Morning wrap (16.11.2020)

• A massive free trade agreement was signed by 15 countries from Asia-Pacific region, including China, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan. India walked away from talks last year

• Big gains can be spotted during the Asian session. Nikkei closed 2.05% higher at a 29-year peak. Kospi gained 1.8%. Indices from China gain 0.5-1%. Australian stock exchange has been experiencing technical issues

• US and European futures trade higher compared to Friday's close

• Brexit talks are expected to be continued this week and the next

• Axios reports that Trump plans to impose more sanctions and restrictions on Chinese companies in the final weeks of his term

• German media hint that the country may tighten restrictions on social interactions today. Some US states, like for example Michigan, decide to tighten restrictions over the weekend

• Chinese industrial production increased 6.9% YoY in October (exp. 6.5% YoY), retail sales advanced 4.3% YoY (exp. 4.9% YoY) and urban investments rose 1.8% YoY (exp. 1.6% YoY)

• Japanese GDP increased 5% QoQ in Q3 2020 (exp. 4.4% QoQ)

• Japanese industrial production increased 3.9% MoM in September (exp. 4% MoM)

• United States gave Qualcomm permission to sell 4G hardware to Huawei

• NZD and AUD are top performing major currencies while CHF and USD lag. EM currencies gains against the US dollar

• Precious metals and oil gain.

A regular weekend-dip in coronavirus case data can be observed. However, a record of 660 thousand new cases was set on Friday. Source: worldometers, XTB