• There is $525 million to sell market on close.

• Thanks for reading my Diary today. I hope it was value-added.

I did very little trading today. It's not really a time to get too involved. Purchased a small position in Altisource Asset Management (AAMC) and Monitise (MONIF), also a small stake. Shorted JPMorgan (JPM) against Citigroup (C). Now net short banks.

Enjoy the evening.

• Individual and sector market surprises.

Bank Stocks Fall -- Though bank stocks have been recent market leaders, the weight of a flattening yield curve, still-tepid loan demand and an implosion in the European banking system make the sector among the worst market performers. Moreover, a major cyber attack against Bank of America (BAC) that actually destroys a percentage of customer records further diminishes enthusiasm for the group.

(Also check out Derivative Blow-Up in Surprise No. 15)

-- Doug Kass Diary, 15 Surrpises for 2015

Back short JPMorgan (JPM) at $63.20 against my Citigroup (C) long. Here is my case for Citigroup expressed months ago.

Now I'm slightly net short banks.

• Just for kicks.

Here is a partial list of the people and organizations I quoted in Monday's 15 Surprises for 2015.

Casey Stengel

Mae West

Woody Allen

Mickey Mantle

Jeremy Grantham

Abba Eban 

Adam Parker (of Morgan Stanley)

Ed Koch

Claudio Boro

Karen Finerman

Soren Kierkegaard

Mike Lewitt

Goldman Sachs

North Korea's media machine

Portia (The Merchant of Venice)

Donald Trump

Wayne Gretzky

Steve Jobs

Will Rogers

John F. Kennedy

Alan King

Joan Rivers

Warren Buffett (of course!) 

I would describe this as an eclectic list.

• Real estate maven Mark Hanson discusses Case-Shiller:

Case-Shiller, the most lagging of all house price measures, at up to seven-months from when sellers and buyers agree upon a price, continued the 11-month trend that would lead to lower house prices in 2015, in today's "October" data release. 

The "third stimulus hangover cycle in the last seven years," which I have been pounding the table over for a year, is becoming all too clear.

Bottom line: the only argument one can have with the conclusions in the chart below is that "it's different this time."

Case-Schiller Index Trend

Source: Mark Hanson

View Chart »View in New Window »

Bottom line: In the leading indicating, momo-gogo, Bubble 1.0 turned Bubble 2.0 regions, the loss of momentum and stimulus-hangover is even more pronounced.

Leading Indicator Regions

Source: Mark Hanson

View Chart »View in New Window »

Note, in my January PowerPoint presentation update, I am going to add some other important regions in this chart, such as ones more dependent on the oil industry, which will be stiff headwinds into mid-year 2015.

I don't think people give enough respect for just how much the strength in Texas over the past few years masked weakness in housing and prices elsewhere. To that end, also how much the strength in Texas-centric builder stocks masked weakness in others in the housing related indices. 

• A recap of the first surprise for 2015: faith in central bankers is tested (stocks sink and gold soars).

European QE Backfires. The ECB initiates a sovereign QE in January 2015, but it is modest in scale (relative to expectations), as Germany won't permit a more aggressive strategy. Markets are disappointed with the small size of the ECB's initiative and European banks choose to hold their bonds instead of selling. ECB balance sheet still can't get to 3 trillion euros and the euro actually rallies sharply. Bottom line, QE fails to work (economic growth doesn't accelerate and inflationary expectations don't lift). 

Draghi Is Exposed. Mario Draghi is exposed for what he really is: the big kid of which everyone is scared. For some time, no one wanted to fight him (or fade sovereign debt bonds, which would be contra to his policy). But, after the meek January QE, the response changes. He is now seen as the bully who never throws a punch and who always has gotten his way. But at the time of the January QE a medium-sized kid (and a market participant) teases him and Draghi warns him again to stop it. The kid keeps teasing. Draghi the bully takes a swing, it turns out he can't fight and the medium-sized kid whips his butt. From then on, the big kid is feared no more. For some time Draghi has said he will do "whatever it takes," but he never really had to do anything. When he finally gets going and has to act rather than talk, he will expose himself as only a bully and as a weak big kid. Mario Draghi gets fed up with the Germans and returns to Italy (where he was governor of the Bank of Italy between 2006-2011) and becomes the country's president.  

-- Doug Kass Diary, 15 surprises for 2015

ECB Economist Peter Praet is warning in an interview with Boersen-Zeitung that the decline in oil prices is "de anchoring" expectations for European inflation to drop below zero "for a longer period in 2015," and has suggested that ECB QE is growing more likely. 

So let me get this straight.

Draghi has jawboned interest rates in the EU to well below where anyone had expected in 2014, and that is still not enough, as the European economies are flatlining at best. 

Italy's 10-year yield is less than 1.90% (compared to 2.18% in the U.S.) and German Bunds are yielding 0.60%.

What possibly will ever-lower rates do to help the European economies, given their ridiculously and artificailly low interest rates today? 

I remain a market bear, particularly in light of the magnitude of the recovery since the mid October lows. At best, we have "borrowed" from 2015 returns. At worst, well, look at my 15 Surprises for 2015.

• Yesterday, I suggested that the rally of the biotech sector fund iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) off of the lows was likely to stall.

Biotech is off by about 1% today. 

• Recommended Reading

Ben Hunt's "Clash of Civilizations" is a must-read!

• Recommended Reading.

David Katz plays the role of the "Anti-Kass" in his Fearless Forecast for 2015. It's a thoughtful list, and far more concise than mine.

• Midday musings from Sir Arthur "Fifty Years" Cashin.

Moscow demonstrations add to the geo-political risk profile.  Flight to safety has yield on ten year dip below 2.2% and lifts gold $20 and up.

Run rate remains slow and at 12:30, projects to an NYSE final of 520/600  million shares.

• For all beleaguered New York Jets fans.

From Mohamed El-Erian on Rex Ryan.

Back picking at Monitise (MONIF).

My only catalyst right now is the end of the tax selling period tomorrow afternoon.

• Twitter's shares continue to suffer from the aura of multiple insider sales. 

High yield funds SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK) and iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) are down a tad today.

No biggie.

After a nice run, there appears to be profit-taking in BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trust (BKN) and Nuveen Municipal Market Opportunity Fund (NMO), two closed-end municipal bond funds.

I am bidding under the market for more.

• Nice rally in the price of oil, now up $0.60 after early morning weakness.

While oil stocks have risen off the lows, they are still down on the day. Again, I suspect the energy sector might be a bit ahead of the commodities' schmeissing over the last few weeks.

• On CNBC, Dolly Lenz is saying that volume precedes prices in the housing markets, and that volume is declining now.

• This morning, energy stocks are "catching up" to the downside, on the recent plunge in oil.

I sold the balance of my ExxonMobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX) and Devon (DVN) longs yesterday for a profit.

• Here is a pie chart of the sector contribution to today's change in the S&P 500.

S&P 500 Percent Price Change by Sector

Source: Bloomberg

View Chart »View in New Window »

• More on the ambiguous benefits of lower oil prices as the tail lengthens.  

Alaska Governor Warns State's Fiscal Situation "Critical" As Oil Price Drops.

• Surprise No. 12

Home prices fall in the second half of 2015.

"I told my mother-in-law that my house was her house and she said, 'Get the hell off my property.'" -- Joan Rivers

"Under the weight of reduced home affordability, still-low household formation gains and continued pressure on real incomes, home prices fall in 2015.Builders lose pricing power." -- Kass Diary, 15 Surprises for 2015

According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Index, home prices in October rose 0.76% month-over-month and rose 4.5% year-over-year, both a touch above expectations, but September was revised slightly lower. Prices on a year-over-year basis has now slowed for 11 straight months, and the gain of 4.5% is the slowest since September 2012, as not one of the 20 cities surveyed saw a double-digit gain.

San Francisco and Miami had the strongest price increases, with Cleveland the least. Bottom line, the housing industry in 2014 has had a year of fits and starts as the homeownership rate continues to fall. Investors are buying less homes, credit standards remain tight, and income growth remains sluggish (albeit less so), but job growth has improved and mortgage rates are historically low.

This all said, lower home price growth is a necessary component in an eventual sustainable improvement in home sales, as too many first-time buyers have been priced out of the market. Hopefully, we can soon once again align home price growth with income growth. 

• As another year passes, it's time to revisit the annual tribute to Jim Cramer's vision.

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,

Stood puzzling and puzzling; how could it be so?

It came without ribbons. It came without tags.

It came without packages, boxes or bags.

And he puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store?

What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?

-- Dr. Seuss, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

Another year is about to pass.

Remarkably, next month will mark my 14th year as a regular on these pages. That's a lot of words, ideas and investment observations.

I actually started out writing on TheStreet.com back in the late 1990s when I penned a column called "The Contrarian." At that time, the site was a relatively new concept and a real-time experiment that struggled in its infancy. But it began to flourish even as the economy and markets suffered in 2001.

Since I started writing for Jim Cramer, we have not only dealt with the market's ups and downs, but we have shared some of life's experiences together through visits, e-mails, telephone conversations and other personal correspondence.

I have defended Jimmy, I have written a piece called "On Jim Being Cramer" and have transformed myself at times into the Anti-Cramer. I have agreed and disagreed with him, all the while with maximum respect for Jim as a businessman, an investor, a friend, an author, a media figure and, most importantly, as a dad.

Happily, over more than a decade, I have met numerous other new friends -- both virtually and in person -- from my experience as a member of the community at TheStreet and on Real Money Pro.

We have all experienced some terribly emotional times, most notably the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001 and the loss of contributor Bill "Budman" Meehan and many of our dear friends. We mourned together.

But as painful as that period was over time, we recovered and life went on.

We have recently concluded the celebration of Hanukkah and of Christmas and the New Year will be shortly upon us, so it's time to revisit my annual tribute to Jim "El Capitan" Cramer's vision.

This year's version of my tribute to Jim has more meaning to me than the others, as I just passed my two-year anniversary of surviving cancer. It is the life experiences of this type that makes one even more thankful.

A few paragraphs could not possibly communicate the warmest of feelings I have about many of my acquired relationships -- with subscribers, with contributors, with editors, with the management of TheStreet and, of course, with Jim, who lies at the middle of it all.

As I always write (to my haters and lovers alike) in my Diary's comments section, we are all on the same team. In the end, we all want to make thoughtful, intelligent and carefully-analyzed investments that yield superior results. We are hopeful that the pages of TheStreet, Real Money and Real Money Pro provide you with that ammunition.

Several years ago, I initiated something different in order to express my sincere thanks and to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season in my own special way. This morning, as I now do on an annual basis, I offer you the following (updated) parody of Dr. Seuss's "McElligot's Pool."

This is my holiday present to all of you, but it's especially in honor of someone who has had another remarkable encore performance in 2014: Jim "El Capitan" Cramer.

This year we saw Cramerica expanded again. Jim hit it out of the park when he followed up his past two MVP seasons. His interviews with corporate managements are well researched and add value. His columns are insightful and differentiated. And his growing stable of books all represent a unique body of work, as well: "Jim Cramer's Getting Back to Even," "Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)," "Jim Cramer's Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich," "Jim Cramer's Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," "Confessions of a Street Addict", "You Got Screwed! Why Wall Street Tanked and How You Can Prosper and Get Rich Carefully!

Jim is the life blood and at the epicenter of TheStreet and its sister sites Real Money and Real Money Pro.

My fondness for Jim is well known and was expressed by me in the prologue of my new book.

Over the past few years, the man who doesn't want to make friends, but does want to make you money, has introduced the words "skeedaddy" and "booyah" and made them part of the investment world's vernacular. He has graced the cover of national magazines and has become an iconic figure. As such, he stands out, night after night, with non-stop enthusiasm and hard work, giving his best shot in dispensing advice in a reasoned and well-researched manner (both absolutely and relative to others in the media).

Being such a public persona with strong opinions, he is often the target of criticism (especially on Twitter these days). I admire his work ethic and the way he accepts mostly undeserved criticism like a man and the manner in which he fights back with facts and figures, with such an immense and rich reservoir of financial history and knowledge.

Over the past several years, in numerous e-mails, telephone calls and one-on-one meetings (on and off the set), I have learned to appreciate Jim as an investment professional and, more importantly, as a man and as a dad. His drive for perfection has resulted in huge sacrifices. But you wouldn't know it because he doesn't say it. Jim could easily be reaping the benefits of managing a multibillion-dollar hedge fund today, earning an annual income of tens of millions (if not more). Instead, he strives to educate the individual investor.

How many of us would choose the road that Jim has unselfishly traveled?

