Energy

• Oil prices continued to fall this week. The International Energy Agency cut its forecast for global demand BBC
• Gas prices in much of the U.S. reached the lowest level in five years AAA
• As fuel prices fall, U.S. import prices fell 1.5% from October to November, the sharpest decline in over two years RTT News

U.S. Economy

• U.S. retail sales in November come in far better than forecast USA Today
• The U.S. Producer Price Index fell in November. Excluding food and energy the index was flat, an indication of weak inflationary pressure CNBC

Around the World

• The Japanese economy contracted by 1.9% during the third quarter Reuters
• The People’s Bank of China injected about $65 billion into the nation’s banking system to spur lending MarketWatch
• The Greek stock market plunged and the interest rates on government bonds spiked as an early presidential vote looms The Economist

Miscellaneous

• Bloomberg BusinessWeek ranks the most disruptive ideas from the last 85 years Bloomberg