(Le Figaro) CGG reste sous pression de Technip


Le leader des services parapétroliers a donné le ton mardi soir: parce qu'il s'attend «à des dépenses d'exploration en baisse» chez ses grands clients, le groupe Schlumberger a annoncé un important plan de restructuration et ramènera sa flotte de 23 à 15 navires sismiques.

Une annonce qui a immédiatement trouvé un écho en France. Car l'avenir des navires sismiques, qui réalisent les échographies des gisements offshore d'hydrocarbures, potentiels ou avérés, est au cœur de la sourde bataille qui oppose Technip et CGG. Le premier a proposé, le 10 novembre dernier, un rachat au second, à 8,30 euros par action payés cash. Et a essuyé un refus plutôt sec.

Fin de l'histoire? Certainement pas. Les deux groupes, épaulés par leurs nombreuses banques d'affaires respectives, préparent le deuxième «round». «Les ponts ne sont pas totalement coupés», affirme une source proche du dossier. La négociation paraît en tout cas inévitable à de nombreux observateurs. «La chute des cours du pétrole, qui s'est accélérée depuis la réunion de l'Opep la semaine dernière, fait mal à tout le secteur. Les coupes que les majors pétrolières réalisent dans leurs budgets d'exploration risquent de s'amplifier», explique un bon connaisseur du dossier.

Aucun des deux protagonistes ne fait de commentaires depuis la révélation de la tentative avortée de Technip. Mais chez CGG, la ligne reste manifestement à une défense de l'indépendance de la société. «L'entreprise s'est organisée pour résister à un contexte difficile et a abaissé son point mort en conséquence», souligne un proche du dossier. CGG a renégocié avec ses banques et engagé une restructuration de ses activités, avec 1000 suppressions de postes à la clé et une réduction de sa flotte de 18 à 13 bateaux.

Que Schlumberger lui emboîte le pas confortait mercredi CGG dans son analyse. Mieux: le groupe peut espérer que les prix de son métier d'«acquisition» (collecte des données sismiques) se tiendront mieux avec la réduction des capacités engagées par son grand concurrent.

Question de prix

La société, née de la fusion de Géophysique avec Veritas en 2006, conteste le projet industriel que lui a proposé Technip, aujourd'hui dirigé par Thierry Pilenko, l'ancien patron de Veritas justement. Le leader français du parapétrolier, qui pèse quatre fois plus lourd que CGG en Bourse avec une capitalisation de 6 milliards d'euros, entend élargir sa gamme de services en y agrégeant les équipements de CGG (Sercel) et ses prestations d'analyse des réservoirs.

Il n'a en revanche pas caché son intention de se séparer du métier acquisition - c'est-à-dire de la flotte de navires - soumis à ses yeux à une trop forte pression concurrentielle. Technip fait valoir son carnet de commandes de 20 milliards pour assurer à CGG une plus grande stabilité dans un contexte chahuté.

Pour CGG, la juxtaposition de ses métiers avec ceux de Technip a peu de sens. La société met en garde contre un risque de casse sociale et de «destruction de son modèle intégré», avance un proche du dossier. Surtout, elle refuse de se vendre à si bon compte à Technip, qui a opportunément choisi ce moment de bas de cycle pour se lancer à l'assaut d'une entreprise dont les actionnaires n'ont plus vu la couleur d'un dividende depuis longtemps. «Technip s'est comporté comme si CGG allait tomber comme un fruit mûr. Il faut faire un effort sur le prix pour rouvrir le dossier», analyse un bon connaisseur. Les marges de manœuvre financières de Technip sont cependant étroites, le groupe de Thierry Pilenko ayant réaffirmé sa volonté de préserver sa notation financière.

«Je préfère un CGG chez Technip que chez un concurrent ou un chinois», analyse un acteur du secteur. L'enjeu est en effet peut-être celui-là. L'État, actionnaire des deux entreprises, est sensible à l'argument, mais la puissance publique, de Bercy à Bpifrance en passant l'IFP, ne s'est pas encore fait de religion sur le dossier. «On ne va pas sauter à pieds joints sur l'argument de la création du champion national, un peu artificiel. Mais le sujet mérite au moins d'être examiné», explique une source publique. L'avis de Total, mutique mais souvent considéré comme un «parrain» de Technip, peut aussi peser dans la balance.

FT : ICBC sets precedent with $5.6bn coco sale

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest commercial bank by assets, will issue the first euro-denominated contingent convertible bonds by a Chinese bank as part of a $5.6bn multicurrency deal in Hong Kong.
ICBC’s plan to sell coco bonds also includes the largest sale of offshore renminbi bonds — referred to as CNH, its currency code — with a tranche worth Rmb12bn ($1.95bn), far ahead of an Rmb8.4bn debt sale by the Chinese government in May. The euro tranche, at €600m, was the smallest of the three.

The deal marks the second foray into the offshore market by an onshore Chinese bank selling cocos, which count as capital under the new global rules known as Basel III. Bank of China, the country’s fourth-largest lender, sold $6.7bn in cocos in Hong Kong in October, all priced in dollars.
“The CNH tranche helps better align the foreign exchange risk [to ICBC],” said a banker involved in the deal.
“The dollar tranche appeals to the more global audience. Euros was done for diversification (of FX risk) and to set a new precedent, not only for ICBC but for the whole China space.”
All three tranches carried yields of 6 per cent, below the 6.75 per cent rate on Bank of China’s notes but above the 5.625 per cent that HSBC paid on comparable dollar-denominated cocos in September.
The CNH and US dollar tranches give ICBC the option to redeem the bonds after five years should interest rates fall. The euro bonds, by contrast, are redeemable only after seven years. That suggests bankers felt pressure to sweeten the deal for investors in the euro notes.
China’s bank regulator is aggressively implementing the Basel III rules in a bid to fortify banks’ balance sheets against an expected rise in bad loans as the economy slows. Non-performing loans posted their biggest quarterly rise since 2005 in the third quarter, bringing the system-wide non-performing loan ratio to 1.16 per cent, according to official figures.
Analysts fear the true ratio may be higher, as banks can roll over or extend problem loans to avoid classifying them as non-performing.
Until 2013, Chinese lenders relied exclusively on common equity to raise regulatory capital. But regulators have sought to ease the burden of meeting the Basel standards by approving use of new hybrid securities as a way to expand fundraising options for lenders.
Last year banks won approval to begin selling loss-absorbing subordinate debt known as Basel bonds. In April this year, the securities regulator gave banks and other listed companies the green light to sell cocos, also known as preference shares.
Rating agency Fitch expects total issuance of cocos and Basel bonds by China’s five biggest banks at home and offshore to reach $20bn by year-end. Mainland lenders have announced plans to raise a total of more than $64bn through hybrid securities by the end of 2015.
But doubts remain over whether prevailing yields on hybrid capital securities are high enough to attract demand for the flood of paper coming to market.
“There are reservations about whether pricing will adequately reflect the risks,” Fitch said. An investor survey by the ratings agency found that 67 per cent of respondents are considering investing in China bank securities but have doubts over current pricing.
ICBC International served as sole global co-ordinator. Goldman Sachs, UBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch were lead bookrunners on the ICBC. Moody’s rated the bonds Ba2.

FT : Scientists call for killer asteroid hunt

An international group of astronauts, scientists and others have called for a rapid expansion of efforts to detect asteroids capable of causing widespread destruction on earth, warning that this is one of the biggest threats to humanity in the coming centuries.
Led by Lord Rees, Britain’s royal astronomer, and Brian May, a PhD in astrophysics as well as guitarist with the rock band Queen, the group said a hundredfold increase in the number of objects detected each year was necessary over the next decade.

Academic projects to detect and track asteroids that might one day collide with earth have been under way for more than 50 years. The work was boosted in 1998 when Nasa was given a decade to identify near-earth objects with a diameter of more than 1km — a size that would turn a collision into a potentially extinction-level event.
However, astrophysicists warn that asteroids and meteors as small as 50m across could still cause devastation on earth, with a direct hit capable of wiping out a city and killing millions. An undetected meteor estimated to be 20m in diameter entered the atmosphere over Russia last year and exploded at a height of several miles, causing a shockwave that injured 1,500 people (pictured). Even the devastating 1908 impact at Tunguska in Siberia, the largest in human recorded history, was caused by an object of only around 50m, said Lord Rees.
Only around 1 per cent of the 1m asteroids, meteors and comets that could cause massive damage on earth have been detected so far, according to a declaration by the group issued on Wednesday.
“Nasa has done a very good job of finding the very largest objects, the ones that would destroy the human race,” said Ed Lu, an astronaut who flew three trips to the International Space Station. “It’s the ones that would destroy a city or hit the economy for a couple of hundred years that are the problem.”

“The more we learn about asteroid impacts, the clearer it becomes that the human race has been living on borrowed time,” said Mr May, who broke off his academic studies to become a musician but returned to complete his PhD at the University of London’s Imperial College in 2007. The campaign launched this week is intended to raise awareness and put pressure on governments to act, he added.
The group called for work in the near term to focus on detection rather than rushing to find ways to destroy or deflect dangerous objects. Dealing with an asteroid that is on a collision course with earth “is the easy part”, said Mr Lu. Since there would probably be decades to prepare for a future asteroid strike once it has been identified, “all you need to do when you have that much notice is run a spacecraft into them,” he said.
To complement Nasa’s ground-based telescopes, detecting the mass of small objects that could cause destruction on earth would require an infrared telescope mounted on a spacecraft orbiting between Earth and Venus, Lord Rees said.
The more than 100 signatories have joined the call for governments and private bodies to accelerate asteroid tracking greatly, including 34 US and Russian astronauts, and scientists such as the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. The call also has the support of technologists such as Google’s Alan Eustace, who in October made a record parachute jump from the edge of space, and Nathan Myhrvold, a former chief technologist at Microsoft.

WSJ : San Francisco Pension Delays Hedge-Fund Vote

A large California pension fund again delayed a vote on whether to invest in hedge funds as its directors weigh a smaller set of commitments than previously disclosed.

On Wednesday, the overseers of San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System considered new proposals from board Chairman Victor Makras to allocate 3% or zero in hedge funds, according to a person who attended the board meeting. The retirement system’s staff countered with a new suggestion of 5%, down from the 15% it endorsed for much of 2014.

Board members agreed to table the discussion until February so staff could study the suggestions from Mr. Makras. It is the fourth time this year directors suspended a final decision on the matter.

The debate in San Francisco highlights the new doubts about hedge funds amid concerns about high fees, lackluster returns and a retreat by the largest public pension in the U.S.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, known by the acronym Calpers, in September announced that it would be shedding its entire $4 billion in hedge-fund holdings over the next year. Calpers said the investments were too small a slice of its $298 billion portfolio to justify the time and expense they required.

About half of all U.S. public pensions have some sort of hedge-fund investment, according to data tracker Preqin. Retirement systems have loaded up on so-called alternative investments over the past decade as they moved away from stocks and bonds.

The board overseeing the $20 billion San Francisco retirement system began debating a new 15% hedge fund investment after its new chief investment officer suggested the move early in 2014. Board member Herb Meiberger was openly opposed to the idea, arguing that hedge funds have blown up in the past and aren’t the only investment alternative.

At Wednesday’s board meeting Mr. Meiberger agreed with the decision to table the final decision, said a person who attended.

WSJ : Baby Bust Threatens Growth

Baby Bust Threatens Growth
‘Economists Say the Recession Ended in 2009, but Nobody Told American Women’

The U.S. economy, already struggling with stagnant wages and lackluster spending, faces another obstacle to growth: missing babies.
The nation’s fertility rate edged down last year to a record low, the latest notch in a long decline made worse by the recent recession. For every 1,000 women of childbearing age, there were just 62.5 births, down from 63 births in 2012, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Lower fertility means less growth in the U.S. population, barring an increase in immigration, which is only slowly picking up. That means fewer workers to propel the economy and a smaller tax base to finance benefits for the elderly. The trend also promises to weigh on consumer spending, which fuels two-thirds of economic activity; if fewer women have children, there’s less buying of diapers, school supplies and homes to accommodate growing families.
Cuyahoga County in Northeast Ohio, home to Cleveland, is seeing the impact of the trend firsthand. The number of births in the county was around 13,800 last year, down from nearly 19,000 in 2000. Edward Roshong, executive director of education for the Parma City School District, says the Cleveland suburb has roughly half the students it did in the 1970s—resulting in the closing of several elementary schools over the past few years.
While an aging population and young people moving away is part of the problem in places like Cuyahoga County, so is the fact that the young couples who do stay are delaying child-rearing, said Tracy Healy, president of FutureThink, a firm that helps local school districts in their planning.

