Good morning! Here are the 10 stories you need to know about in markets today.*UK House Price Growth Has Now Been Slowing For Six Months. *According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, prices grew at their slowest pace in about 18 months in December, Bloomberg reports.
*Argentina's Stocks Got Hammered. *Argentina's main stock index ended the day nearly 7% down, a second day of heavy losses after oil prices dropped even further.
*Honda And Nissan Are Recalling Half A Million Cars. *Honda is recalling 400,000 cars as a precaution against potentially deadly airbags made by Takata Corp, and Nissan is recalling another 152,000 for the same reason.
*China Is Pushing Banks To Step Up Lending. *China has told its banks to issue more loans in the final months of 2014 and has relaxed limits on their loan-to-deposit ratios to help hit a record new lending target as the government steps up efforts to lift flagging economic growth, according to a Reuters exclusive.*But Mark Mobius Says China's Stock Boom Is Just Getting Started. *The Templeton Emerging Markets Group chairman said that the current rapid rise in the Shanghai stock index is the beginning of a long-term bull run, according to Bloomberg.*Italy's Industrial Output Is Coming. *At 9 a.m. GMT, we'll get a look at how the manufacturing base of Europe's third-largest economy is holding up. Analysts are expecting a 0.3% increase in October, despite France's bleak figure yesterday. *Lending Club Priced Its Shares At $15. *The online loan marketplace, which is about to offer its first public shares raised its share price to $15, above the initial target range. The move values the company at around $5.4 billion (£3.44 billion) according to the Financial Times.*German Inflation Got Confirmed At 0.5%. *Germany's Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices is up just 0.5% in the year to November, confirmed at the second estimate. That's the lowest level since the recession that came immediately after the financial crisis. *Putin Is In India. *Russia's President Vladimir Putin will hold talks Thursday with India's new prime minister as his sanctions-hit country seeks to strengthen energy, defence and strategic ties in Asia.*Asian Markets Are Sinking. *Japan's Nikkei closed down 0.89%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng is currently down 1.08%, and China's Shanghai Composite is down 0.66%.
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