I remember so fondly when I first wrote "Jim Cramer's Pool," and Jim told me that he read this poem to his two daughters at bedtime. They were very young back then. It made me very happy and sentimental (I actually shed a tear when he e-mailed that. In doing so, Jimmy made my gig on TheStreet even more worthwhile because I know how central they are to his life (as my two sons are to me)).

If you look hard at Jimmy there is always a twinkle in his eye. Behind the exterior it is all about his daughters and their importance and influence in his own life.

To turn Gertrude Stein's words around a bit, in Jimmy, there is a lot of there there. Trust me, I know. Jim is complicated. It is that what makes Jim the special person he is.

Frankly, I just admire and love the guy. I don't know how to express my admiration any better.

So, from the Anti-Cramer to the one and only real Cramer, this Bud's for you, Jimmy. Thanks for being my pal. I feel fortunate to have you as a part of my life. The subtle manner in which you guide me past my mistakes and your constructive criticism (designed to help me not repeat those mistakes) have made me a more thoughtful scribe and investor.

And you have made me a better man.

Before I deliver this year's version of "Jim Cramer's Pool," I wanted to close by wishing our subscribers, editors, technicians, management and fellow contributors a healthy and prosperous New Year. I especially wanted to thank you all for granting me the wonderful platform to present my ideas and logic in my Diary, as goofy, distorted and wrong-footed as my words might seem at times.

Now on to "Jim Cramer's Pool!"

It all started in June 1996

In a building on Wall Street ... far, far away.

"Young man," exclaimed the analyst,

You're sort of a fright!

You'll never catch winners

On Jim Cramer's site!

"The site is too small."

And you might as well know it,

When brokers sell junk,

Here's the place that they throw it.

"But listen, young man.

If you sat 50 years

With your worms and your wishes

You'd grow a long beard

Long before you'd catch winners!"

"Hmmm...," answered Cramer,

"It may be you're right.

I've written for hours

Without one single bite.

There might be no winners.

But, again, well, there might!

"'Cause you never can tell

What goes on over time!

This site might be bigger

Than you or I find!

"This might be a site, like I've read of in textbooks,

Connected to one of those underground brooks!

An underground river that starts here and flows

Right under 14 Wall! And then ... well, who knows?

"It might keep going along, down where no one can see,

Right under the State Highway Two-Thousand-and-Three!

Right under the buildings! Right under the toes

Of a honcho named Sozzi, who's hanging out his clothes!

"It might keep on flowing ... perhaps, who can tell?

Right under the people in Elisabeth DeMarse's hotel!

Right under Brown Brothers, where they're playing croquet!

Then under the mountains and far, far away!

"This might be a river, Now mightn't it be,

Connecting Jim Cramer's site with the sea!

Then maybe some winners might be swimming toward me.

(If such things could be, They certainly would be!)

"Some very smart strategists might point out the way

To the site where I'm fishing. And that's why I say

If you wait long enough; if you're patient and bright,

Who knows what you'll catch on Jim Cramer's site?!

"You might catch a "Hyper" Link (that's my pal Stephanie by name!)

You might catch a 'K-Squared' (that's managing editor Kim Khan!)

You might catch a Widlitz

A long, long drawn-out fish!

"You might even catch a Hoerth named Casey

A Norman or Laudani!

You even might catch a pickle-like Dill(ian),

A Berman and an Arms

Many a chart they'll both fill!

"Any kind! Any shape! Any color or size!

You might catch some winners that would open your eyes!

I won't be surprised if a Tillier appears!

Complete with a collar and long floppy ears!

Whoofing along! And perhaps we might chase

A whole lot of right straight to this place!

"You might catch a Price -- yeah that Price is usually right (!)

Or a Carolyn Boroden

With a precision-like tail!

You might get hot with a 'Burn Baby' Byrne

Who makes portfolios sail!

You might catch some Robert "not Rita" Moreno!

Who's a high-stepping winner.

You might catch a Bret, is he

"Meet" George Jensen's kid!

"You might catch a Gad (Zooks!)

With that incredible pen

For producing the models

That winners portend.

You might catch a sensible Gayed

An Arnold or a Lang

Or even a Collins (not Phil but a Tim!)

Who is really sporty!

"You might catch a Morrow, a Moreno or a Fitzpatrick

Now mightn't you, now!?!

You might catch a Stalter

Whose ideas pay for my chow.

Some fish from London.

Like Real Money Pro-- so hot,

Might decide to sign up!

Well they might, might they not?

