• The U.S. Government has seen turmoil over the weekend after "Trump's Wall" disagreement on Friday resulted in a government shutdown.
• Trump will be bringing in the new year with new Defence Secretary. Patrick Shanahan will replace James Mattis on 1st January, earlier than expected. 
• The end of the year sees further stock slumps, particularly for 2018 tech IPOs. Domo plummeting 25%, Zscaler tumbling 18% and Zurora and SurveyMonkey falling over 10%
• Asian Stocks saw a mixed Monday session with Samsung Electronics declining 0.13% and SK Hynix rising 0.83%.
• BMW is facing criminal further investigation in South Korea after it was found that the company concealed fire hazards and delayed recalls. This potential prosecution follows a $10 million fine. 

Asian overnight: A threadbare Asian session saw just the Chinese stock market open, with both the Shanghai and Shenzhen composite gaining ground. A Tsunami in  Indonesia on Saturday has left at least 200 dead and 800 injured after destroying hotels, houses and a gathering of beach concert attendees.  

UK, US and Europe: Weekend affairs centred on the US, with the partial government shutdown coming into play as the President warned that the government shutdown could be in place for a long time. Parts of the U.S. government closed after Congress failed to agree, by Friday's midnight deadline, on Severn spending bills affecting nine departments. The disagreement appears sparked by the Democrats refusal to approve Trump's $5 billion Mexican Wall budget. Meanwhile, the US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin rattled market sentiment after announcing that he had conversations with the big US banks to ensure they have enough liquidity. That is not typically something that would take place unless there was a current or impending threat to the economy. Looking ahead, there are precious few economic events to watch out for on the coming days.

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

1.30pm – US Chicago Fed index (November): expected to rise to 0.9 from 0.2. Markets to watch: US indices, USD crosses

Source: Daily FX Economic Calendar

Corporate News, Upgrades and Downgrades

• Playtech said that new Italian legislation would hit 2019 adjusted earnings by around €20 – 25 million. 

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