Economy
A final agreement has been reached on a $1.1T U.S. spending bill that would prevent a government shutdown at midnight on Thursday and fund every government agency but the Department of Homeland Security through next September. The bill largely keeps fiscal 2015 domestic spending unchanged, but as the deadline loomed, a number of policy provisions were negotiated into the measure, including easing of regulations on the environment and financial derivatives trading.

The IMF has identified a $15B shortfall in its bailout for Ukraine, which has opened because of a 7% contraction in country’s GDP and a collapse in exports to Russia, Ukraine’s biggest trading partner. The additional cash needed would come on top of the $17B loan package announced in April and would have to be filled within weeks to avoid financial collapse. Since the bailout program began in April, Kiev has received $8.2B in funding from the IMF and other international creditors.

Japanese shares fell to a near-two week low today as a stronger yen prompted investors to sell exporters' shares. Japanese consumer confidence in November also weighed on stocks, dropping for a fourth straight month, as an April sales tax hike continued to drag down sentiment. China reported that its CPI data rose 1.4% in November, its slowest pace in five years, further displaying weak domestic demand.

Calling it a "crazy economic policy", Prime Minister Stephen Harper says that Canada will not impose new carbon emission rules on its oil and gas sector in a time of falling oil prices. Canada’s critical energy sector has been slammed by the recent collapse of world oil prices, and a number of Canadian producers recently have announced plans to cut spending and dividends.

North Dakota regulators ordered producers pumping oil from the Bakken shale field to strip explosive gases from their product in an effort to make crude-by-rail transport safer. The rule, which will take effect on April 1, 2015, is the first major move by regulators to address the role of gaseous, volatile crude oil in railroad accidents which have been linked to several fiery explosions, including one last year in Quebec that killed 47 people.

Stocks
BP expects to incur $1B in restructuring charges over the next five quarters as it seeks to simplify its upstream and downstream business. In the wake of tumbling oil prices, BP (NYSE:BP) said it would also review its capital expenditure plans for 2015. BP -0.8% premarket.

BG Group has agreed to sell a pipeline at its Australian liquefied natural gas project to APA Group (OTCPK:APAJF) for about $5B. The QCLNG pipeline connects gas fields to BG’s (OTCPK:BRGXF, OTCQX:BRGYY) Gladstone LNG export facility on Australia’s east coast. BG expects the deal to yield approximately $2.7B in profit, which will be partially offset by a $2B impairment from its remaining QCLNG assets.

DreamWorks Animation plans to launch its own television channel in 19 Asian countries during the second half of 2015 as part of a diversification strategy to find much-needed revenue outside of movie theaters. Television shows produced by the studio already air in Europe, Latin America and on Netflix. DreamWorks Animation (NASDAQ:DWA) expects to make the channel available through pay television packages or by selling it directly to consumers as an Internet-delivered option.

Samsung Electronics is merging Samsung Electronics America and Samsung Telecommunications America, two sales subsidiaries in the U.S., to enhance efficiency and streamline its organization. The move follows a recent reshuffle of Samsung Electronics' (OTC:SSNLF, OTC:SSNGY) senior management and the trimming of its smartphone portfolio to combat declining profit.

Nike is accusing three of its former senior shoe designers of stealing commercial secrets, including the company's future shoe line plans, and making off for German rival Adidas (OTCQX:ADDYY). The lawsuit, which asks for more than $10M in damages, alleges that before the trio left Nike (NYSE:NKE), they were already consulting for Adidas. Nike also claims Adidas knew of the trio's non-compete agreements, but promised to pay for any legal fallout.

A new app from Walgreen gives customers in California and Michigan the option to consult with a board-certified doctor online. Walgreen (NYSE:WAG), which is partnering with MDLive on the project, plans to roll out the initiative in more states next year. Doctors can write prescriptions based on the online consults which are expected to last 10 to 15 minutes.

Starting on Jan. 2, AMD will begin trading on the Nasdaq under the same ticker "AMD" (NYSE:AMD). With the Nasdaq having lower listing fees, this might amount to a minor cost-cutting move for a company that's already busy streamlining.

It has been revealed that JPMorgan has a $22B capital hole under newly proposed Fed rules, FT reports. Officials had not intended to release the fact, but rather announced that there was an aggregate shortfall of $21B between eight major banks. However, during an exchange with vice-chairman Stanley Fischer at a recent Fed meeting, it emerged that JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) accounted for the entire deficit. The bank will have until 2019 to reach the new buffer.

Standard Chartered has agreed to another three years of scrutiny by the DOJ and the Manhattan district attorney for compliance with government sanctions against several countries, including Iran. Its original deferred prosecution agreement was due to expire today. Standard Chartered (OTC:SCDRF, OTCPK:SCBFF) paid U.S. authorities $667M in 2012 over the violations and was fined another $300M in August over its failure to flag high risk transactions.

Today's economic calendar:

7:00 MBA Mortgage Applications
10:00 Quarterly Services Report
10:30 EIA Petroleum Inventories
1:00 PM Results of $21B, 10-Year Bond Auction
2:00 PM Treasury Budget

Notable earnings before today's open: CMN, COST, FGP, FRAN, HOV, LAYN, LE, TITN, TOL, VRA

Notable earnings after today's close: AVNW, CASY, CENT, IRET, MW, PPHM, RH, SIGM, SURG, WTSL