What you need to know on Wall Street today
Prime Finance is Business Insider's midday summary of the top stories of the past 24 hours.
It's 2016's first day of trading, and markets around the world are getting slammed.
The US stock market is plunging, the European market had a tough day, and in China the CSI 300 stock market index crashed 7% before trading was halted for the day.
That was after the Caixin-Markit manufacturing PMI unexpectedly fell to 48.2 in December from 48.6 in November. The negative read, and the resulting sell-off, serve as a reminder of the challenges China is facing.
In case you missed it, Business Insider over the holiday period reached out to some of the smartest people on Wall Street to get a sense of what they're thinking. Here is a selection:
- Jim Chanos' most important chart for 2016
- David Einhorn's most important chart for 2015
- The most important China chart, according to Charlene Chu at Autonomous Research
- The chart that could slow the Fed dead in its tracks, according to Larry McDonald, head of US macro strategy at Societe Generale.
- This is what 'slow and steady' wealth preservation looked like in 2015, according to Gary Kaminsky at Morgan Stanley.
Here are the top Wall Street headlines at midday -
The first massive takeover of 2016 is already approaching - The first big pharma deal of 2016 could land in the first few days of the year.
A Wall Street chart guru nails the essence of every market prediction ever made - Robert Sluymer and his team at RBC Capital Markets nailed what all stock market predictions are really about in one perfect slide.
Meet the 29-year-old running $7 billion for wealthy clients - Minesh Bhatt, a senior coverage officer in the global family office business at UBS, runs $7 billion of the $20 billion the Swiss bank manages for wealthy families in the US.
Hedge fund closures are going to hit 'an all-time high' - The closure rate for small and mid-sized hedge funds is going to increase.
KYLE BASS: There's a 'massive opportunity' in energy - Texan hedge fund manager J. Kyle Bass, founder of the $1.6 billion Dallas-based Hayman Capital, says there's a "massive opportunity in energy."
A flood of selling in China could be on the way - A six-month ban on share sales by major investors introduced last summer could roll off this week
People who almost never ask about junk bonds are asking about junk bonds, so Citi thinks it's time to buy - Credit strategists at Citi have a bold trade idea to start 2016: Buy junk.
While you were away -
The guy made famous by 'The Big Short' for predicting the housing crash has a dark warning - Michael Burry thinks the "risk-pricing mechanism" of the global economy is broken and we're "building up terrific stresses in the system."
The US economy is 'becoming more vulnerable' - The risk of a US recession over a two- to three-year horizon has "increased materially," according to JPMorgan strategists led by Bruce Kasman.
The 3 reasons so many hedge funds got wiped out in 2015 - It has been an ugly year for the hedge fund industry.
Yale's chief investment officer thinks America's stock markets are broken - "America's equity markets are broken," according to David Swensen, CIO at Yale.
One thing all junior bankers who want to work at hedge funds should know - Headhunters are not your friends.