19.12.16

Good morning,

This week got off to a quiet start with just New Zealand and Japan publishing data of note so far with the Westpac Consumer Survey and Building Permits figures and the ANZ data out of New Zealand, and Trade Balances out of Japan for November. USDJPY trading at 117.12 at time of writing, with the Bank of Japan's Interest Rate decision set to be announced in the coming 24 hours. Australian markets will look towards the Reserve Bank of Australia meeting minutes which are scheduled for released before the Japanese rate decision. AUDNZD trading at 1.0458 at time of writing.

European data scheduled for publication today will include the German IFO figures, including Business Climate, Expectations and Current Assessment for December. The Euro Zone Labour Costs figures and Construction Output data will be also out this session. Other data released this session will include Consumer Spending and Confidence figures from the Netherlands, Poland's Retail Sales, and Industrial & Producer Price Indices for November. Belgium will also release Consumer Confidence data for December. GBPUSD trading at 1.2483 at time of writing.

Across the Atlantic today we will see a quiet start to the week, just as in Asia with only a couple of preliminary Markit figures set for publication. EURUSD trading at 1.0466 at time of writing. The Greenback finishing the year strongly ahead of President elect Donald Trump's inauguration scheduled a month from now. GOLD trading at $1140 per ounce while USOIL was trading at around $52 per barrel. This week's main data released from the United States will be GDP figures announced Thursday.

I hope you all have a good week.