– US indices finished yesterday’s trading higher. S&P 500 rose 1.14%, Dow Jones moved 1.11% higher and Nasdaq jumped 1.48%. Russell 2000 advanced 1.16%

– Indices from Asia-Pacific traded mostly higher today. Nikkei traded 0.69% higher, S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.20%, Nifty 50 and Kospi both added 0.50%. Indices from China traded mostly lower

– DAX futures point to a slightly lower opening of the European cash session today

– Fed’s vice Chair Brainard will most likely became President Biden top economic adviser

– Analysts at ANZ in Australia have revised their Fed funds rate forecast range by 50bp to 5.25-5.50%, citing strong US economy

– US to sell another 26 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

– According to some unconfirmed speculation US Secretary of State Blinken and China Foreign Minister, Wang Yi may meet later this week

– Guangdong Province in China, which is the largest economy compared with any other province, expects 6.0% GDP growth this year, according to local authorities

– BlackRock cut Japan stocks to “underweight” citing concern over a BOJ policy change

– The Japanese economy grew by 0.2% QoQ in Q4, reversing from a revised 0.3% contraction in Q3 but falling short of market expectations of a 0.5% rise, preliminary data showed. 

– Industrial production in Japan increased by 0.3% MoM in December, compared with the flash data of a -0.1%

– Major cryptocurrencies trade slightly higher. Bitcoin rose slightly to $21700 mark, while Ethereum oscillates around resistance at $1500

– Mixed moods prevail on energy commodities markets. Brent and WTI fell 0.40 and 0.9% respectively, while NATGAS rose over 1.0%

– Precious metals trade mixed. Gold is trading around $1860 and silver attempts to break above the $22.00 hurdle. 

– JPY and CHF are the best performing major currencies while CAD and NZD lag the most