"Or racing up north for a chance to get right,

Full steam ahead for Jim Cramer's site

Some lucrative winners

Like my 'fav, 'The Divine Ms. M.'

From beyond Hudson Bay

Might decide to swim down,

Might be headed Jim's way!

It's a pretty long trip,

But they might, and they may.

"You might catch a Versace (not the designer, it's Chris!)

A Graff or a Curcio.

"Or even travel 'Downtown' with Josh Brown

Well, you might. It depends.

A long-twisting CNBC chatting Daniel Dicker (Oil vey!)

With a lot of strange bends

And, oddly enough,

With some gasoline on both ends!

"One doesn't catch this kind of winner as a rule,

But the chances are fine in Jim Cramer's pool!

"You might find a Ponsi 'Scheme'

An observer with muscle,

Might grab at your bait,

Then would you have a tussle!

"To land one so valuable might take two or three hours,

But the next might be easy,

Like Melvin, who likes flowers

Or you might catch a winner

From a stranger place yet!

Like Giovinazzi, from the world's highest river,

In far-off Tibet.

"You might catch a Katz

And a biggie named Morrow

Both spouting their spouts

And all earning a bounty.

"You'll probably catch many more writers

Like Ashenberg and a Peltier

And, oh by the way,

Did I mention an 'Ask Noah?'

"Then you'll stop for the day

'Cause there's nothing that's bigger

Than Jim's site, so they say.

"Still, of course, it might be

That there is something bigger!

Someone like Rev Shark

A Thing-A-Ma-Jigger!

Rev's a technician so big, if you know what I mean,

That he makes a whale look like a tiny sardine!

"Oh, the site is full of a number of oldies,

Like Oprita and Dvorchak, or

Malandrino, Carter, Simons and Garner

And Haefele - oh!

If a subscriber is patient,

He might get many more winners!

"And that's why I think

That we all get really bright

As we sit here and read

On Jim Cramer's site!"

• "You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old." -- George Burns

A hearty and warm congratulations to Sir Arthur Cashin, who will be ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange this morning, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his "signing the book" to become a member of the exchange.

• The Gospel According to Peter Boockvar.

Please note Peter's recap of the unhedged Nikkei return in 2014. It is revealing.

While European markets continue to react to yesterday's Greek news, I think the biggest market risk going forward for the rest of us is not what happens politically or economically in Greece (although it would potentially be a huge negative for them individually and its creditors) but if the goings on there instead impacts what the ECB wants to do going forward. The possibility of the Syriza party winning the January 25th election, 3 days after the ECB's next meeting, won't likely alter Draghi's plans for sovereign QE but it could complicate it. Will Draghi buy the bonds of Greece who will be run by a PM who doesn't want to pay them back? Will there be ECB conditions on countries that don't abide by budgetary rules? Is Draghi really going to pile into German 10 yr bunds that are yielding just .55%, French oats that return .83% per year for 10 years and Italian and Spanish bonds that have yields with a 1 handle? Likely but what is obvious for the ECB is that sovereign QE is not as easy to pull off with 17 different euro zone countries involved compared to the money printing asset purchase programs of the Fed, BoE and BoJ.

Private sector loan growth in the euro zone was less bad in November as it fell .9% y/o/y which was an improvement from the 1.1% drop in October and 1.2% fall in September. It's the smallest y/o/y decline since March '13 as M3 improved to a 3.1% y/o/y (quickest pace since April '13) growth rate from 2.5% in October. Bank lending in the euro zone hasn't been positive on a y/o/y since March '12. As seen with the TLTRO take up of about half of what the ECB was hoping for at a borrowing rate of only .15%, bank lending is not expected to quicken anytime soon.

Lastly in Europe and pointing to what I believe is the fallacy of fighting lower prices for an economy that is both restructuring and reforming. In December, Spanish CPI fell 1.1% y/o/y, well more than expectations of down .7% and follows a .5% drop in November. It's the 6th straight month of y/o/y declines. As any American would relate to however, lower prices increased the demand for goods as retail sales in Spain in November jumped 1.9% y/o/y, the fastest pace since September '13. Thus, I disagree with the central bank belief that people will put off purchases today if they think prices will get cheaper tomorrow. People want today what they want today, especially if the price is cheaper. In contrast, the higher the price for goods and services, the lower the demand for them. Walmart didn't become the world's biggest and most successful retailer over the past 50 years by offering Everyday High Prices.

