Good evening,

US indices after a weak opening recovered and now are nearly flat: DJIA is at 17,263.24 (-0.01%), down 1.97 points and the S&P500 is losing 2.13 points at 2,010.24 (-0.11%). Crude Oil is gaining 59 cents at 36.21 $/barrel (+1.66%) and Gold is down 11.6$ at 1,064.1 $/oz (-1.08%).

In the FX market the  South African Rand soared after President Zuma appointed Mr. Gordhan as a finance minister, a role that he covered from 2009 to 2014. UsdZar is trading at 15.16 (-4.65%).  UsdTry is trading off its intraday low and now is at 2.9812 (2.9812%) and the short term is still bullish considering that it made a breakout of the last month high and the geopolitical risk and the pull factor triggered by an US rate hike can lift the rate to test its 2015 top

In the major group of currencies is a negative day for both Kiwi and Aussie dollar, both losing more than 0.75% against the Greenback. EurUsd is up 28 pips at 1.1014 (+0.26%), with the rate that confirmed its negative correlation with the DAX. UsdJpy is off its intraday low and is trading at 120.78 (-0.18%), down 22 pips. Cable is trading at 1.5151 (-0.32%) and the Swiss Franc is a gaining 15 pips against the US dollar, with UsdChf at 0.9840.

Mario Draghi, the ECB chief, said the third of December that the monthly  Euro 60 billion bond buying program will be extended to at least March 2017. This was not enough for the financial community, and EurUsd started its positive bullish wave, that continued even after this morning speech.  Draghi said that if inflation rates will not match the target the ECB will do more and mentioned also that countries that adopt the shared currency should do their part.

(19:40 GMT)