“People are having fewer kids and waiting longer,” she said. “There is such excess capacity in so many of the school buildings.”
Many demographers have forecast a recovery in births as the economy improves and more young people start having families. But while America’s “baby bust” at least seems to be leveling off, the now-five-year-old economic recovery has yet to translate into an upturn in births.
“Economists say the recession ended in 2009, but nobody told American women,” said Kenneth Johnson, a demographer at the University of New Hampshire.
Fertility typically drops in developed countries during recessions, mostly due to high unemployment, but the impact tends to be minor and last two to five years, according to Mark Mather of the Population Reference Bureau, a nonprofit demographic-research group.
Yet the 2007-09 recession exacerbated a downtrend in fertility rates that itself was driven by delayed marriages, increased college attendance and female labor-force participation, access to contraception and higher costs for raising a family.
Last year, the number of births slipped to 3.93 million from 3.95 million. That is striking given that since 2007 the number of women in their prime childbearing years—20 to 39 years old—has risen by 1.6 million. Mr. Johnson estimates 2.3 million more babies would have been born in aggregate if America’s prerecession trends had continued.
Meanwhile, the nation’s “total fertility rate”—a statistical measure of how many children each woman is likely to have over her lifetime—also has dropped, to 1.86 from 1.88. That is below the 2.1 children needed to keep the population stable.
It is possible an uptick in births could be around the corner. While the nation’s overall fertility rate fell 1% last year, the rate rose slightly for non-Hispanic white women. Women in their 30s, who tend to be more financially stable, also saw their fertility rates rise. Any recovery in births could be led by older and better-educated women.
And as more millennials—young adults between 18 and 34 years old—begin having children, the U.S. could even see something like a “baby boomlet” given the large size of that contingent, demographers say.
A big question is what Hispanic women will do. Hispanic women were disproportionately affected by the recession, and could be the group that makes up for delayed births. But fertility among Hispanic women has been falling faster than for other groups for years, and this trend could outweigh any postrecession-related uptick.
There is another possibility: that what happened during the Great Depression happens now.
American women who turned 21 in 1930 had “the least births of any cohort in history,” said Mr. Johnson, though a baby boom started after World War II as the economy improved, partly due to earlier postponements.
Dawn and Damon Fryauff are one couple who would like to have children, if only their finances would cooperate.
The couple, who live in Willoughby, Ohio—northeast of Cuyahoga County—live off Mr. Fryauff’s income working part time in a local grocery store. Ms. Fryauff, 34, has a health condition that prevents her from working, though she gets disability checks. They regularly don’t have enough each month to pay the bills.
“We can’t afford it,” she said, talking about their desire to have a child. “But it’s not like I can wait until I’m 45 and stable.”

WSJ : Qatar Replaces Wealth Fund Head

Qatar Replaces Wealth Fund Head
The $300 Billion Sovereign-Wealth Fund’s New Chief Belongs to Gulf State’s Royal Family

DUBAI—Qatar has replaced the head of its $300 billion sovereign-wealth fund with a member of the wealthy Gulf State’s royal family.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud Al-Thani will take the reins of the fund, which in recent years has acquired stakes in high profile assets that include the U.K.’s Sainsbury PLC and Swiss investment bank Credit Suisse , from Ahmed al Sayed, who was in the job for little over a year, according to Qatar’s official news agency.

The management reshuffle may signal that Qatar’s current ruler is unhappy with the way the powerful fund is run and could mark a shift toward a more cautious investment strategy, analysts said.

The country’s current ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, took over from his father last year. The transition in power resulted in a political fall from grace for Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani, the royal family member who had crafted the QIA’s increasingly bold foray into international markets. Mr. Sayed took control of the QIA despite having been closely associated with Sheikh Hamad.

