31.12.14

Good morning,

The final trading day of 2014 is upon us, and Asia will see Japanese markets closed for New Years Eve celebrations and their holiday will continue through until next week. New Years Day tomorrow will see markets around the world shut down and some markets such as Japan (already mentioned) Germany, China and New Zealand will also remain closed Friday. FX markets and commodities will reopen for trading as per usual on Friday. USDJPY trading at 119.64 following the dollars best year in almost a decade.

Due to the holidays the volatility in the markets will most likely be lower than usual, with very little data due for release today, or this week. Turkish Trade Balance figures and Greek Retail Sales figures for October are due for publication today. EURUSD trading at 1.2159 at time of writing. USOIL has fallen by almost 50% to $53.58 a barrel through 2014, GOLD is trading at $1199 per ounce this session.

The FTSE100 was trading at 6564.38 up 17.38 points or 0.27% while the DAX was trading at 9805.55 early in the European session.

US markets await the Jobless Claims figures, Pending Home Sales for November and the Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index this session. Friday's session will see a range of Markit Manufacturing figures from Europe and the US along with British lending and mortgage figures. The ISM Manufacturing PMI is also out this Friday in the US. CABLE trading at 1.5565 at time of writing.

The DOW closed at 17983.07 down 55.16 points or 0.31%

Hope you all enjoy your day off tomorrow.