Economy
The EU has agreed to implement its new sanctions against Russia today, but will continue to assess their application based on the "situation on the ground." The new restrictions will hit Russia's state-controlled banks and oil companies, but will not include the gas sector, including Gazprom (OTCPK:OGZPY), the biggest gas supplier to Europe. Along with the announcement, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko vowed that the region of Crimea will be reunited with Ukraine. The U.S. is preparing its own set of new sanctions, which will be announced by President Obama later today.

The International Energy Agency has lowered its forecast for global oil demand growth for the third month in a row, calling the recent slowdown in demand "nothing short of remarkable." The IEA now foresees global oil demand growth of 900K bbl/day in 2014, a decrease of 65K bbl/day vs. last month's forecast and down by 300K bbl/day since July. The agency now expects oil demand to rise by 1.2M bbl/day next year, but that's 100K bbl/day less than it forecast last month.

After announcing a new round of stimulus measures a week ago, Mario Draghi called on governments to match the ECB's effort to boost growth in the euro zone. "A decisive rise in investment is essential to...inflation...the economy, and...unemployment," says Draghi. The ECB President also signaled that the central bank can't foster economic growth on its own, and that governments should remove the barriers to investment that are entrenched in regulatory red tape.

Japanese shares rose for the fifth straight session this morning, led by exporters on the yen's weakness. The Nikkei hit an eight-month high, climbing 0.3% to 15,948.29, its highest close since Jan. 8. The Topix rose 0.2% to a six-year closing high at 1,313.72, while the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 gained 0.2% to 11,905.53.

Stocks
Tesla's $1.3B in tax breaks and other incentives has been approved by Nevada lawmakers, cementing a deal for the electric car company to construct a $5B battery plant in the state. The new bills grant sales tax exemptions for 20 years, an incentive estimated at $725M, and will allow Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to save more than an estimated $300M in payroll and other taxes through 2024.

The U.S. government threatened to slap fines of $250K/day against Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) in 2008 if the company didn't comply with a demand to hand over user data, WSJ reports. Yahoo made the threat public after a special federal court unsealed 1,500 pages of legal documents showing Yahoo's ultimately unsuccessful legal battle to resist government demands of participating in the NSA's PRISM surveillance program.

Verizon may introduce an over-the-Internet digital video service by the middle of next year, says chief executive Lowell McAdam. The new service from Verizon (NYSE:VZ) would be similar to Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Hulu but would also stream live channels via a technology called multicasting. The technology avoids clogging the network, delivering content straight from broadcasters to smartphones over a single stream of airwaves that users can "tune" into.

eBay plans to launch an advertising network for its mobile app in the fourth quarter, shifting from the "retail-only" space into the fast-growing mobile ad market. Despite the new danger of drawing people away from the website, eBay's (NASDAQ:EBAY) head of advertising Stephen Howard-Sarin downplayed the risk, citing how many users repeatedly return to the site. eBay will also have an easy time tailoring the ads, as users have a universal login across all their devices.

Alliance Data has agreed to buy Conversant (NASDAQ:CNVR) in a cash and stock deal valued at about $2.3B. "The acquisition 'bulks up' Alliance Data in digital marketing, which is experiencing the fastest secular growth," says CEO Ed Heffernan. Alliance Data (NYSE:ADS) expects "substantial accretion" from the deal - adding about 50 cents a share in the first year and 75 cents in the second.

Barclays has named John McFarlane, current chairman of insurer Aviva (NYSE:AV) and transport firm FirstGroup (OTCPK:FGROY), as the bank's new chairman. McFarlane will replace Sir David Walker, who will retire next year, after Barclays' (NYSE:BCS) 2015 annual shareholder meeting usually held in April. The bank has been looking for a strong replacement for Walker, who with CEO Antony Jenkins has aimed to improve the bank's culture after a series of scandals in recent years.

Hertz says it has reached an agreement-in-principle with Carl Icahn to install three new directors to replace three existing directors who will retire. Icahn agrees not to run a proxy contest at its annual shareholder meeting in exchange for the directors, two of whom will be part a search committee to find a new CEO. Icahn disclosed an 8.5% stake in Hertz (NYSE:HTZ) last month.

Fresnillo says it will buy the 44% stake it doesn't already own in its Penmont joint venture from Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM), and expects the $450M deal to add to earnings immediately. "Acquiring full control of the Herradura and Noche Buena mines and the key exploration assets in the JV should enable us...to increase our target of reaching 500K ounces of attributable gold production by 2018 to 750K ounces," says Fresnillo (OTCPK:FNLPF) CEO Octavio Alvidrez.

Statoil is selling stakes in a number of oil and gas fields and a pipeline project to Germany's Wintershall for $1.25B in cash, plus another $50M if certain goals are met. "This transaction focuses our Norwegian continental shelf portfolio and further improves our capacity to invest in core areas," says Statoil (NYSE:STO) President Arne Sigve Nylund. Statoil has divested more than $18B in assets since 2010, and plans to invest $20B annually between 2014 and 2016.

Burger King will meet with lenders next week to discuss a $7.25B loan package, including a $6.75B seven-year term loan and a $500M five-year revolver, to back its $11.5B purchase of Tim Hortons (NYSE:THI). The loan, being arranged by JPMorgan Chase, would be the single biggest term loan for an acquisition by a speculative-grade borrower since 2007. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) is also providing $3B of preferred equity financing for Burger King's (NYSE:BKW) transaction.

In yet another tax inversion to hit the healthcare industry, Akorn (NASDAQ:AKRX) is reported to be exploring a bid for the U.S. subsidiary of Belgian drugmaker UCB (OTCPK:UCBJF, OTCPK:UCBJY), Kremers Urban Pharmaceuticals, for as much as $2B. The transaction would enable it to move its tax domicile overseas. According to accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, Akorn's current effective tax rate of around 37% is significantly higher than the industry average of around 23%.

Today's economic calendar:

8:30 Retail Sales
8:30 Import/Export Prices
9:55 Reuters/UofM Consumer Sentiment
10:00 Business Inventories

Notable earnings before today's open: DRI, NTWK