In the US, Civeo is the latest casualty of the oil price decline and unfortunately, "the company has reduced headcount in its Canadian and US operations by 30% and 45%, respectively, from levels at the beginning of 2014." Lower energy prices are great for so many and longer term if sustained should be a net positive but I print these comments from Civeo in order to have an honest and more factual debate about the short term impact on the US economy from lower energy prices.

Lastly, Japan closed up shop for the year with a 7.1% 2014 gain in the Nikkei but that's only for those who hedged out the yen. In US dollar terms the Nikkei fell 5.6%.

•  Tech-startup valuations.

Cheap money is the father of malinvestment.

Case in point, perpetually low interest rates cause sky-high valuations for tech startups.

Read this WSJ article carefully.

• I'm not sure I see them.

Surprise No. 3 -- The drop in oil prices fails to help the economy.

"In its November 14, 2014 Daily Observations ("The Implications of $75 Oil for the US Economy"), the highly respected hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, LP confirmed that lower oil prices will have a negative impact on the economy. After an initial transitory positive impact on GDP, Bridgewater explains that lower oil investment and production will lead to a drag on real growth of 0.5% of GDP. The firm noted that over the past few years, oil production and investment have been adding about 0.5% to nominal GDP growth but that if oil levels out at $75 per barrel, this would shift to something like -0.7% over the next year, creating a material hit to income growth of 1-1.5%."-- Mike Lewitt, The Credit Strategist

Despite the near-universal view that lower oil prices will benefit the economy, the reverse turns out to be the case in 2015 as the economy as a whole may not have more money -- it might have less money.

Continued higher costs for food, rent, insurance, education, etc. eat up the benefit of lower oil prices. Some of the savings from lower oil is saved by the consumer who is frightened by slowing domestic growth, a slowdown in job creation and a deceleration in the rate of growth in wages and salaries. 

And the unfavorable drain on oil-related capital spending and lower-employment levels serve to further drain the benefits of lower gasoline and heating oil prices.

In The Financial Times, recently, Martin Wolf wrote: "(A) $40 fall in the price of oil represents a shift of roughly $1.3 trillion (close to 2 per cent of world gross output) from producers to consumers annually. This is significant. Since, on balance, consumers are also more likely to spend quickly than producers, this should generate a modest boost to world demand."

But Wolf, and the many other observers, as Mike Lewitt again reminds us, "fail to explain how the $1.3 trillion that has been deducted from the global economy is able to shift from one group to another. "

 - 15 Surprises for 2015 (Kass Diary)

As I mentioned in one of my surprises (see above), the benefits of the lower oil prices on the U.S. economy remains ambiguous to me.

Case in point, the huge guide down by Civeo (CVEO) (a company that serves the energy business by providing food and housing).

• The rundown.

• U.S. futures are subject to some early profit taking. (S&P futures are down by 5 handles and Nasdaq futures are 6 handles higher.)
• European stocks are modestly lower with the CAC down by -0.90%.
• Nikkei is -1.6%. wrapping up 2014 (this was their last session of the year) in the red. Little in the way of incremental news. The yen has caught a bid. Within the index all subgroups are lower with healthcare and tech lagging. Discretionary, tech and healthcare all underperformed. JGB 10-year yields continue to hover around 0.3%.
• China is flat. Within the index financials and energy led while consumer discretionary and tech lagged.
• The U.S. dollar is -0.19% and the euro is +0.04%.
• Gold is +$5 an ounce and crude is flat after days of weakness. Natural Gas is down another -1.4% to $3.16. Copper is +0.73%.
• The yield on the 10-year U.S. note is down by 1.5 basis points and is now back under 2.20%.  Remember, I thought the rise in bond yields would stop at 2.25% at year end, so far so good. Meanwhile EU sovereign debt yields are back to yearly lows.

It is a risk-off morning around the globe with most markets lower. As I mentioned yesterday, volume continues to be anemic in global markets. Maybe the markets are just a bit tired, with Greece being the default excuse for weakness.

Looking to the U.S. session, another quiet day is expected. The Case-Shiller home prices are at 9 a.m. and consumer confidence an hour later.

• The "SHAK" burger.

History (and stupidity) rhyme.

This is almost too ridiculous to believe -- as the sea of "malinvestment" widens.