The Traderszone Network

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen next week has to decide not only whether to raise interest rates for the first time in a decade, but also how to assure markets on the likely path of future rate hikes. The central bank has held short-term borrowing costs near zero for seven years and the last thing policymakers want is for their first rate hike to trigger expectations for future increases that could knock economic growth off track. Traders currently expect the Fed to raise interest rates two or three times next year.

    Merger discussions between Dow Chemical (DOW.N) and DuPont (DD.N), two of the biggest and oldest names in the U.S. chemical industry, were prompted, at least in part, by activist investors.    The penchant for top-tier activists to target large U.S. companies is expected to gain traction, as the funds have growing pots of money to spend and need to put larger chunks of cash to work. Investors have poured more money into activist hedge funds as successful campaigns to force changes at hundreds of U.S. companies have produced index-beating returns during the past few years.

Ford Motor Co (F.N) plans to invest an additional $4.5 billion by 2020 in programs to broaden its offerings of hybrids and electric vehicles, Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields said Thursday. Fields said it will launch late next year a new version of its Ford Focus electric car that has a 100-mile range and can recharge in 30 minutes. Ford also plans to add 13 new plug-in hybrid, hybrid or electric vehicles to its lineup by 2020, moving to more than 40 percent the share of the company’s vehicle lines that will be electrified.

The Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board approved the sale of the new 2016 BMW diesel X5 after government testing found no evidence of software to evade emissions standards, the government said Thursday. EPA spokeswoman Laura Allen said Thursday that the agency – along with California and Canada – was doing additional testing before approving new diesel vehicles.

Citi Japan economists expect the Bank of Japan to add further monetary easing at the January meeting
– The BOJ meet next week (December 17 and 18), the January meeting is on the 28th and 29th
Citi cite their reasoning (my summary):

The home-furnishings specialist boosted margins, and celebrated new launches to expand its brand.

Stocks broke a three-day losing streak to end in the green today.