News & Economic Updates:

• China services activity index shrunk from 48.4 in October to six-month low of 46.7 in November
• J.P.Morgan Global PMI Output Index fell to 48.0 in November from 49.0 in October; Global Services Business Activity Index fell to 48.1 in November from 49.2 in October
• EIA crude oil inventories fell by 5.2M barrels vs. projected reduction of 3.5M barrels
• China’s exports (-8.7% y/y) and imports (-10.6% y/y) shrank at their steepest pace in at least 2.5 years
• China announced on Wednesday that asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and people with mild symptoms can now quarantine at home
• Ethereum devs announced on Thursday that the “Shanghai” hard fork’s projected release date will be in March 2023. This upgrade will add the EIP 4895 code, which will allow withdrawals of staked ether (ETH) from the Beacon Chain.
• Shanghai to remove COVID test requirement for food and entertainment venues; “Hong Kong is expected to loosen up COVID restrictions on isolation and masking
• More than 14,000 barrels of crude oil leaked into a creek in Kansas, prompting Canadian company TC Energy to shut down its Keystone pipeline in the U.S.

FOREX MARKET WEEKLY RECAP

• ISM Services Index in November: 56.5 from 54.4 in October
• U.S. Factory Orders in October: 1.0% m/m vs. 0.3% m/m in September
• U.S. Trade Deficit: $78.2 billion in October vs. $78.1 billion in September
• U.S. Consumer Credit in October came in below expectations at $27.1B but above the previous month, which was revised higher to $25.8B
• Weekly Initial U.S. jobless claims rose to 230K in the week ending December 3rd vs. 226K the previous week.
• U.S. Producer Price Index for November: +0.3% m/m +0.3% m/m previous; core PPI at +0.4%
• Preliminary U.S. consumer sentiment index for December: 59.1 vs. 56.8, above expectations of 56.9
• UK new car sales up more than 20% in November
• U.K. BRC retail sales monitor rose from 1.2% to 4.1% y/y in Nov
• U.K. Construction PMI for November: 50.4 vs. 53.2 in October
• Halifax: U.K. house prices fall 2.3% from October to November, the fastest rate in 14 years
• U.K. RICS survey showed most widespread drop in house prices since May 2020
• ECB’s Lagarde says inflation hasn’t peaked, may surprise to the upside
• Eurozone Services Business Activity Index was at 48.5 in November vs. 48.6 in October
• France Services PMI for November: 49.3 from 51.7 in October
• Germany Services PMI for November: 46.1 vs. 46.5 in October; prices remain elevated
• The volume of retail trade in the euro area was down by -1.8% m/m in October 2022 and by -1.7% m/m in the European Union
• Sentix Investor Confidence improved to -21.0 in Dec. vs. -27.1 forecast; the expectations index rose to -22.0 vs. -32.3 previous
• Germany industrial production declined by 0.1% in Oct (vs. 1.1% in Sept) as high energy prices take toll
• Swiss jobless rate rose from 1.9% to 2.0% as expected in November, below 2.1% forecast
• Canada Ivey PMI: 51.4 in November vs. 50.1 in October; Employment Index ticks down to 54.3; Prices Index decreased from 69.8 to 63.5
• The value of Canada’s merchandise exports increased by 1.5% in October, while the value of its imports rose by 0.6%. As a direct consequence of this, the merchandise trade surplus that Canada enjoyed with the rest of the world increased from $607M in September to $1.2B in October.
• Bank of Canada raised the overnight interest rate by 50 bps to 4.25% on Wednesday; hinted that the they may be nearing the end of the tightening cycle
• Canada Capacity Utilization Rate for Q3: 82.6% vs. 82.8% previous
• Global Daily Trade Price Index rose +0.6% to $3.60 since the last auction
• NZ manufacturing sales improve from -3.2% to 5.1% q/q in Q3 2022
• NZ credit card spending up by 0.3% from October to November as consumers spend more on essentials
• AU construction contraction improves from 43.3 to 48.2 in November
• AU MI inflation gauge accelerates from 0.4% to a four-month high of 1.0% in November
• RBA hiked interest rates by 25bp from 2.85% to 3.10% as expected
• Australian Q3 current account balance showed 2.3B AUD deficit vs. projected 5.9B AUD surplus
• AIG PMI: Australia’s services sector shrunk from 47.7 to 45.6 in November on weakening demand
• Japanese Oct household spending down from 2.3% to 1.2% y/y vs. 0.9% forecast; Real wages fell -2.6% y/y
• Japan’s Economy Watchers sentiment index down from 49.9 to 48.1 in Nov.
• The recent weakness of the yen & rising oil prices caused Japan to record its first current account deficit in nine months in October, the Finance Ministry reported on Thursday. The shortfall was ¥64.1B ($470 million).
• Japan GDP for Q3 2022 was revised higher to -0.2% q/q vs. -0.3% q/q previous