“At the end of the day, Ahmed al Sayed is not a member of the royal family,” said Diego Lopez, director of Global Sovereign Wealth Funds at PwC. “It’s my impression this [management change] was mostly a political decision,” he said.

Mr. Sayed is likely to be appointed an adviser to Qatar’s ruler and will retain his title as minister of state, said an adviser close to the fund, who said there would be no change in strategy at the fund. “It’s business as usual,” the person said.

Sheikh Abdullah is currently chairman of Qatari telecommunications firm Ooreedo.

“With the new appointment the fund could be seen as less aggressive and outward, more cautious on any of the investments that are being considered within the organization,” said Mr. Lopez.

The QIA in recent years acquired assets across the globe in often high-profile takeover battles. More recently, it pledged to invest at least $15 billion in Asia.

While the full implications of the change remain to be seen, the move “certainly indicates that the Qatari political leadership was not happy about how the QIA was run,” said Sven Behrendt, the managing director of Geoeconomica, a political risk consultancy that specializes in sovereign funds and financial markets.

Geoeconomica ranked the QIA as one of the least transparent sovereign funds in the world in an October report on compliance with the so-called Santiago Principles, a set of voluntary guidelines funds agreed to in 2008 to fend off worry about the intentions behind their large foreign investments. The QIA was ranked as non-compliant with the principles, the only fund to be given that designation.

>>> Club Med takes note of improved offers

Club Med takes note of improved offers

The Board of Club Méditerranée took note of the improvement made on 1 December 2014 by Gaillon Invest II and Fidelidade for their offer on the shares and the OCEANEs in Club Méditerranée. In this regard, it recalls it has positively welcomed the offer from Gaillon Invest II and Fidelidade at its 6 October 2014 meeting, unanimously judging that this offer was the highest offer in the interests of the Company, its employees and its shareholders.

It reminds that the offer from Gaillon Invest II and Fidelidade would join Club Méditerranée with a long-term shareholder that supports the Company's strategy and provides development projects in China (world tourism market) and Latin America, justifying the valuation levels included in the offer.

In addition, the Board remains concerned about the consequences of improved bids given the performance requirements they entail, and their impact on the social interest, on the employees and on the partners of Club Méditerranée.

The Board reiterates that it will make a reasoned opinion on the final overbid only.

Company Press Release

(BFW) Hawesko Rejects Takeover Bid, Says Price Not Appropriate

Hawesko Rejects Takeover Bid, Says Price Not Appropriate
2014-12-04 07:03:02.229 GMT


By Chris Malpass
Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Hawesko management board says in e-
mailed statement offer price, premium offered by Detlev Meyer
not appropriate, rejects takeover bid.
* Recommends shareholders not to accept EU40/shr bid
* Bid was made by supervisory board member Meyer
* Says bid doesn’t reflect company’s potential
* Says bid was a discount based on volume-adjusted avg price
of past 6-month or 12 months
* Hawesko says management board has clear strategy
* Hawesko board says confident in CEO Alexander Margaritoff
NOTE: Hawesko on Nov. 13 said it’s considering offer, urged
investors to wait


For Related News and Information:
First Word scrolling panel: FIRST<GO>
First Word newswire: NH BFW<GO>

To contact the reporter on this story:
Chris Malpass in Berlin at +49-30-70010-6234 or
cmalpass@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
James Ludden at +44-20-7673-2645 or
jludden@bloomberg.net
Chris Malpass

