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On December 13th, the White House announced that U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East, Viktor Witkov, will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several European leaders in Berlin this weekend to advance the U.S.-proposed Russia-Ukraine peace plan by the end of the year. Analysts suggest this "urgent dispatch" highlights the U.S.'s attempt to narrow its differences with Ukraine on the terms of the Russia-Ukraine peace plan before the end of the year. Witkov is scheduled to hold talks with officials from France, the UK, and Germany on December 14th and 15th, respectively.

Nasdaq companies: Allergan Pharmaceuticals, Ferrovia, Insmed, Single-Chip Power Systems, Seagate Technology, and Western Digital will be included in the Nasdaq 100 Index.

Nasdaq companies: Biogen, CDW, GlobalFoundries, Lululemon, ON Semiconductor, and TradeDesk will be removed from the Nasdaq 100 Index.

Nasdaq: Six companies are set to be included in the Nasdaq 100 index.

Nasdaq announced that the changes to the Nasdaq 100 index components will take effect on December 22.

On December 13th, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on the 12th that the Russian armed forces launched one large-scale attack and five joint attacks in the past week, seizing control of eight towns. The Ukrainian military reported on the 12th that it attacked multiple targets, including a Russian oil refinery, and the situation in the Kupyansk direction had stabilized. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported on the 12th that Ukrainian forces carried out a precision strike on an oil refinery in Russia's Yaroslavl region, aiming to cut off the Russian military's fuel supply chain. The attack caused a massive explosion and fire. On the same day, Ukrainian forces also launched multiple attacks in the Donetsk direction, destroying a Russian ammunition depot and striking Russian personnel assembly points.

On December 13th, Venezuelan Defense Minister López Obrador condemned the United States for attempting to intimidate Venezuela by sending F-18 fighter jets over the country's airspace on December 12th. López Obrador stated that the US actions were aimed at isolating the Caribbean region to satisfy US interests. He emphasized that the US government must understand that Venezuela will resolutely defend its national sovereignty and will never surrender. Resolving the conflict through dialogue and building genuine peace is the aspiration of all Venezuelan people. On December 9th, two US F-18 fighter jets entered Venezuelan airspace and remained there for at least 40 minutes.

According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. envoy Vitkov will travel to Berlin to meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky and European leaders.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 245.96 points, or 0.51%, at 48,458.05 on Friday, December 12; the S&P 500 closed down 73.59 points, or 1.07%, at 6,827.41; and the Nasdaq Composite closed down 398.69 points, or 1.69%, at 23,195.17.

December 13th - According to six sources familiar with the matter, during Biden's presidency, U.S. intelligence officials temporarily suspended the sharing of some key information with Israel due to concerns about Israel's actions in the Gaza war. In the latter half of 2024, the U.S. cut off live video transmissions from a U.S. drone used by the Israeli government to track hostages and Hamas militants over Gaza. Five of the sources indicated the suspension lasted at least several days. Two of the sources said the U.S. also restricted Israel's use of certain intelligence in pursuing high-value military targets in Gaza, but they declined to say when this decision was made.

According to Iranian state media, Iran has seized a foreign oil tanker carrying 6 million liters of smuggled diesel fuel in the Gulf of Oman.

U.S. officials: U.S. Central Command will meet with partner countries in Doha on December 16 to plan for an international stabilization force in the Gaza Strip.

Sources say that during Biden's presidency, the United States briefly withheld some war intelligence from Israel.

Spirit Aviation: Rumors about our company's impending closure are completely unfounded.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) CEO Jamie Dimon: Hassett is very likely to cut interest rates.

DownDetector, a network monitoring website, reports that OpenAI is experiencing outages in the United States.

Hang Seng Index futures closed down 0.95% at 25,735 points in overnight trading, a discount of 242 points.

December 13th - According to sources, trade negotiators from India and the EU are no longer optimistic that they can finalize a trade agreement by the end of this year. The sources say negotiations may now extend into next month, with both sides still hoping to reach an agreement to announce when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen leads a delegation to New Delhi in January. The sticking points appear to be in sensitive sectors such as automobiles and steel. Some sources indicate that the EU wants India to increase its quota of approximately 80,000 vehicles that can be exported to India in exchange for reduced tariffs. Meanwhile, the Indian government is seeking to ease tariffs on some steel exports to the EU and wants flexibility regarding EU carbon tax regulations.

On December 13, it was reported that on December 11 local time, the Venezuelan National Assembly approved the "Law on Support for Palestine and Humanity," which abolishes the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, marking Venezuela's decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court.

Intercontinental Exchange: In the week ending December 9, diesel speculators reduced their net long positions by 7,954 contracts to 58,578 contracts.