Oil slides to 11-year low, M&A volume tops ’07 record and health hackers

This article is published in collaboration with FirstFT.

The price of Brent crude oil skidded to its weakest intraday level since 2004, breaking below its financial crisis-era lows.

Brent has tumbled by 36.8 per cent this year. Its collapse has come amid a relentless rise in global production that looks set to flood the market again next year. Even though demand has remained steady, inventories have climbed at a pace of 1m barrels a day. (FT)

In the news

M&A activity soars past ’07 peak An end-of-year sprint in deal-making activity has pushed the total volume of announced transactions to $4.6tn, topping the $4.3tn high struck eight years ago. The pharmaceutical, energy and consumer sectors have led the charge. (FT)

Libor trader has sentence cut Tom Hayes, the first person convicted of rigging Libor, a benchmark interest rate, had his prison sentence reduced by three years by a panel of senior judges in London. His sentence now stands at 11 years. His conviction, however, was upheld. (FT)

Obama accuses trump of ‘exploiting’ economic, cultural fears President Barack Obama has accused Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, of “exploiting” the economic and cultural fears of Americans to propel his White House campaign. (FT)

Shkreli sacked Embattled Martin Shkreli was dismissed from KaloBios, where he was chief executive. An investment group led by Mr Shkreli rode in last month to save KaloBios, which was then on the verge of having to close-up shop. Mr Shkreli was charged by US prosecutors last week with securities fraud for an alleged scheme at another publicly traded pharmaceutical company he ran. He has denied any wrongdoing. (FT)

JPMorgan settles suit over ‘London Whale’ debacle JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $150m to a group of investors who claimed they were misled by statements from the banking giant’s management, urging them not to worry about losses which topped $6.2bn. Chief executive Jamie Dimon famously said in a 2012 analyst call that the issue, which stemmed from the bank’s chief investment office in London, was “a tempest in a teapot.” (FT)

It’s a big day for

Nike The US athletic footwear maker posts its latest set of quarterly results after the closing bell in New York. Earnings per share are expected to have raced higher by 15.7 per cent from the same period in 2014, while sales will have risen 5.9 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average component’s shares have rallied 34.5 per cent this year. (FT)

Food for thought

Health hacked During a year in which cyber security threats have intensified, medical records have emerged as a new and potentially very valuable target. (FT)

Water worries As California, the most populous US state, is coming to the end of the fourth year of a drought, authorities are grappling with the vexed question of how best to use the rains when they do come. (NYT)

Stories to look back on in 2015 From China to Syria to the eurozone, 2015 has been a turbulent and dramatic year. Here is a selection of the FT’s best journalism, handpicked by our editors.

Bezos at the Post Since buying the Washington Post for $250m just over two years ago, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has reshaped the news organisation in subtle but significant ways. (Bloomberg)

Spooky Santa “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” — as sung with appalling good cheer by everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Alvin and the Chipmunks — is a small classic of the rhetoric of threat and intimidation, writes Sam Leith. (FT)

Video of the day

Spain in focus National elections in Spain have thrown up a messy outcome in which voters have refused to hand any party a mandate. Spanish stock and bond markets, though, are taking it in their stride. Elaine Moore, capital markets reporter, explains why.

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Author: FirstFT is the Financial Times’ editors curated free daily email of the top global stories from the FT and the best of the rest of the web.

Image: An aerial view of the Oseberg oil platform in the Norwegian sea. REUTERS/Helge Hansen.