OPEC meeting starts

LCG Research team London Capital Group

Today OPEC+ begin a 2-day meeting to decide whether to begin producing an extra 2 million barrels per day of oil, or delay for another 3-6 months.

MARKETS

News

Asia-Pacific markets are mixed this morning while S&P 500 futures are down half a per cent. India markets are closed for a holiday. Gold is trading near a 5-month low while Bitcoin is back to $18,500;

Asian macro numbers: China's official manufacturing PMI for November was at 52.1 (vs. expectations of 51.5). Japan's retail sales rose 6.4% year-on-year in October;

Joe Biden will likely require walking boot for several weeks after fracturing his foot;

Black Friday shopping in stores craters 52% during pandemic as e-commerce sales surge 22% to record $9 billion;

Trump lost appeal of Pennsylvania election case. He said his election challenges probably won't make it to the Supreme Court; • Iran's president accuses Israel of killing nuclear scientist, vows to respond ‘at the proper time';

OPEC alliance considers delay to its output hike, but faces a U.S. shale industry ‘itching to drill again';

UK secures 2 million more doses of Moderna's Covid vaccine and is set to approve Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine within days;

Tesla will start producing its third generation electric Superchargers in China in 2021, in addition to vehicles it already manufactures there;

S&P Global nears $44bn deal for IHS Markit.

What Else?

Price of sell-side analyst meetings almost halved by pandemic: shift to online presentations means fund managers are paying less for investment research;

Tesla's S&P debut is set to put $100 Billion in motion: the addition to the S&P 500 of a $555 billion company prone to huge price swings is so daunting that S&P is considering adding Tesla's weight over two separate trading days;

Deutsche Bank's head of accounting probed over Wirecard: Germany's audit watchdog investigates Andreas Loetscher for potential misconduct;

Platinum is attracting renewed interest as a global push for cleaner energy and waning demand for gold promise to lift demand for the metal.

WRAP

Stocks rose on Friday as traders wrapped up a strong week amid decreasing political uncertainty and positive vaccine news. The S&P 500 gained 0.2%, notching a record closing high. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.9% and also closed at an all-time high. The pan-European Euro Stoxx 600 index closed up 0.4% Friday with most sectors and major bourses finishing in the black. Oil prices were mixed on Friday but recorded a fourth straight week of gains ahead of an OPEC+ meeting this week. Gold dropped below $1,800 on optimism for economic recovery.

Economic numbers were mixed last week. In the U.S, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose to the highest level in five weeks. The latest monthly numbers on U.S. consumer confidence fell to 96.1 in November—the lowest level since August. On the other hand, Core (excluding defense and aircraft) capital goods orders and U.S New Home Sales both surprised on the upside. In Europe, the preliminary IHS Markit Composite PMI fell to a 6-month low.

QUOTE

“Progress is man's ability to complicate simplicity” – Thor Heyerdahl.

Author

LCG Research team

London Capital Group

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