Stocks set for steady open; Pound dips on omicron
Stocks looked set for a steady open Monday at the start of a key week for central bank policy decisions amid elevated inflation and questions about the impact of the omicron virus variant on growth.
Futures earlier pointed higher for Australia, Japan and Hong Kong. The $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ closed at a record high Friday on bets the U.S. economy can weather the Federal Reserve's move to reduce stimulus to curb price pressures.
Goldman Sachs says risk of major stocks drawdown modest for now
$Goldman Sachs (GS.US)$ strategists said there's little reason to expect a major retreat in U.S. stocks in the months ahead, even as the breadth of the rally that has pushed the S&P 500 index into successive records is getting increasingly narrow.
"The macro environment does not suggest drawdown risk is elevated in the coming months," the strategists wrote, highlighting that earnings and margins continue to surpass expectations, a low risk of recession, and share prices already reflecting the likely Fed tightening.
Airbnb, Lucid and Zscaler added to Nasdaq 100 tech benchmark
Six stocks, including $Airbnb (ABNB.US)$ and $Lucid Group (LCID.US)$, will be added to the Nasdaq 100 index as part of its annual reconstitution, which adjusts the tech benchmark's membership for changes in market capitalization.
$Fortinet (FTNT.US)$, $Palo Alto Networks (PANW.US)$, $Zscaler (ZS.US)$ and $Datadog (DDOG.US)$ will also be added to the index. All changes are effective as of the close on Dec. 17, the same day as the rebalancing of the S&P 500 Index takes effect.
ETF inflows top $1 trillion for first time
This year's inflows into ETFs world-wide crossed the $1 trillion mark for the first time at the end of November, surpassing last year's total of $735.7 billion, according to Morningstar Inc. data. That wave of money, along with rising markets, pushed global ETF assets to nearly $9.5 trillion, more than double where the industry stood at the end of 2018.
Most of that money has gone into low-cost U.S. funds that track indexes run by Vanguard Group, $Blackrock (BLK.US)$ and $State Street (STT.US)$ , which together control more than three-quarters of all U.S. ETF assets.
Own everything but 'bubble assets' tech and crypto, recommends Institutional Investor hall of famer Rich Bernstein
Institutional Investor hall of famer Rich Bernstein is a market bull whose playbook excludes some of Wall Street's most popular groups. He blames a risky see-saw dynamic playing out in the marketplace.
"On one side, we have all that I would call the bubble assets: tech, innovation, cryptocurrencies," the Richard Bernstein Advisors CEO and CIO told CNBC on Friday. "On the other side of this see-saw, you have literally everything else in the world. I think if you're looking at 2022 into 2023, you want to be in the everything else in the world side of that see-saw."
Amazon Web Services explains outage and will make it easier to track future ones
A major Amazon Web Services outage on Tuesday started after network devices got overloaded, the company said on Friday.
$Amazon (AMZN.US)$ ran into issues updating the public and taking support inquiries, and now will revamp those systems.
Inflation surge pushes U.S. real interest rates into more deeply negative territory
Inflation rose 6.8% from a year ago in November, slightly higher than estimates according to the consumer price index released Friday. Excluding food and energy, the CPI increased 4.9%, in line with expectations.
Surging prices for food, energy and shelter accounted for much of the gains.
Uber, Lyft drivers want more protection as rising crime keeps many off the roads
Ride-sharing companies $Uber Technologies (UBER.US)$ and $Lyft Inc (LYFT.US)$ —which were already caused by Covid-19 concerns—are grappling with a rise in violent crimes and implementing new safety measures and policies to try to better protect the drivers still on their systems. Drivers aren't returning as quickly as consumers, despite big bonuses from companies and the expiration of temporary unemployment benefits extended to gig workers.
Source: Bloomberg, WSJ, CNBC

The illustration makes the extent of the overvaluation clear. The solid blue line representing U.S. equities' cyclically adjusted price/earnings ratio leaps from its fair-value range, represented by the gray band, just as it did for an extended period before the dot-com bubble burst.
