• Dolce and Gobbana tension rises as their goods are no longer available on a few Chinese e-commerce sites, including Taobao and JD. Com. 
• Spain threatens to vote against the Brexit deal as they request that any decisions in relation to the territory of Gibraltar to only be discussed directly with Madrid. EU negotiators are meeting today to try and resolve this before the summit taking place on Sunday
• Asian markets show a decline with the Shanghai composite falling 2.25%, the Shenzhen composite by 3.5% and the Hang Seng index falling 0.62%
• Oil prices continued to decline with the global benchmark Brent falling to $62.10 after it hit its lowest since December 2017 at $61.52 a barrel.
• Tension between the US and China continue as Wall Street reported that the US government are trying to persuade allies to avoid telecommunications equipment from Huawei technology
• Meituan Dianping shares plummet by 11.63% after posting its first earnings report since its $4.2billion IPO which occurred in September. Tencent, its main backer, also saw a decline in their shares by 1.56%
• International Petroleum Investment Company files a lawsuit against multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs due to a conspiracy theory of taking millions of dollars from the 1MDB fund
• The board of Nissan decides to remove Carlos Ghosn as Chairman in relation to accusations of significant acts of misconduct, including under-reporting compensation amounts and personal use of company assets
• Over half of economists believed the South African Reserve Bank would keep its repo rate at 6.5%, however on Thursday, it was agreed to increase this to 6.75%

Asian overnight: A mixed session overnight saw Hong Kong and Chinese markets lower, while Australian and Japanese indices were on the rise. Tensions continue between Italian luxury fashion brand Dolce and Gobbana, causing China to react by removing D&G products from e-commerce sites. This response occurred after screenshots were found showing co-founder Stefano Gabbana using ‘crude terms’ and Instagram messages using offensive language. The brand have said their account was hacked, quoting "we have nothing but respect for China and the people of China". 

UK, US and Europe: Fears over a Brexit breakdown do not seem to be holding much weight at the moment as we head into the weekend’s EU summit, with Spanish threats to veto the deal over Gibraltar largely disregarded as a surmountable issue. Yesterday’s bearish European session is likely to have an impact on US sentiment today. With a host of economic readings to watch out for, it is likely to be a volatile session. European flash PMI surveys, Canadian inflation and retail sales, alongside US PMI readings should provide enough to keep things moving. Add to that the speculation over how retail is faring on one of the biggest shopping days in the year, and we have a relatively busy day ahead.

Economic calendar - key events and forecast (times in GMT) 

Source: Daily FX Economic Calendar

8.15am – 9am – French, German, eurozone mfg & services PMIs (November, flash): these are expected broadly to improve over the past month, although some weakness in the German figures may hit the euro. Markets to watch: eurozone indices, EUR crosses
1.30pm – Canada CPI (October): inflation to rise 2.7% YoY from 2.2%, and rise to 0.1% from -0.4%. Market to watch: CAD crosses
2.45pm – US mfg & services PMI (November, flash): mfg PMI to rise to 56 from 55.7, while services PMI remains at 54.8. Markets to watch: US indices, USD crosses

Corporate News, Upgrades and Downgrades

• Ibstock has sold Glen-Gery, its US brick manufacturing business, for $110 million, and has confirmed that the full-year outlook was unchanged. 
• James Fisher reported a 14% rise in revenue for the ten months to 31 October, compared to a year earlier. 
• Centrica, owner of British Gas, to take a hit of £70million in its first quarter of 2019 due to its new cap on energy bills
• Shell spending around £300million to update the plant at Bacton, increasing the production of gas by 16%
• Hyundai and Kia Motors being investigated in relation to its vehicle recalls which occurred in 2015 and 2017 as it is believed the recalls were not conducted properly

CYBG upgraded to buy at Citi
Hastings upgraded to overweight at Barclays
Ibstock upgraded to buy at Peel Hunt
Renault upgraded to buy at Jefferies

Kingfisher downgraded to neutral at Goldman
Thales downgraded to neutral at Oddo BHF
Avon Rubber cut to sell at Panmure Gordon
 

IGTV featured video

Information has been prepared by IG, a trading name of IG Markets Limited. In addition to the disclaimer below, the material on this page does not contain a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. IG accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of these comments and for any consequences that result. No representation or warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of this information. Consequently any person acting on it does so entirely at their own risk. Any research provided does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any specific person who may receive it. It has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such is considered to be a marketing communication. Although we are not specifically constrained from dealing ahead of our recommendations we do not seek to take advantage of them before they are provided to our clients. See full non-independent research disclaimer and quarterly summary.