>>> What to look at today - 4th of December 2014

US Market closed higher leaded by small cap again, Cyclical sectors were responsible for the bulk of the advance as all six growth-sensitive groups ended in the green while health care (+0.2%) was the lone gainer on the countercyclical side...Energy & Materials Outperformed also...Tech underperform...Volume were below average @755mil shares...VIX @ 12.47 -2.96%...US After Hours TLYS +20.5%, PSUN +11.8%, AVGO +6.3%, ARO -2.5%, GES -0.1% following earnings/guidance; ARRY +22.8% (Array to Regain Worldwide Rights to Binimetinib From Novartis)... Shanghai Composite continued to trade higher today, reaching a fresh 42-month high. Brokers led the gains, with China's largest broker CITIC Securities traded higher by 10% at limit. Major energy names also soared, with PetroChina higher by over 8% and Sinopec up by 7% on recovering oil prices. Trading volumes cooled down a bit after hitting fresh record highs overnight...Brazil central bank raised its Selic target rate by 50bps to 11.75%, as expected by a narrow majority of analysts. This marks the 10th rate hike in Brazil tightening cycle since April 2014, and the second hike after the Presidential elections...Volatility in other USD majors is subdued ahead of the ECB rate decision later today. Market generally expects ECB to hold off on expanded QE. ECB chief Draghi is however likely to convey a more dovish tone at the press conference amid lower inflation expectations, and also reiterate that the central bank is prepared for unconventional measures...Nikkei +0.94% Hang Seng +1.51% Shanghai +3.94%

Eur$ 1.2305 S&P +0.07% EuroStoxx +0.28% Dax +0.29% SMI+0.35%

Macro :
- Beige Book: Economy Kept Growing Oct.-Nov., Helped by Job Gains
- Inversion Measure May Save $33b in Tax Revenue: U.S. Panel
- Merkel Ally Soeder Says ECB Playing ’Dangerous Game’: Merkur
- Saudi Arabia Said to See Oil Stabilizing Around $60/Barrel: WSJ
- Netanyahu to Push for Zero VAT on Food Items: Calcalist Link

Keep an eye on :
- Oil : PetroChina Set for Biggest Gain Since Sept 2008 as Sinopec Jumps CNOOC(883) +4.2% Sinopec (386) +7.92%
- Luxury : Prada(1913) -1.55%, Hengdeli -0.7%
- Auto : Brillance -0.64%, Nissan +1.70%, Takata(7312) -3.3%
- AIR FP : Airbus Sees First Order for Longer-Range A321neo in Dec.: WSJ
- ALIV SS : Autoliv to Supply Replacement Airbag Inflators to Honda -->+3.2% in NYC (Takata -3.3%)
- AREVA FP : Areva Announces Death of CEO Luc Oursel
- OLE SM : Deoleo Board Says Ole Price Offer Is Attractive for Investors
- FTSE Index : IMI, Petrofac deleted, BArrat Developments & Taylor Wimpey added
- GSZ FP : French Gas Prices Are Set to Increase 1.8% From Jan.: Figaro
- HAW GY : *HAWESKO REJECTS TAKEOVER OFFER
- LHA GY : Lufthansa Pilot Strike May Cost German Economy EU25m Daily: Bild
- LUX IM : Luxottica May Bring in Sky Italia CEO as Board Member: Sole
- MALA FP : Grand Marnier denies plans to sell control of company - Press Release
- MAN GY : MAN Plans Shortened Work Hours for Munich Plant: Sueddeutsche
- MS IM : Mediaset's EI Towers Working on EU230m Bond Buyback: Corriere
- MERL LN : Merlin Entertainments Holders Selling 0.8% in Bookbuild
- NOVN VX : Array to Regain Worldwide Rights to Binimetinib From Novartis
- ONTEX BB : Whitehaven B Selling 9.8m Shares in Ontex Group, Terms Show
- VAC FP : Pierre & Vacances in Talks on Chinese Partnership, Echos Says
- RIO LN : Rio Tinto CEO Says Glencore’s Culture Not a Fit, AFR Reports
- RBXD LI : Germany Bars Imports Into Europe of Ranbaxy Antibiotic
- SAN FP : Sanofi Sued by Whistle-Blower Over Alleged Kickbacks: CNBC
- VOD LN : Vodafone CEO Said to Play Down Liberty Bid to Holders: Telegraph
- MF FP : Wendel Says Binding Offer Values CSP Technologies at $360m
- ZAL GY : Zalando to Replace Centrotec Sustainable in German SDAX Index

>>> What to look at today - 4th of December 2014

US Market closed higher leaded by small cap again, Cyclical sectors were responsible for the bulk of the advance as all six growth-sensitive groups ended in the green while health care (+0.2%) was the lone gainer on the countercyclical side...Energy & Materials Outperformed also...Tech underperform...Volume were below average @755mil shares...VIX @ 12.47 -2.96%...US After Hours TLYS +20.5%, PSUN +11.8%, AVGO +6.3%, ARO -2.5%, GES -0.1% following earnings/guidance; ARRY +22.8% (Array to Regain Worldwide Rights to Binimetinib From Novartis)... Shanghai Composite continued to trade higher today, reaching a fresh 42-month high. Brokers led the gains, with China's largest broker CITIC Securities traded higher by 10% at limit. Major energy names also soared, with PetroChina higher by over 8% and Sinopec up by 7% on recovering oil prices. Trading volumes cooled down a bit after hitting fresh record highs overnight...Brazil central bank raised its Selic target rate by 50bps to 11.75%, as expected by a narrow majority of analysts. This marks the 10th rate hike in Brazil tightening cycle since April 2014, and the second hike after the Presidential elections...Volatility in other USD majors is subdued ahead of the ECB rate decision later today. Market generally expects ECB to hold off on expanded QE. ECB chief Draghi is however likely to convey a more dovish tone at the press conference amid lower inflation expectations, and also reiterate that the central bank is prepared for unconventional measures...Nikkei +0.94% Hang Seng +1.51% Shanghai +3.94%

Eur$ 1.2305 S&P +0.07% EuroStoxx Dax SMI

Macro :
- Beige Book: Economy Kept Growing Oct.-Nov., Helped by Job Gains
- Inversion Measure May Save $33b in Tax Revenue: U.S. Panel
- Merkel Ally Soeder Says ECB Playing ’Dangerous Game’: Merkur
- Saudi Arabia Said to See Oil Stabilizing Around $60/Barrel: WSJ
- Netanyahu to Push for Zero VAT on Food Items: Calcalist Link

Keep an eye on :
- Oil : PetroChina Set for Biggest Gain Since Sept 2008 as Sinopec Jumps CNOOC(883) +4.2% Sinopec (386) +7.92%
- Luxury : Prada(1913) -1.55%, Hengdeli -0.7%
- Auto : Brillance -0.64%, Nissan +1.70%, Takata(7312) -3.3%
- AIR FP : Airbus Sees First Order for Longer-Range A321neo in Dec.: WSJ
- ALIV SS : Autoliv to Supply Replacement Airbag Inflators to Honda -->+3.2% in NYC (Takata -3.3%)
- AREVA FP : Areva Announces Death of CEO Luc Oursel
- OLE SM : Deoleo Board Says Ole Price Offer Is Attractive for Investors
- FTSE Index : IMI, Petrofac deleted, BArrat Developments & Taylor Wimpey added
- GSZ FP : French Gas Prices Are Set to Increase 1.8% From Jan.: Figaro
- HAW GY : *HAWESKO REJECTS TAKEOVER OFFER
- LHA GY : Lufthansa Pilot Strike May Cost German Economy EU25m Daily: Bild
- LUX IM : Luxottica May Bring in Sky Italia CEO as Board Member: Sole
- MALA FP : Grand Marnier denies plans to sell control of company - Press Release
- MAN GY : MAN Plans Shortened Work Hours for Munich Plant: Sueddeutsche
- MS IM : Mediaset's EI Towers Working on EU230m Bond Buyback: Corriere
- MERL LN : Merlin Entertainments Holders Selling 0.8% in Bookbuild
- NOVN VX : Array to Regain Worldwide Rights to Binimetinib From Novartis
- ONTEX BB : Whitehaven B Selling 9.8m Shares in Ontex Group, Terms Show
- VAC FP : Pierre & Vacances in Talks on Chinese Partnership, Echos Says
- RIO LN : Rio Tinto CEO Says Glencore’s Culture Not a Fit, AFR Reports
- RBXD LI : Germany Bars Imports Into Europe of Ranbaxy Antibiotic
- SAN FP : Sanofi Sued by Whistle-Blower Over Alleged Kickbacks: CNBC
- VOD LN : Vodafone CEO Said to Play Down Liberty Bid to Holders: Telegraph
- MF FP : Wendel Says Binding Offer Values CSP Technologies at $360m