“The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.” – Maimonides

1. Obama Picks Janet Yellen as Fed chief Replacing Bernanke — President Obama nominated Janet Yellen as the first woman Chairperson of the Federal Reserve. The Senate still have to confirm the appointment of Yellen.
2. Refiners exporting record amounts of fuel — the U.S. energy boom has helped allow refiners to export more fuel than ever, with sales abroad hitting a record 3.8M barrels a day in July, almost 65% above the 2010 level. U.S. refiners are increasingly using locally produced crude that is cheaper than North Sea oil; they can then sell products such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to overseas customers at bargain prices. Companies that are benefiting include Marathon Petroleum (MPC), Valero Energy (VLO) and Enterprise Products Partners (EPD).
3. Chinese Premier Sees China Growth Topping 7.5% in First Nine Months — Bloomberg, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the nation’s economic growth probably exceeded 7.5 percent in the first nine months of the year
4. Japan’s machinery orders rise to highest since 2008 — Japan’s machinery orders, a leading capex indicator, reached the highest level in five years in August, climbing 5.4% on month to ¥819.3B ($8.4B) vs no growth in July. The increase is important for Japan’s government especially because one of its aims is to boost corporate investment as part of its economic reforms.
5. Most on FOMC members continue to see taper Bond Buy later this year — the minutes of the September 17-18 meeting show most members on the FOMC expect the tapering of the Fed’s QE program to start later this year. The decision not to reduce the bond-buying last month a “close call.” FOMC members were aware that the non-taper would be a surprise to the markets.
6. US overtaking Russia as top oil producer — Reuters, the US will become the world’s largest oil producer next year overtaking Russia, thanks to the American shale oil boom. The IEA said “With output of more than 10 million barrels per day for the last two quarters, its highest in decades, the nation is set to become the largest non-OPEC liquids producer by the second quarter of 2014, overtaking Russia. And that’s not even counting biofuels and refinery gains,”

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: