- At the close: VIX 11.8 (-0.9pts); Treasuries: 2-yr 1.15% (+2bps), 10-yr 2.46% (+8bps), 30-yr 3.15% (+7bps)

- Best Sector in S&P500: Healthcare

- Worst Sector in S&P500: Materials

WTI crude oil spikes up 5% in early electronic trade to test $54.50 after non-OPEC oil producers' meeting yielded an output cut; Saudi minister also optimistic about being able to cut production more than anticipated. Asian indices mixed - Nikkei225 leading advancers as JPY remains weak due to rising US treasury yields, while Shanghai Composite falls about 2%; Weakness in China attributed to China Insurance Regulatory Commission banning insurers from investing in stocks (amid allegations of short term trading) and property sector losses on China Vanke warning of significant price declines next year. Multiple press sources speculating BOJ may have to step back from its policy easing stance with either reduced asset purchase program for JGBs or higher 10-year yield target due to steadily rising Treasury rates in the US also raising rates Of JGBs.

Nikkei +0.84% Hang Seng -1.54% CSI -2.42% Shamghai -2.47%

Eur$ 1.0564 VNH 6.9373 CNY 6.9146 JPY 115.69 CHF 1.0182 RUB 61.6730 WTI 54.14

S&P -0.11 EuroStoxx +0.09% Dax -0.07% SMI -0.41%

Weekly Performance

Dow +3.06% S&P +3.08% Nasdaq +3.59% Russell +5.62% BRazil+0.31% EuroStoxx +6.05% CAC +5.19% Dax +6,57% Ibex +6.54% Mib +7.06% FT +3.32% SMI +4.05% Nikkei +3.10% Hang Seng +0.87% CSI -1% Shanghai -0.34%

Macro :

- Saudis Signal Deeper Cuts After Deal With Non-OPEC Countries

- Mexico’s Three Largest Oil-Export Ports Closed on Poor Weather

- Turkey’s AKP Proposes Amendment Extending Presidential Powers

- France Extends Electric Car Bonus to Taxis to Fight Pollution

- Snap Said Holding Meetings w/ Investors Ahead of IPO: WSJ

- Giuliani Said Ruled Out for Secretary of State: CNN

- Italian President Asks Gentiloni to Form New Government

Keep an eye on :

- ABI BB : AB InBev Considers Review of Global Ad-Buying Business: WSJ

- ACS SM : Spain’s ACS Reduces Stake in Canadian Toll Road: Reuters

- ACA FP : Agricole, UniCredit to Agree on Pioneer Sale Today: Messaggero

- AIR FP : Iran Air to Buy 80 Boeing Aircraft Including 737, 777: IRNA

- AMUN FP: UniCredit’s Pioneer Says Two Senior Executives Have Resigned

- AMUN FP : Amundi May Fund Pioneer Deal With Capital Increase, Loan: Sole

- ATL IM : Bids for Atlantia ASPI Stake to Be Submitted by Dec. 15: Sole

- BKIA SM : Bankia and Banco Mare Nostrum's privatisation urged by European authorities; merger subject to conditions

- BPE IM : BPER Banca Targets Higher Revenue From Fees: Sole

- BMPS IM : Monte Paschi Says It Hasn’t Received Info From ECB on Request

- BPOST BB : Belgian government open to selling shares in Bpost (translated) - http://bit.ly/2gmwVLq tidj.be

- BLT LN : BHP CEO Says Rally in Iron Ore, Coal Won’t Last: Australian

- CCC PW : CCC to Fund New Stores From EU150m Convertible-Bond Proceeds

- CBK GY : Commerzbank’s Mandel Aims to Double Customer Growth: EaS

- DAI GY : Daimler Abandons Individual Bonus Payments: Stuttgarter Zeitung

- DBK GY : Weidmann Could Accept State Shielding Some Bank Investors: FAS

- DBK GY : Deutsche Asset Management to Expand in U.S., Asia: Moreau in WaS

- DB1 GY : London backs Deutsche Börse and LSE to resist Frankfurt base, Downing Street sees no reason why the planned exchange merger should be reviewed - FT - http://on.ft.com/2hAMY9j

- ENI IM : ENI exploring interest in selling ENI Gas & Power NV - http://bit.ly/2hah9ak

- FCC SM : FCC Set for Possible Partisan Stalemate After Nomination Fails

- GLEN LN : Glencore, Qatar Buy Stake in Rosneft With Loans From Intesa

- IGG LN : IG CEO Says FCA Rules Could Push Traders Out of U.K.: Telegraph

- LAD LN : GVC rumoured to have prepared reverse takeover for Ladbrokes

- LMI LN : Lonmin Threatened by South Africa Over Slow Response to Massacre

- MEO GY : Kaufhof Head Wants German Stores to Open 10 Sundays a Year: FAZ

- NOVN VX : Novartis Said to Eye Takeover of Stada, SonntagsZeitung Reports

- ODBE4 BZ : Odebrecht Exec. Says Co. Bribed Tens of Brazil Politicians: Veja

- RBI AV : Raiffeisen May Reduce Stake in Event of Avaloq IPO, CEO to NZZ

- RKET GY : Rocket Internet Swaps Foodpanda Stake for Delivery Hero Shares

- RYA LN : Ryanair CEO to Slash 2017 Prices in Germany Price War: Funke

- SAB LN : Asahi Lead Bidder for SAB Eastern Europe Assets: Sunday Times

- SAN FP : Sanofi to Fire About 20% of U.S. Diabetes, Cardiovascular Staff

- SKY LN : Sky Board Faces Investor Dissent on Accepting Fox Bid: Telegraph

- FP FP : Total CEO Says Oil Market Will Remain Volatile: JDD

- UCG IM : UniCredit Pekao Unit CEO May Quit as PZU Completes Deal: Parkiet

- UCG IM : UniCredit’s Pioneer Says Two Senior Executives Have Resigned

- VIV FP : Vivendi Says It’s Not Part of Potential Orange-Canal Plus Talks

- VOD LN : For Vodafone, Being No. 2 Could Be Best - http://on.wsj.com/2gmyqsT

- VOW3 GY : VW Meeting With DoJ Last Week Didn’t Bring Progress, BamS Says

- ZIL2 GY : ElringKlinger Sees 30% of Sales From E-Car Parts: Automobilwoche

Major Sky shareholder to vote against Fox bid

A major shareholder in British pay-TV company Sky (SKYB.L) will vote against Twenty-First Century Fox's (FOXA.O) $14 billion takeover bid, the investor told Reuters on Sunday, while another said it is unhappy about the offer.

Rupert Murdoch's Fox offered 10.75 pounds ($13.52) a share in cash on Friday in its second attempt to buy the 61 percent of the business that it does not own, with Sky's independent directors backing the latest bid.

The shareholder, which declined to be named but said it was one of Sky's top 50 stakeholders, described the bid as "far too low".

"We are voting against the deal if it comes out in its current form and we have told the company as such," the investor said.

"The independent directors have absolutely failed minority shareholders."

A Sky spokeswoman declined to comment.

The deal would give Fox control of a pay-TV network spanning 22 million households in Britain, Ireland, Austria, Germany and Italy.

A second shareholder told Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper that Sky's directors should push for more.

It "ought to be the start of the process, not the conclusion", Alastair Gunn, a fund manager at Jupiter Asset Management, was quoted as saying.

A representative of the firm was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters on Sunday.

Analysts at Citi characterized the offer as a "low-ball bid", citing 13.50 pounds per share as a fair valuation.

Sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters that Fox had pounced after Britain's vote to leave the European Union in June sent the pound down about 14 percent against the U.S. dollar and Sky's share price tumbling.

Why Goldman Sachs Could Again Rule Wall Street

The surge in volatility since the election has reawakened hedge funds, which are Goldman’s core clientele

Wall Street’s “flow monsters” are suddenly looking less formidable.

So far, the post-Trump trading world seems to be rewarding everyone on Wall Street. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and others are projecting double-digit increases in trading revenue for the fourth quarter, executives said at an industry conference last week.

But a postelection shakeout could loom, one that is more likely to benefit firms like Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Indeed, Goldman’s postelection share-price gains have outpaced those notched by J.P. Morgan and Citigroup by more than 10 percentage points. Goldman’s shares are up nearly a third since Election Day and are within striking distance of their all-time closing high of $247.92 reached Oct. 31, 2007.

One reason: the low-margin, high-volume “flow monster” model based on a steady flow of business from global corporations that has boosted Citigroup and J.P. Morgan “could be under pressure" in a new, more volatile trading world, said Mitchel Penn, a managing director in equity research at Janney Montgomery Scott. That has the potential to create new winners and losers, he added.

ENLARGE

Those likely to gain are firms more focused on hedge funds and active traders. Until the election, Goldman Sachs’s core clientele of hedge funds was less active amid low stock-market volatility and interest rates stuck near zero.

The surge in volatility since Nov. 8 has reawakened hedge funds, while protectionist views espoused by President-elect Donald Trump could dampen international trade. That would lessen corporations’ need for currency hedges and other products.

Opportunities in trading are shifting from a “stocked pond” where it’s easy to catch small fish to a new environment “all about trying to reel in the big ones," said Brennan Hawken, a UBS Group AG analyst. “That’s Goldman’s sport.”

That would bring things full circle on Wall Street. Hedge funds once powered big-bank trading desks. They paid high fees for tailored products that let them place big bets on, say, Japanese government bonds or Texas oil.

But the postcrisis period of calm made it harder to find an edge. Returns suffered and some funds curtailed their trading, which disproportionately hurt Goldman.

Among the five biggest U.S. trading firms, Goldman’s share of fixed-income trading fees fell to 14% so far this year from 21% in 2010, according to data compiled by UBS. Morgan Stanley, which also skews toward hedge funds, lost two percentage points, while J.P. Morgan picked up eight and Citigroup gained two.

Much of that growth has come from corporate treasurers. A spike in global trade and cross-border merger activity has sent companies in search of financial products to help manage risks.

These transactions generally carry low fees, sometimes just a few thousand dollars. But big global companies can do thousands each year.

Often, they turn to global banks like Citigroup and J.P. Morgan. These behemoths are already plugged in with corporate back-office officials and treasurers who shop for less-glamorous financial services—meeting payroll and zapping cash around the world.

Earlier this year, J.P. Morgan’s investment banking chief, Daniel Pinto, said the bank’s corporate clients were expanding to more countries and handling more real-time payments, increasing their needs for trading products like currency hedges.

Citigroup’s network operates in nearly 100 countries, collecting cash from retail stores in Indonesia and making sure British pounds can be withdrawn as Brazilian reals. Corporate clients generate more than 40% of Citigroup’s trading revenue in certain products, according to bank executives.

“While people often cite the declining industry revenue pool in [fixed-income trading], for us you really need to dig a little deeper,” said James Forese, who runs Citigroup’s institutional business.

But that environment could change. Mr. Trump’s election created pockets of uncertainty that have been fertile hunting ground for hedge funds. An expected rise in interest rates is also likely to open new opportunities for these clients to be more active.

Goldman, which gets about one-quarter of its trading business from hedge funds, could benefit. The firm had been urging its investment bankers to use their relationships with CEOs to refer trading business, and had shifted sales coverage to win more business from asset managers, according to people familiar with the matter.

The recent bounce in hedge-fund trading, however, has some executives rethinking the urgency of that shift, the people said.