Oil prices held at two-week highs on Monday as investors wait for the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut interest rates this week to boost economic growth and energy demand, while keeping an eye on geopolitical risk that threatens supplies from Russia and Venezuela.
Stock and bond markets are cautiously optimistic on Monday about the possibility that the Federal Reserve will announce an interest rate cut this week, although it appears that the meeting is going to be one of the most contentious in recent memory.
COMPANIES
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Santander explores buying its life insurance alliance in Spain from Aegon (Cinco Días)
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Santander fights with JPMorgan to control the bond market in Latin America (Expansión)
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Santander agrees to pay 22.5 million euros to close tax case in France (Reuters)
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Iberdrola obtains a subsidy of 170 million euros from the ERDF to build energy storage projects (Reuters)
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Neoelectra enters pre-insolvency proceedings after its piecemeal sale plan fails (El Confidencial)
ECONOMY AND POLITICS
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The Kremlin on Sunday welcomed US President Donald Trump’s new national security strategy and said it was largely in line with Russia’s perception, marking the first time Moscow has so effusively praised a document from its former Cold War enemy (Reuters)
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China’s exports beat forecasts in November, boosted by increased shipments to non-U.S. markets as manufacturers deepen trade ties with the rest of the world in the face of President Donald Trump’s prohibitive tariffs (Reuters)
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German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul travels to China on his first visit, at a time when Berlin toughens its stance towards Beijing on trade disputes and geopolitical conflicts, in line with its European partners (Reuters)
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The British labor market remained weak last month, ahead of Finance Minister Rachel Reeves’ budget presentation on November 26, as employers worried about possible further tax rises, according to an industry report (Reuters)
AGENDA
MARKETS
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Holiday in Spain for the Immaculate Conception, open market.
CENTRAL BANKS
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Lecture by Piero Cipollone, member of the Executive Committee of the ECB, entitled “The transformation of money: technological disruption and the future of financial services” at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (1500 GMT).
OTHER EVENTS
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Justice and Home Affairs Council of the EU. (Until December 9)
MACROECONOMIC DATA
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0800 Germany – Monthly Industrial Production DEIP=ECI, Oct: Expected 0.5; Previous 1.3.
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0800 Germany – Seasonally adjusted year-on-year industrial production DEIPY=ECI, Oct: Previous -0.98.
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0845 France – Total reserve assets FRRAST=ECI, Nov: Previous 350,037,000,000.
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1030 Eurozone – Sentix Index EUSTCS=ECI, Dec: Expected -7; Previous -7.4.