Bloomberg Business
-China rally: The Shanghai Composite Index finished the session 1.6 percent higher and 6.5 percent higher for the week, its best performance in four months. China is due to release GDP data on Monday (10 p.m. Sunday ET) with the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg now looking for 6.8 percent growth, below the government’s 7 percent target and the slowest quarterly pace since 2009. Find out here what to watch for in the report.
-Alibaba offer: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has offered to buy the rest of China’s most popular video-streaming website Youku Tudou Inc. for $26.60 a share which would be a 30 percent premium on yesterday’s closing price in New York.
-Volkswagen loses market share: The Volkswagen emissions scandal has hit the company’s sales in Europe as it failed to keep pace with competitors in September. As the Volkswagen prepares to recall 8.5 million cars in Europe, one analyst says that there has been a noticeable uptick in discounting from the manufacturer in the month as it tries to maintain sales.
-Greek debt exchange: Greek banks met with a group of bondholders on Monday to discuss the possibility of swapping debt for shares, according to people who asked not to be identified as the talks are private. Euro-area finance ministers, who have ear-marked as much as €25 billion from Greece’s latest bailout for bank recapitalization have said that bondholders may have to take losses before public money is used.
-Coming up: This week has already seen mixed data on the U.S. economy, with retail sales disappointing while initial jobless claims fell to their lowest level since Nixon was president. Today we get another look at the jobs market when JOLTS data is released and a measure of the broader economy with the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, both of which are due at 10 a.m. ET.
CNN Money
-U.S. deficit now lowest since 2007: The 2015 deficit came in at $439 billion, or 2.5% of the size of the economy, according to numbers released Thursday by the Treasury Department and the White House Office of Management and Budget. That’s the lowest since 2007, when the annual deficit was $161 billion, or 1.1% of GDP. It’s also $44 billion, or 9%, lower than it was in 2014.
-Fed hawks still want a rate hike in 2015: The Fed didn’t raise rates in September and the U.S. economy has struggled since then with a mediocre September jobs report, low retail sales last month and third quarter economic growth now projected to be below 1%. But it’s time for the Fed to do a rate hike and get off near-zero rates, says Loretta Mester, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. «The economy can handle an increase in the fed funds rate,» Mester said in a speech at New York University Thursday night, referring to the Fed’s key interest rate. «It is appropriate for monetary policy to take a step back from the emergency measure of zero interest rates.»
-Goldman Sachs slashes bonus pool: Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs reported earnings and revenue for the third quarter that missed forecasts. Revenue from bond, currency and commodities trading plunged 33% from a year ago. CEO Lloyd Blankfein blamed the poor results on investor concerns about the world’s economy. «We experienced lower levels of activity and declining asset prices during the quarter, reflecting renewed concerns about global economic growth,» he said during a statement. The market turmoil is taking its toll on how much the bank’s workers are taking home too. Goldman (GS) slashed the amount of its compensation expenses — its so-called bonus pool — by 16% from a year ago.
-Wall Street firms that bankrolled oil boom are hurting: Cheap oil is creating headaches for the Wall Street firms that bankrolled America’s oil boom. That’s because the crash in oil prices is putting energy companies under financial stress. Oil revenue has dried up, yet these companies are still saddled with tons of debt. America’s largest banks are now raising red flags about the health of those loans. For the second-straight quarter, the banks have warned investors about an uptick in troubled energy loans. Banks «are going to lose money on the loans they’ve made. That’s pretty evident — whether oil prices go to $30 or $80 a barrel,» said Dick Bove, an analysts who covers banks at Rafferty Capital.