1) Indicators of coming inflation picked up in November. Core consumer price index increased 0.2% in previous month, making for a yearly increase of 2.2%.
2) There are fears of another US financial crisis such as happened in 2008, with many of the same causes at work, such as leveraged loans. There are concerns over shadow banks, which are financial institutions offering unsecured and high risk loans that are not subject to normal regulation. These include derivatives and sub-prime lending, plus large conventional banks that are indirectly involved by investing in shadow banks and therefore are in the risky loan business too.
3) Cost of fighting California wild fires for this season is estimated to be in excess of one quarter billion dollars.
4) 14 DEC 18 Stock market closings:
Dow 24,100.51 down 496.87
Nasdaq 6,910.66 down 159.67
S&P 500 2,599.95 down 50.59
10 Year Yield: down at 2.89%
Oil: constant at $51.20