“He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day” — Unknown

1. Chinese shares tumbled on government property action — Chinese shares closed sharply lower, led by real-estate developers, after Beijing intensified its three-year campaign to curb rising property prices by ordering larger deposits and a stricter enforcement of sales taxes.
2. China passes U.S. as world’s top oil importer — China has tentatively passed the U.S. as the biggest importer of oil in the world, with EIA data showing that China’s incoming shipments hit 6.12M bpd in December and those of the U.S. fell to 5.98M bpd, the lowest since February 1992. It’s worth pointing out that tax maneuvering may have distorted December data, while U.S. imports tend to recover in January.
3. China Puts Focus on Consumers to Drive Growth — China has given itself a GDP growth target of 7.5% for 2013, which would be below last year’s 7.8%. At the opening of the annual National People’s Congress, the finance ministry said it plans to increase the country’s budget deficit to 1.2T yuan ($192.8B), or about 2% of GDP from 1.6% in 2012. Much of the increased spending will go on social programs as China looks to shift the focus of its economy towards the consumer and away from exports and infrastructure.
4. Shell plans LNG plants in Louisiana and Canada — Shell (RDS.A) announced plan to construct facilities in Louisiana and Canada that will produce LNG for heavy trucks and large ships, with the idea being to increase the demand for the glut of natural gas in North America. A Great Lakes cargo-ship operator has already pledged itself as a customer, while Shell plans to run three vessels in the Gulf of Mexico on natural gas.
5. Euro Zone to Bail Out Cyprus, No Details Available — per CNBC, Eurozone finance ministers intend to agree on a bailout for Cyprus – which is seen as systemically important to the eurozone despite its small size – by the end of the month, although it’s not clear how the rescue would be financed. Cyprus needs up to €17B, an amount that would lift its debt-GDP ratio to 145%.
6. Time Warner to spin off magazine operations — Time Warner (TWX) plans to spin off Time Inc. into a publicly-traded company, with the goal being to complete the transaction by the year-end. Division CEO Laura Lang will leave after the process is completed. Time Inc. publishes the namesake magazine, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, and dozens of other titles, along with related web sites and mobile apps.
7. Fed Stress Tests for Banks — eighteen major banks have passed the Fed’s stress tests, showing they’d have a Tier 1 Common Ratio of over 5% in the central bank’s “severely adverse” economic scenario. That includes GDP slumping 5%, unemployment of 12%, a 50% fall in stocks and recessions overseas. Only Ally Financial failed, while Citigroup (C) came out as the most overcapitalized of the largest banks with an 8.3% common ratio.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: