Market Headlines – 28/11/2017

US

• US. equities ended Monday little changed as declining oil prices pulled down energy stocks at the start of a busy news week.
• Crude Oil slipped after U.S. drillers expanded operations while OPEC and Russia prepare to discuss longer supply curbs.
• In political news, the U.S. Senate tax bill is set to be debated this week. President Donald Trump, tweeted yesterday that negotiations on the tax bill were coming along “very well”.
• The most significant event today will likely be the Fed Chair nominee Jerome Powell’s confirmation hearing. The new Fed Chair has broadly conveyed a message of continuity, stating “we expect interest rates to rise somewhat further and the size of our balance sheet to gradually shrink”.

Europe

• European stocks fell as defensive sectors such as real estate and utilities outperformed cyclical shares.
• Over in Germany, progress to form the new coalition government appears to be heading in the right direction, leading to gains in German sovereign bonds.
• In the UK, the Bank of England publishes annual stress tests Tuesday alongside its Financial Stability Review looking at the health of U.K. banks.

Asia

• In Asia overnight, Japanese equities were unchanged, as the yen pared gains after a rally partly fuelled by a Kyodo News report that Japan detected radio signals suggesting North Korea is preparing for a missile launch.
• Chinese equities gained 0.3%, despite news in the last week surrounding government concerns about a potential stock bubble. Chinese bond yields also soared toward 4% last week amid efforts by authorities to clamp down on leverage.