On very light flows, stocks soared in a classic "Santa rally" as housing start numbers came out much better than expected.

Treasury bonds gave up ground and the Euro popped higher to close at 1.3 against the U.S. dollar.

While trading volumes have been light there have been several interesting developments across the corporate space.

Saab, General Motors' troubled unit, filed for liquidation as its parent balked at a proposed deal with Chinese companies to rescue Saab.

Underlying General Motors' refusal is a fear that the Chinese will gain access to invaluable technology that they can then reverse engineer and replicate with relative ease.

Increasingly, the focus of espionage efforts centers on economic matters and the theft of technology.

Saudi Arabia's princely investor Alwaleed bin Talal made headlines with a $300 million investment in Twitter.

Twitter played a very well publicized (and highly exaggerated) role in the overthrow of repressive regimes across the Arab world.

By becoming a stake-holder, Talal may be seeking to exert strategic control over the use of the technology in the region.

With more information being exchanged in a "cloud" setting, investments in mobile security technology make more sense.

Telecom AT&T pulled back from its $39 billion bid for T-Mobile USA.

Anecdotally, T-Mobile's service and wireless reception is much better than AT&T's; T-Mobile subscribers should not be upset by the breakdown of the attempted merger.

On the political front, the U.S. Congress blocked a 2-month extension of a payroll tax cut that is due to expire even after it was approved by the Senate.

Congress essentially threw down the gauntlet at President Obama; it is a shame that all parties could not work together on a deal.

As contender for the Republican Presidential nomination Newt Gingrich is set to join the list of candidates whose ratings have soared only to plummet later, more attention is focusing on candidate Ron Paul.

Ron Paul has been the most consistent of all contenders but is far from being the choice of the Republican establishment.

Players will be watching the straw polls of Iowa and New Hampshire to see whether the Republican masses (as opposed to the party establishment) rally behind the candidate.