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Global Markets:

• Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei down 0.36%, Shanghai Composite up 0.17%, Hang Seng up 1.22%, ASX up 0.40%
• Commodities : Gold at $1513.45 (-0.06%), Silver at $17.88 (-0.62%), Brent Oil at $68.02 (+0.15%), WTI Oil at $61.80 (+0.19%)
• Rates : US 10-year yield at 1.900, UK 10-year yield at 0.770, Germany 10-year yield at -0.245

News & Data:

• (JPY) Retail Sales y/y -2.10% vs -1.70% expected
• (JPY) Prelim Industrial Production m/m -0.90% vs -1.10% expected
• (JPY) Unemployment Rate 2.20% vs 2.40% expected
• (JPY) Tokyo Core CPI y/y 0.80% vs 0.60% expected
• (USD) Unemployment Claims 222K vs 222K expected
• Japan’s output, retail sales fall, signaling economic strains
• China treads warily on US trade deal text to keep other partners on side

Markets Update:

Asian stock markets are mostly higher on Friday following the record highs overnight on Wall Street amid optimism over the likely signing of a phase one U.S.-China trade deal in January and as online retail giant Amazon.com said the holiday season was “record-breaking”.

The Australian market, which resumed trading after a two-day holiday, is modestly higher following the record highs on Wall Street. Mainland Chinese stocks gave up early gains by the afternoon, with the Shanghai composite up 0.2% while the Shenzhen component lost 0.1%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was lower by 0.4% as shares of index heavyweight Fast Retailing fell over 2% while the Topix index added 0.1%.

Both oil and gold held on to their recent gains. Brent crude, the global benchmark, extended gains into a fourth session, hitting $68.09 per barrel, the highest since mid-September. The rally in oil and gold boosted commodity-linked currencies in the past 24 hours with the New Zealand dollar up 0.6% and the Australian dollar up 0.3%.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 97.435 after seeing earlier highs above 97.6 yesterday.

Upcoming Events:

• 09:00 AM GMT – (CHF) Credit Suisse Economic Expectations
• 09:00 AM GMT – (EUR) ECB Economic Bulletin
• 09:30 AM GMT – (GBP) High Street Lending
• 03:30 PM GMT – (USD) Natural Gas Storage
• 04:00 PM GMT – (USD) Crude Oil Inventories

Global Markets:

• Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei down 0.76%, Shanghai Composite up 1.16%, Hang Seng up 0.58%, ASX down 0.25%
• Commodities : Gold at $1516.75 (-0.09%), Silver at $17.94 (-0.03%), Brent Oil at $67.03 (+0.24%), WTI Oil at $61.79 (+0.11%)
• Rates : US 10-year yield at 1.886, UK 10-year yield at 0.755, Germany 10-year yield at -0.233

News & Data:

• (CHF) Credit Suisse Economic Expectations 12.5 vs -3.9 previous
• (USD) Natural Gas Storage -161B vs -145B expected
• (USD) Crude Oil Inventories -5.5M vs -1.7M expected

Markets Update:

Asian stock markets are mostly lower on Monday, the last trading of 2019 for some markets in the region, following the lackluster cues from Wall Street Friday and in the absence of fresh catalysts. Nevertheless, an agreement between the U.S. and China on a phase one trade deal has helped lift some of the uncertainty hanging over the markets. Trading volume continued to remain thin ahead of the New Year holidays.

Mainland Chinese stocks were higher by their close, following their Monday fall. Both the Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component indices were trading higher by 1.2%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.6%. Japan’s Nikkei stock index finished its last trading day of the year down 0.76%. The index gained 18.2% in 2019 after dropping 12.8% last year.

Oil also gained on Friday, with prices posting their fourth consecutive weekly gain to steady around their highest in three months. Oil’s gains followed news of U.S. air strikes in Iraq and Syria against Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia group. Oil prices were also supported by a bigger-than-expected decline in crude inventories in the United States, the world’s biggest fuel consumer.

Gold also continued its run-up, boosted by a weak dollar, after posting its best week in more than four months on Friday amid thin trading volumes.

Upcoming Events:

Monday, December 30, 2019

• 02:45 PM GMT – (USD) Chicago PMI

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

• 01:00 AM GMT – (CNY) Manufacturing PMI
• 01:00 AM GMT – (CNY) Non-Manufacturing PMI
• 03:00 PM GMT – (USD) CB Consumer Confidence

Thursday, January 02, 2020

• 01:45 AM GMT – (CNY) Caixin Manufacturing PMI
• 09:30 AM GMT – (GBP) Final Manufacturing PMI

Friday, January 03, 2020

• 03:00 PM GMT – (USD) ISM Manufacturing PMI
• 04:00 PM GMT – (USD) Crude Oil Inventories
• 07:00 PM GMT – (USD) FOMC Meeting Minutes
• 08:30 PM GMT – (USD) FOMC Member Kaplan Speaks
• Tentative – (USD) Treasury Currency Report
• &More…