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TOP STORIES
GLOBAL MARKETS-Fed alert: World stocks drop as investors
digest U.S. rate rise
LONDON - Investors turned cautious on Friday about what a
stronger dollar and weak commodity prices could mean for the
world economy, as a clutch of central banks moved to cushion the
impact of the first U.S. rate rise in nearly a
decade.(GLOBAL-MARKETS/ (WRAPUP 6), moved, By John Geddie, 600
words)
+ See also:
- GLOBAL-PRECIOUS/ (UPDATE 4), updating throughout the day,
400 words

POLL-Fed to raise rates again in March, follow up with fewer
hikes
The U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again in
the next three months, according to two-thirds of economists
polled by Reuters, although many say rates won't rise as quickly
next year as policymakers have suggested. (USA-FED/POLL,
moved,By Sumanta Dey, 600 words)

BlackBerry 3rd-quarter revenues top expectations; shares
rally
TORONTO - BlackBerry Ltd BB.TO BBRY.O reported a
smaller-than-expected fiscal third-quarter loss on Friday and
its first quarter-to-quarter revenue gain in over two years,
indicating turnaround efforts may be gaining traction.
(BLACKBERRY-RESULTS/ (UPDATE 2), moving shortly, By Euan Rocha
and Alastair Sharp, 314 words)

Ukraine imposes moratorium on $3 bln Russian bond, default
looms
KIEV - Ukraine has imposed a moratorium on the repayment of
a $3 billion Eurobond held entirely by Russia, Prime Minister
Arseny Yatseniuk said on Friday, after Moscow refused to accept
the terms of a restructuring of the
debt.(UKRAINE-CRISIS/DEBT-RUSSIA (UPDATE 1), moved, 400 words)
+ See also:
- UKRAINE-CRISIS/IMF-BUDGET (UPDATE 1), moved, 350 words

ECONOMY
Brazil's Levy tipped to leave government, replaced by
Barbosa -sources
BRASILIA - Brazilian Planning Minister Nelson Barbosa may
replace Joaquim Levy as finance minister, three government
sources told Reuters on Friday, as speculation grows about
imminent changes to President Dilma Rousseff's economic team.
(BRAZIL-ECONOMY/LEVY (UPDATE 1, PIX), moved, By Alonso Soto, 481
words)

'EU deposit insurance' vanishes from EU leaders' draft
conclusions
BRUSSELS - Euro zone leaders will ask their finance
ministers on Friday to quickly complete their banking union, but
at the insistence of Germany they will not say directly what
that could mean: the setting up of a European Deposit Insurance
Scheme.(EUROZONE-BANKS/DEPOSITS, moved, By Jan Strupczewski, 500
words)

INVESTMENT FOCUS-Euro zone bond sales to hit 5-year low in
2016 as crisis chapter closes
LONDON - Euro zone government bond sales will fall below 900
billion euros next year for the first time since 2011 as
crisis-hit Italy and Spain work off their debt hangovers with
the help of ultra-low borrowing costs.(EUROZONE-BONDS/SUPPLY,
moved, By John Geddie, 650 words)

German companies see no improvement in Russia exports until
2017
BERLIN - German firms expect trade with Russia to decline
further next year as sanctions imposed over the Ukraine conflict
are prolonged and the economic crisis in Russia worsens, the
head of the German-Russian Foreign Trade Chamber said on
Friday.(GERMANY-RUSSIA/TRADE, moved, 300 words)

Czech central bank sets new buffers as lending booms
PRAGUE - The Czech central bank will for the first time
require banks to apply a countercyclical capital buffer (CCB)
rate of 0.5 percent from 2017 to cope with fast-growing lending,
becoming one of the first European countries to use the measure.
(CZECH-BANKS/CAPITAL (UPDATE 2), expect by 1300 GMT, by Jason
Hovet, 450 words)

Finland's finance ministry cuts GDP forecasts
HELSINKI - Finland's finance ministry on Friday cut its
economic forecasts for the coming years, saying the euro zone
country would recover slowly from recession amid persistent
export problems.(FINLAND-ECONOMY/ (UPDATE 1), moved, 250 words)

COMPANIES
Sports Direct (L:SPD) boss Mike Ashley to review workers' conditions
LONDON - Sports Direct, Britain's biggest sportswear
retailer, responded to critics of its employment practices on
Friday with the launch of a review of conditions for its
thousands of agency warehouse workers, to be overseen by its
billionaire founder and majority shareholder, Mike
Ashley.(SPORTS DIRECT-WORKERS/ (UPDATE 3), moved, By James
Davey, 600 words)

German steel federation blames China for flagging output
DUESSELDORF, Germany - German steel output faces a steeper
decline in 2016 as cheap Chinese imports put pressure on prices,
Germany's steel federation said on Friday.(GERMANY-STEEL/
(UPDATE 1), moved, 250 words)

Vattenfall eyes deal on German lignite assets sale
OSLO - Swedish state utility Vattenfall expects to reach a
deal on selling its lignite power plants and mines in eastern
Germany during the first half of 2016, its chief executive told
Reuters on Friday.(VATTENFALL-GERMANY/LIGNITE (UPDATE 1), moved,
VATTENFALL-GERMANY/LIGNITE (UPDATE 1))
+ See also:
- VATTENFALL-EQUITY/AMF (UPDATE 1), moved, 400 words

Dutch court says Shell (L:RDSa) can be liable for Nigeria spills
THE HAGUE - A Dutch appeals court ruled on Friday that Royal
Dutch Shell can be held liable for oil spills at its subsidiary
in Nigeria, potentially opening the way for other compensation
claims against the multinational.(SHELL-NIGERIA/POLLUTION
(UPDATE 1), moved, By Thomas Escritt, 450 words)

Statoil may have to rethink plans if low oil prices persist
OSLO - Statoil would have to reconsider its Norwegian oil
and gas field development plans if current low oil prices
persist well into next year, the energy company said on Friday.
(STATOIL-OIL PRICE / (UPDATE 1), moved, 300 words)

Finland to buy Gazprom (MCX:GAZP) out of gas utility Gasum
HELSINKI - Finland will buy Russian gas exporter Gazprom's
25 percent stake in Gasum to complete its nationalisation of the
gas utility, the government announced on
Friday.(FINLAND-GASUM/GAZPROM (UPDATE 1), moved, 200 words)

Hack attacks and data law boost European cyber insurance
demand
New European legislation on data privacy is helping push up
regional demand for cyber insurance, industry specialists say,
after companies such as TalkTalk and Experian were affected by
hackers earlier this year.(EUROPE-CYBER/INSURANCE, moved, By
Noor Zainab Hussain and Carolyn Cohn, 450 words)

COMMODITIES
Expected restoration of Israel-Turkey ties seen paving way
for gas import deal
ANKARA/JERUSALEM, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Expectations that
Turkey and Israel will restore relations after a five-year-old
rift have raised hopes of speedy progress in talks to import
Israeli natural gas, potentially a multi-billion-dollar project.
(ISRAEL-TURKEY/TIES (UPDATE 2), moved, By Orhan Coskun and Dan
Williams, 600 words)

Battery metal lead set to extend premium over unloved zinc
LONDON - Lead may extend its premium over zinc in coming
months, after a surge this week to the highest in two years, as
the peak winter season for batteries boosts lead and bearish
investors keep knocking its sister metal.(LEAD-ZINC/SPREAD,
moved, By Eric Onstad, 500 words)