* Recession will strike one-third of countries in 2023, predicts IMF chief
* Leadership of House still uncertain as new Congress is set to convene
* Will the war in Ukraine accelerate India’s ascent?
* The worst may be over for Europe’s factory sector
* First regular shipment of US liquefied natural gas arrives in Germany today
* Tech-industry worker layoffs are accelerating
* Tesla’s Elon Musk is first person ever to lose $200 billion in wealth
* Largest US oil firms refocus on developing supplies in Western Hemisphere
* China economic activity continues to slow in December via PMI survey data:

China President Xi’s plans for an authoritarian-led world order are looking shaky as the country grapples with the blowback of the haphazard end to its zero-Covid policy. “If China had said that zero-Covid was only a temporary measure to buy time until people got vaccinated, and communicated the policy accordingly, they would be in a far better position right now”, observes Professor Ben Cowling from Hong Kong University in an analysis for the Lancet.

US stock market ends 2022 with downside bias intact: