UAE announces new sustainability initiatives

Turkey recorded a current account surplus for a second month running in October though at USD 186m it was far narrower than the USD 1.9bn recorded in September. The goods deficit widened sharply to USD 4.9bn thanks to a 7% increase month/month in imports. Steady services credit income helped to keep the overall trade balance in surplus while net FDI inflows improved to USD 638m. Elsewhere, industrial production in Turkey dropped 0.4% m/m in October and slowed to growth of 1.1% y/y from more than 4% a month earlier.

The UAE approved nine green initiatives during a meeting of the cabinet held during Dubai’s hosting of the COP 28 climate conference. Included among the initiatives was a national carbon credits registration system, guidelines on sustainable aviation fuel, an electric vehicle charging company and a national biodiversity strategy.

Today’s Economic Data and Events

• 11:00 UK average weekly earnings Oct: forecast 7.6%
• 14:00 GE ZEW survey Dec: forecast 8.0
• 16:00 IN industrial production y/y Oct: forecast 10.4%
• 16:00 IN CPI y/y Nov: forecast 5.78%
• 17:30 US CPI m/m Nov: forecast 0.0%
• 17:30 US core CPI y/y Nov: forecast 4%

Fixed Income

• US Treasuries pushed higher late in the trading session ahead of today’s release of US inflation for November. Yields on the 2yr UST fell 1bps to 4.708% while the 10yr closed the day flat after having drifted lower for most of the day.
• Bond markets generally closed lower overnight with USD emerging market bonds marginally lower along with high-yield. GCC credit also traded softer.

FX

• Currency markets were relatively quiet ahead of the major events of US CPI and rate decisions from the Fed, ECB and Bank of England later this week. The most notable mover was USDJPY which spiked by 0.8% to 146.16 as Bank of Japan officials reportedly said there was little need to move away from negative rate policy next week.
• EURUSD closed at 1.0765, unchanged, while GBPUSD closed at 1.2555. Commodity currencies likewise showed limited movement overnight.

Equities

• Equity markets closed generally stronger to start the trading week. In the US the Dow Jones added 0.4% while the S&P gained the same amount and the NASDAQ added 0.2%. European markets were more mixed with a gain for the EuroStoxx index of 0.4% while the FTSE dipped by 0.1%.
• Asian equity markets are trending higher today with the Nikkei up 0.5% and the Hang Seng gaining 0.7%.
• Locally markets closed mixed. The DFM was lower by 0.4% while the ADX added 0.2%. In Saudi Arabia, the Tadawul jumped by 0.8%.

Commodities

• Oil prices consolidated some recent gains with both Brent and WTI opening the week strong. WTI added 0.1% to close at USD 71.32/b while Brent added 0.25% to USD 76.03/b. Elsewhere major metals were softer overnight with LME aluminium down 0.8% while LME copper dipped by 1.3%. Gold has pulled back from USD 2,000/troy oz but is still holding at high levels.