“Mr. Market is kind of a drunken psycho. Some days he gets very enthused, some days he gets very depressed. And when he get really enthused… you sell to him, and if he gets depressed, you buy from him. There’s no moral taint attached to that.” — Warren Buffett

1. J&J started a trial of its experimental Ebola vaccine — Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) has started a trial of its experimental Ebola vaccine in the U.K., saying it will produce 2M courses of the shot this year.
2. White House issues veto threat over Keystone pipeline bill — the White House has made it clear that President Obama would veto a bill authorizing construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline (NYSE:TRP), setting up a likely showdown with the Republican-controlled Congress in the coming weeks. Senators Hoeven and Manchin, a Republican and Democrat respectively, say the bill now has 60 co-sponsors, but no one is saying yet that there’s enough support to override a presidential veto.
3. ECB warns Greek funding access hinges on keeping bailout — Greek banks’ access to ECB funding beyond February will depend on Athens successfully completing a final bailout review and reaching a deal on a follow-up plan with its EU/IMF lenders, announced the European Central Bank this morning. The statement was the clearest warning yet that Athens cannot expect to rely on ECB funding if it backs out of its obligations under the €240B bailout program.
4. U.S. Oil Producers Cut Rigs as Price Declines —NYTimes, producers are beginning to slash the number of drilling rigs around the country as oil prices collapsed. Helmerich & Payne (NYSE:HP) announced late last week that it plans to idle up to 50 rigs over the next month. (See blog from Jan 3, 2015 for historical chart of oil prices vs. rig counts.)
5. AbbVie (ABBV) Predicts Sharp Increase in Earnings — WSJ, ie Inc. predicted sharply higher earnings for the new year, driven by rheumatoid-arthritis drug Humira and the launch of its new hepatitis C virus treatment – Viekira Pak. AbbVie’s (NYSE:ABBV) current estimate for 2015 earnings, excluding items, is $4.25 to $4.45 a share, in line with the consensus. The midpoint of that range marks a jump of more than 30% over the company’s 2014 guidance.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: