“News on stock is not important. How the stocks reacts to it is!” — Michael L. Burke

1. China’s Christmas rate hike — China raised interest rates by 25 basis points on Saturday. The one-year lending rate will now be 5.81% and the one-year deposit rate will be 2.75%. It’s the second hike since mid-October as the country moves to combat inflation and slow credit growth, and some analysts believe China may front-load its monetary tightening to the first half of 2011.
2. China cuts rare earth exports — China has once again reduced its rare earth export quota, with its first round of permits for 2011 allotting 14,446 metric tons of rare earth exports split between 31 companies. This is 11% less than 2010’s first round of exports.
3. China opens anti-dumping probe — China said it will begin an anti-dumping probe into U.S. sales of livestock feed. The feed in question, known as distiller’s dried grains, is a byproduct of ethanol production from corn, and is expected to be a key new export for U.S. farmers.
4. Barron ‘s Outlook for 2011 and 2010 Recap — http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052970203319504576019660899709744.html#articleTabs_panel_article%3D1

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: