The European Central Bank has unveiled plans to reduce the pace of its mass bond-buying program next year, announcing that it will buy €30bn-worth of assets a month for at least the first nine months of 2018 to keep the Euro area’s recovery on track.  The eagerly-awaited decision marks a retrenchment from the region’s bond markets, where the ECB has been the most active investor since the program, known as quantitative easing, began.  (FT)

A couple more earnings reports from this morning and after yesterday’s close:  AB InBev, the brewer of Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona, and 10 Barrel reported higher profit in the third quarter despite lower beer volumes as hurricanes hit the US market. (WSJ)  Bristol-Myers Squibb, a leading maker of cancer immunotherapies, narrowly missed Wall Street forecasts for third quarter earnings, but posted revenues ahead of expectations. (SA)

Asia is now home to more of the world’s billionaires than the US for the first time in history, according to research published on Thursday.  Powered by the rise of super-wealthy Chinese entrepreneurs, the number of Asian billionaires rose by 117 to 637 last year, while membership of the US billionaires club reached 563 after gaining 25 net new joiners, according to the report by UBS. (FT)

S&P 500 futures are up 2 and NASDAQ futures are down 3. The MSCI international index is up 7/100 of a percent.

Oil is up 4 cents at $52.22 a barrel.

Gold is down $3 at $1276 a Troy ounce.

With Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management, a Registered Investment Advisor I am Josh Fenili.