European car sales rose 6.2%

Good Morning,

- The dollar trade calm on Tuesday morning and the dollar index edged slightly down to 87.808, but not far from a four-year high of 88.267 set on Friday.

- ECB President Mario Draghi said on Monday that the central bank was ready to take more steps to support the euro zone's recovery. Earlier, ECB Executive Board member Yves Mersch detailed what such steps might include, and said the ECB could theoretically buy gold, shares, exchange traded funds (ETFs) or other assets if needed.

- Japan’s Yamamoto says PM Abe will make a decision on sales tax today.

- Fed’s Governor Jerome Powell: The Federal Reserve could raise interest rates in mid-2015 if the U.S. economy continues apace, but monetary accommodation is needed for now because inflation "is likely to remain weak for some time”.

- The Reserve Bank of Australia repeated in the minutes of its November policy meeting that the Aussie dollar remained above most estimates of its fundamental value.

- UBS on US dollar: UBS has revised its FX forecasts to mainly reflect a stronger USD going into 2015 but stressing that this path for USD strength will be a non-linear. "We concur with the consensus view that the dollar will enjoy healthy gains in 2015 and beyond, but the path is potentially dynamic given that dollar strength could yield both benign and disruptive outcomes, depending on what's driving it. Despite pledges by the Fed to back-load normalization, and a general lack of tail risks, uncertainty discounts are set to increase for exposed currencies," . On a one-month timeframe, UBS now sees EUR/USD at 1.23, USD/JPY at 115, GBP/USD at 1.60, USD/CHF at 0.98, and AUD/USD at 0.84. On a three-month timeframe, UBS now sees EUR/USD at 1.25, USD/JPY at 118, GBP/USD at 1.62, USD/CHF at 0.98, and AUD/USD at 0.83. For end of 2015, UBS now sees EUR/USD at 1.20, USD/JPY at 115, GBP/USD at 1.60, USD/CHF at 1.03, and AUD/USD at 0.80.

- European car sales rose 6.2% in October for 14th straight gain.

- China drew US$95.9 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first 10 months of 2014, down 1.2 per cent from a year earlier. In October, China attracted US$8.5 billion in FDI, up 1.3 per cent from a year earlier, the ministry said. China's non-financial direct outbound investment rose 17.8 per cent in the first 10 months from a year earlier to US$81.9 billion.

- Gold was trading sideways on Monday after last week's recovery from four-and-half-year lows, but traders hoping for a stronger showing following a Swiss referendum on gold may be disappointed. The Swiss go to the polls on November 30 in a referendum that will lay down new rules for the country's central bank concerning its gold reserves. Surveys are divided about support for the "Save Our Gold" camp that would force the Swiss National Bank to hold 20% of its reserves in gold, repatriate bullion held outside its borders and halt all sales, and not everyone even agrees that a yes vote would lift gold prices.

- Oil prices sagged as recession in Japan, the world's fourth largest crude importer, added to oversupply worries. However, prices managed to hover above four-year lows as Russia and Venezuela appeared to be coordinating a price defense plan. U.S. crude futures were down at $75.20 per barrel but off Friday's four-year low of $73.25.

- Watch today: UK consumer prices, German sentiment, US home builds.

Have a nice Day !