Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• North Korea Launches Long-Range Rocket a Month After Nuclear Test. North Korea launched a long-range rocket Sunday, drawing immediate condemnation from Japan and the U.S. a month after the isolated nation conducted a fourth nuclear test. A South Korean official said the rocket was launched around 9:30 a.m. Seoul time and disappeared off the radar south of Jeju island, while adding it was too soon to determine whether it had been a success. Yonhap News, without citing anyone, said the launch was possibly a failure. The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on the launch at 11 a.m. New York time.
• China's Foreign-Exchange Reserves Fall to $3.23 Trillion. China’s foreign-exchange reserves fell to $3.23 trillion in January from $3.33 trillion a month earlier as the central bank continued its defense of the yuan. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg was January reserves of $3.21 trillion.
• Another Sign of Rough Sledding Ahead: Dividend Cuts Surpass 2008. Tightening credit puts pressure on companies to scale back payouts. In 2015, equity investors looking for yield suffered death by 394 cuts. Last year, the number of dividend reductions far surpassed 2008, according to Bespoke Investment Group, citing data from Standard & Poor's. The ratcheting down of payouts to shareholders is a function of weak commodity prices, sluggish growth dampening corporate profits, and a tightening of credit conditions. This combination—and in particular the stingier lending—could exacerbate the carnage already seen this year in financial markets, further dampening economic activity. The number of payout cuts enacted was almost 100 more than at the outset of the Great Recession—a time when the implosion of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. caused equity markets to plummet in the later stages of the third quarter: 
• Treasuries Extend Best Start to Year Since the Financial Crisis. Treasuries advanced for a fourth week in five, extending their best start to a year since the financial crisis, as slowing growth in U.S. services and tumbling commodity prices left traders doubting whether the Federal Reserve will raise rates this year. Yields rose early Friday after a Labor Department report showed wages increased more than forecast in January, before longer-dated government debt erased losses. A bond-market gauge of inflation expectations known as the 10-year break-even rate still fell to the lowest since 2009. Earlier in the week a report showed U.S. service industries expanded in January at the slowest pace since 2014, dimming the outlook for growth.
• Gundlach Says Financials Below Crisis Prices ‘Frightening’. DoubleLine Capital’s Jeffrey Gundlach said it’s “frightening” to see major financial stocks trading at prices below their financial crisis levels. He cited Deutsche Bank AG and Credit Suisse Group AGas examples in a talk outlining bearish views at a conference in Beverly Hills, California, on Friday. Both banks fell this week to their lowest levels since the early 1990s in European trading. “We see the price of major financial stocks, particularly in Europe, which are truly frightening,” Gundlach said. “Do you know that Credit Suisse, which is a powerhouse bank, their stock price is lower than it was in the depths of the financial crisis in 2009? Do you know that Deutsche Bank is at a lower price today than it was in 2009 when we were talking about the potential implosion of the entire global banking system?”
• Obscure Chinese Firm Dives Into $22 Trillion U.S. Market. When Cromwell Coulson heard that an obscure Chinese real estate firm had agreed to buy the Chicago Stock Exchange, he was shocked. “My first reaction was, ‘Wow, that’s who they’re selling to?”’ said Coulson, the chief executive officer of OTC Markets Group Inc. in New York. “These new buyers have no connection to Chicago’s existing business. They’re completely disconnected from the current business of supporting the Chicago trading community. So wow, that’s out of left field.”
• Insider Sales Raise Extra Red Flag.

Wall Street Journal:

• Tech Stocks Swoon as Growth Disappoints. Sector leads broad decline, as disappointing outlook from LinkedIn helps fuel a rush out of stocks. A sharp dive in technology shares underscored investor worries about uneven U.S. economic growth, as the latest lackluster corporate outlook, this time from LinkedIn Corp., fueled a rush out of stocks.
• Anti-Islam Groups Rally Across Europe. Riot police clash with demonstrators in Amsterdam.
• Why a Recession Could Arrive Without a Yield Curve Warning. Very low short-term interests rates may prevent the yield curve from inverting even if a recession looms.
• Clinton’s False Email Equivalence. Hillary tries to wrap Powell and Rice into her email security breach.
• Low Gas Prices Have Politicians Pumped to Raise Taxes. Obama’s $10-a-barrel fee won’t go anywhere, but states too are eager to try to make drivers pay more.
• Marco Rubio’s New Hampshire Crucible. The Florida senator has become everyone’s target as he pitches optimism and conservative unity to build on his Iowa momentum.
• Donald Trump Holds Substantial Lead in New Hampshire, According to Poll. Marco Rubio gains rapidly since strong finish at Iowa caucuses.

Barron's:

• Had bullish commentary on (GILD), (TOWN), (SBCF), (TMO) and (CELG).
• Had bearish commentary on oil, (KMI), (LINE) and (CHK).

MarketWatch.com:

• National polls show Bernie Sanders nearly even with Hillary Clinton. Quinnipiac poll says Clinton at 44%, Sanders at 42%.

Fox News:

• GOP Debate: Live Blog.
• North Korea fires rocket seen as covert missile test. (video) North Korea on Sunday defied international warnings and launched a long-range rocket that the United Nations and others call a cover for a banned test of technology for a missile that could strike the U.S. mainland. The rocket was fired from North Korea's west coast and tracked separately by the governments Japan and South Korea, which immediately convened a an emergency national security council meeting. South Korean media reported that the rocket may have failed, but provided no other details. The South Korean government couldn't immediately confirm the reports.
• More than 3,100 pregnant women in Colombia infected with Zika virus, raising fears of spread. (video) The president of Colombia said Saturday that more than 3,100 pregnant women in the country are infected with the mosquito-borne virus which has been linked to birth defects and has no vaccine or treatment. Reuters reported that President Jaun Manuel Santos pointed out, however, that there has been no recorded cases of Zika-linked microcephaly, the birth defect that involves the fetus’ brain.

CNBC:

• Verizon(VZ) CEO confirms interest in buying Yahoo(YHOO). (video)

Zero Hedge: 

• Is This How The Smart Money Is Betting On A Market Crash? (graph)
• How Did The World Get This Way? (graph)
• A Badly Wounded Deutsche Bank Lashes Out At Central Bankers: Stop Easing, You Are Crushing Us.
• Chinese Factory Worker Explains What "The Government Is Most Fearful Of".
• "They'll Return To Their Countries In A Wooden Coffin": Iran, Syria Warn Saudis, Turks Against Ground Troops.
• Is Shorting The Yuan Dangeorus?
• The Mechanics Of NIRP: How The Fed Will Bring Negative Rates To The U.S. (graph)
• This Is What Hillary Told Wall Street Behind Closed Doors.
• And Now "Some Important News About JPMorgan's New Cash Policies".
• These Are The Banks The Market Is Most Concerned About.
• Visualizing The World's Most Famous Case Of Deflation, Part 1. 
• These Vancouver Homes Sold For MillionsIn 2011 And Have Been Vacant And Rotting Since: Here's Why.
• Video Shows Tens Of Thousands Massing At Turkey Border As Russia, Iran Bear Down On Key Syrian City.
• "A Key Technical Indicator Just Rang The Bell On The Cyclical Bull Market". (graph)
• 22 Signs That The Global Economic Turmoil We Have Seen So Far In 2016 Is Just The Beginning.
• World Succumbs To Zika Panic: Puerto Rico Declares Emergency; Plane Cabins Sprayed; CDC Says "Use A Condom".
• BofA: "The Sense Of Calm Which Had Descended On Markets Has Come To An Abrupt End".
• China's 3 Trillion Dollar Mistake. (graph)
• Weekend Reading: The Awakening.
• Bloodbathery. (graph)

Business Insider:

• The long-awaited tech correction is here.
• Joe Biden might run for president after all.
• Clinton's social security plan could end up hurting your wallet.

PollingReport.com:

• PRESIDENT Hillary Clinton (D) 41% Marco Rubio (R) 48% (Quinnipiac U., RV, 2/2-4).
• PRESIDENT Hillary Clinton (D) 46% Donald Trump (R) 41% (Quinnipiac U., RV, 2/2-4).

Financial Times:

• Lending to emerging markets comes to halt. The surge in lending to emerging markets that helped fuel their own — and much of the world’s — growth over the past 15 years has come to a halt, and may now give way to a “vicious circle” of deleveraging, financial market turmoil and a global economic downturn, the Bank for International Settlements has warned.

Telegraph:

• As the world economy again flirts with recession, prepare for years to come of zero interest rates. In the face of a slowing economy, central banks have again abandoned the quest for higher interest rates. 
• Debt, defaults, and devaluations: why this market crash is like nothing we've seen before. A pernicious cycle of collapsing commodities, corporate defaults, and currency wars loom over the global economy. Can anything stop it from unravelling? 
• Oil market spiral threatens to prick global debt bubble, warns BIS. An 'illusion of sustainability' has blinded borrowers and debtors, lulling them into a false of security. The BIS says liquidity is now drying up.