“We’re entering the last week of trading for 2025 before many close their books and call it a year,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group Ltd in Melbourne. “Some may have already done so,” he added.“One suspects that liquidity conditions will be softer than usual this week, but will remain sufficient to allow us to operate on size without prices moving too much, but will really fall next week.”
S&P 500 e-mini futures rose 0.1%, while the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note held steady at 4.184% as investors awaited a raft of economic data and a slew of central bank decisions.
Among central banks making decisions this week, the Bank of Japan is expected to raise rates by 25 basis points to 0.75%, while the Bank of England may make a similar cut to 3.75%. The European Central Bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged, along with Sweden’s Riksbank and Norway’s Norges Bank.
Investors will also have a chance to take note of a host of economic data delayed by the US government shutdown, including the November jobs report and the monthly consumer price index. In Japan, Topix stocks held steady after the BOJ’s closely watched “tankan” survey on Monday showed business confidence among major manufacturers hit a four-year high, suggesting the economy has weathered the blow from higher U.S. tariffs.
Against the Chinese yuan, which is traded offshore, the U.S. dollar was steady at 7.0532 yuan, hovering around its strongest level in more than a year, ahead of November housing price and activity data to be released later today.
On Friday, stricken state-backed property developer China Vanke failed to gain bondholder approval to extend a bond payment due on Monday by a year, a filing showed. This increased the risk of default and renewed concerns about the crisis-hit real estate sector.
In commodities, Brent crude was 0.3% higher at $61.30 after Imperial Oil said on Sunday it had issued a fire alert for its 120,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Ontario, Canada. Meanwhile, Russia said an oil refinery in Afipsky was undamaged by a Ukrainian drone strike.
On the geopolitical front, US envoy Steve Witkoff said “much progress has been made” in Berlin on Sunday in peace talks to end the war in Ukraine.
Gold swung between gains and losses after a four-day rally last week that saw it near its record high of $4,381.21. Spot bullion prices fell 0.1% to $4,299.69.
Cryptocurrency markets remained under pressure for the fourth day in a row, with bitcoin down 0.3% to $88,235.59 and ether = 0.5% lower to $3,065.62.
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