• US indices dropped yesterday but managed to close off the daily lows. S&P 500 dropped 0.75%, Dow Jones moved 0.30% lower and Nasdaq dipped 1.14%

  • Trading in Asia was mixed today – Nikkei gained slightly, S&P/ASX 200 moved lower and Kospi traded flat. Indices from China dropped following miss in monthly activity data
  • Chinese industrial production increased 3.8% YoY in November (exp. 3.6% YoY), retail sales were 3.9% YoY higher (exp. 4.6% YoY) while urban investments jumped 5.2% YoY (exp. 5.4% YoY)
  • DAX futures point to a slightly higher opening of today’s European cash session
  • US Congress passed a bill raising debt limit to $2.5 trillion
  • US House passed a legislation banning goods made using forced labour in China
  • Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda said that Japanese economy is not in stagflation and that he sees a chance for price growth to reach a 2% goal
  • UK CPI inflation accelerated from 4.2 to 5.1% YoY in November (exp. 4.7% YoY). Core gauge accelerated from 3.4 to 4.0% YoY
  • API report pointed to 0.81 million barrel draw in US oil inventories (exp. -2.5 mb)
  • Major cryptocurrencies managed to recover slightly yesterday and are trading flat today. Bitcoin trades near $48,000 mark
  • Precious metals, oil and industrial metals move lower
  • USDTRY approaches recent all-time highs above the 14.60 area
  • EUR and AUD are the best performing major currencies while CHF and JPY lag the most