One of the key take aways from their economic and market outlook shouldn't be a surprise. They've said for a few years that U.S. equity valuations were approaching "stretched" territory. A strong 2021 run-up in prices driven more by valuation expansion than by increased profits makes U.S. equities more overvalued than at any other time since the dot-com bubble.
Vanguard's assessment is based on the latest quarterly running of the Vanguard Capital Markets Model (VCMM), as of September 30, 2021. The model considers equity valuations relative to their fair value, conditional on interest rates and inflation. Rising interest rates erode the present value of future cash flows, so interest rates and inflation tend to influence equity market valuations—and, by extension, prices.
Vanguard 2022 outlook calls not for a lost decade for U.S. stocks, as some fear, but for a lower-return one.
Specifically, they are projecting the lowest 10-year annualized return projections for global equities since the early 2000s. We expect the lowest ones in the U.S. (2.3%–4.3% per year), with more attractive expected returns for non-U.S. developed markets (5.3%–7.3%) and, to a lesser degree, emerging markets (4.2%–6.2%). The outlook for the global equity risk premium is still positive but lower than last year's, with total returns expected in the range of 2 to 4 percentage points over bond returns.
For U.S. investors, this modest return outlook belies opportunities for those investing broadly outside their home market.
Recent outperformance has only strengthened our conviction innon-U.S. equities, which have more attractive valuations than U.S. equities. Although emerging-market equities are above our estimate of fair value, we still expect higher returns than the U.S. and diversification benefits for investors.
Within U.S. markets,theythink value stocks are still more attractive than growth stocks, despite value's outperformance over the last 12 months.
$Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ $SSE Composite Index (000001.SH)$ $Hang Seng Index (800000.HK)$
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China's Didi has been under pressure since the first few days after its IPO. Being on the wrong side of PRC authorities, it proceeded to list its company on US exchange despite not having the blessing of the cyberspace administration of China. Why not against the authoritiees?
If you read my articles on my views on Didi, you would have known that for any investment into the chinese tech stocks isnt that clear for a win until the Didi ruling is out. Well Jack Ma being out of the woods having been to Europe temporarily let markets perceive the end is near. Well it wasnt that wrong but Hang Seng Tech retesting a few times above 6700 before falling back to around 6100 doesnt look pretty. Range bound for HS Tech is here isnt it?
But not all is bad! With one of the major overhangs concerning Chinese tech stocks due to the unclear direction for Didi, at least seeing it being delisted and maybe relisted to Hong Kong isnt that bad. For delisting to be so near to the IPO in US, there is a good chance that Didi cannot underpay for this in a way of lowballing the IPO investors. There may be a chance that speculators may take the chance to punt a delisting price of 14 USD. Will they be right or wrong?
That I cannot say for sure...
All I can say is China has been clearing alot of roadblocks and one of the 2 big hurdles for the flurry of regulations was catalysed (i) by Jack Ma comments that banks are like pawnshops in China and (ii) another being Didi insisting its listing in US despite not being blessed by China's authorities...
For trading, one has to remain agile and know how to cut loss. For investment, one has to really play the long game by staying focused on the business fundamentals and have a clear understanding of the macro and regulatory environments not only in China but as well as in the whole world.
As always, this should not be construed as any investment or trading advice.
$Hang Seng Index (800000.HK)$ $Hang Seng TECH Index (800700.HK)$ $DiDi Global (Delisted) (DIDI.US)$ $Youdao (DAO.US)$ $NetEase (NTES.US)$ $NTES-S (09999.HK)$ $JD.com (JD.US)$ $MEITUAN-W (03690.HK)$ $BILIBILI-W (09626.HK)$ $Bilibili (BILI.US)$ $HAIER SMARTHOME (06690.HK)$ $HUYA Inc (HUYA.US)$ $UP Fintech (TIGR.US)$ $XIAOMI-W (01810.HK)$ $Alibaba (BABA.US)$ $ALI PICTURES (01060.HK)$ $Alibaba Group Holding (05843.HK)$ $Futu Holdings Ltd (FUTU.US)$ $TENCENT (00700.HK)$ $BABA-W (09988.HK)$ $JOYY (YY.US)$

$FTSE China A50 Index Futures(MAR5) (CNmain.SG)$ 100