Economy
"Why should I cut production?" said Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Ali Al-Naimi in response to questions over whether he thought it would be necessary to reduce output prior to OPEC's next meeting in June. While oil prices have fallen more than $10 a barrel since OPEC's Vienna meeting, Naimi showed no greater concern, saying that the market would be left to balance itself without the Kingdom's intervention. Crude plunged yesterday as OPEC cut its demand forecast for 2015, but has now rebounded, up 0.8% at $61.40/bbl.

Increasing its lending target for 2014, China has told banks to issue more loans by the end of the year to lift flagging economic growth. The People's Bank of China will now permit banks to lend more than 75% of their deposits and allow banks to lend a record 10T yuan ($1.6T) for all of 2014, up from a previous target of 9.5T yuan, Reuters reports. The move comes just one day after Chinese inflation slipped to a five-year low and follows last month's surprise cut in interest rates.

Hong Kong officials met little resistance as they began clearing the main pro-democracy protest camp near the heart of the financial center today. Hundreds of police stood by as workers used wire cutters to remove protester barricades, following a court injunction two days ago. The protests drew well over 100K people at their peak as students demanded electoral reforms and free elections. Hang Seng closed down 0.9% at 23,313.

Stocks
Activist investor Starboard Value has bought a 6% stake in Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS) and raised its stake in Office Depot (NASDAQ:ODP) to 10%, in a move that could increase pressure for a combination of the office-supply retailers, WSJ reports. If Starboard pushes for a deal, it would be the second time in recent months it pursued a merger of competitors, having called for a Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO)-AOL (NYSE:AOL) combo since September. SPLS +1.9% premarket.

After years of proclaiming China as one of its top markets, Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) lowered its status in August as the worst of its major countries. A management shake-up and job cuts have followed. A Bloomberg report suggests that Wal-Mart’s retail business in China has been deteriorating for years, but was hidden by questionable accounting and sales practices, including bulk sales and sales being allegedly booked when no merchandise left the shelves. WMT -0.3% premarket.

Hoping to put off having to pay capital gains taxes from the sale of the Waldorf Astoria, Hilton Worldwide (NYSE:HLT) is in talks to take the proceeds and buy four other properties from Blackstone (NYSE:BX) and others. The purchases include one hotel in San Francisco, one in Orlando, and two resorts in Key West, say sources. Blackstone has cut its stake in Hilton, but remains a majority owner.

Radian is nearing a deal to sell its financial guaranty business to Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO), Reuters reports. The deal will likely fetch about $800M and could be announced in the next few days. Radian's (NYSE:RDN) financial guaranty business provides insurance and reinsurance of municipal bonds, structured finance transactions and other credit-based risks. RDN -2.3% premarket.

Google is shutting down its Google News service in Spain due to new legislation that will require the company to pay publishers for displaying any portion of their work. "As Google News itself makes no money (we do not show any advertising on the site) this new approach is simply not sustainable," announced Richard Gingras, head of Google (GOOG, GOOGL) News. The company will close the service on December 16 and will remove all Spanish publishers from its international versions.

Microsoft expects to release Windows 10 "early next fall," says Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner, outlining a slightly later release than previous comments had suggested. An autumn release would put Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows 10 on track to launch three years after Windows 8, which received mixed reviews due to its tablet and touchscreen-oriented design.

eBay is weighing a plan to "eliminate thousands of jobs early next year," the WSJ reports. One source says the company has talked about slashing at least 3,000 jobs, or 10% of its total workforce, with cuts primarily affecting workers in eBay’s (NASDAQ:EBAY) core marketplace division. The planned layoffs would come ahead of a PayPal split set to occur by the end of next year.

Greg Wasson, Walgreen CEO since 2009, will retire once the company's merger with Alliance Boots is finished. Shareholders are set to vote on the deal on Dec. 29. Alliance chairman Stefano Pessina will serve as acting CEO while the board searches for a successor, while Walgreen (NYSE:WAG) chairman James Skinner will become the executive chairman of the combined company. WAG +2% premarket.

Fiat Chrysler has priced an offering of 87M common shares at $11 apiece as it seeks funds to cut debt and bankroll a costly new-model development plan. Fiat Chrysler (NYSE:FCAU) also priced a $2.5B offering of mandatory convertible securities due 2016. The securities will pay a coupon of 7.875% per annum.

Three Japanese automakers, Honda (NYSE:HMC), Nissan (OTCPK:NSANY) and Mitsubishi (OTCPK:MMTOF), will recall more than half a million cars globally to replace potentially deadly air bag inflators made by Takata (OTCPK:TKTDY). The announcement brings the total tally of Takata-related recalls across all brands to around 20M since 2008. A Honda spokeswoman added that the automaker will need to set aside more reserves as a result of the new move and the global expansion of a region-specific recall in the U.S. earlier this week.

Today's economic calendar:

8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
8:30 Retail Sales
8:30 Import/Export Prices
9:45 Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
10:00 Business Inventories
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
1:00 PM Results of $13B, 30-Year Note Auction
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet

Notable earnings before today's open: CIEN, LULU, MEI, MNR, RSH

Notable earnings after today's close: ADBE, DDC, ESL, NDSN, ZQK