A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Tom Westbrook:
The Fed is in blackout and the World Cup is starting to get serious.
And this week’s calendar is relatively light, leaving traders free to focus on the soccer, save for the U.S. ISM services survey and European retail sales data on Monday, and central bank meetings in Canada and Australia later in the week.
Piecemeal easing of China’s strict COVID-19 curbs kept the dollar in retreat in Asia, while the yuan jumped to the strong side of 7-per-dollar for the first time in 2-1/2 months. Oil rose and the Hang Seng leapt 3.5%.
Positioning suggests bets against the dollar remain pretty light, and even lightened a little bit last week.
Frustration and confusion yet remain on the ground in China. Beijing has dropped testing requirements for public transport, but entry to many buildings still requires negative results.
Protests persist here and there, though markets are staying optimistic on the momentum. Morgan Stanley, on Monday, was the latest big investment house to turn bullish.
Monday in Europe also marks the beginning of the G7’s $60-a-barrel price cap on Russian oil. It’s not clear what that means for oil supply and prices, because Russia says it won’t abide by the measure, even if that means cutting production.
On the pitch, Asia’s last contenders, Japan and South Korea, take on Croatia and Brazil, respectively.
Key developments that could influence markets on Monday:
Final November global PMIs, Eurozone retail sales, U.S. durable goods orders, U.S. ISM non-manufacturing PMI
(Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Sam Holmes)
