Business

Global stocks and US equity futures roared upward to new record highs to start the second-to-last week of the year, boosted by optimism over a Republican agreement on the shape of U.S. tax cuts aimed at lifting growth; incidentally this is the 6th consecutive day that the "tax bill" has been priced in by the market, and according to cynics, 6th consecutive week and/or 6th month. Meanwhile, the dollar dropped and Treasuries headed lower.

Japanese exports boomed in November 2017, rising +16.2% versus a year earlier and beating consensus expectations of +14.7%. It was the fifth straight month of double-digit growth and the strongest since August. Last month, growth of +14.0% had undershot expectations of +15.7%. Imports in November grew slightly less than expected at +17.2% versus the consensus of +18.0%.

Since the common currency's inception in 1999, the EUR-hedged yield 'offered' to European investors from investing in US Treasuries has never been worse...

As Bloomberg notes, for European investors using swaps to protect against currency swings, the benchmark 10-year U.S. yield fell Friday on a euro-hedged basis to around -60bps.

In other words, it costs European investors 60bps per year to 'own' 10Y Treasuries on a EUR-hedged basis.

Uranium is in high demand, as it is used as fuel in nuclear power plants around the world. Statista's Dyfed Loesche notes that according to the German Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources BGR, Kazakhstan is the biggest producer of the radioactive metal. The central Asian country produced around 24,600 metric tons of the substance in 2016. This is a share of close to 40 percent of the worldwide production.

You will find more statistics at Statista

Authored by Eugene Etsebeth via CoinDesk.com,

Behind closed doors, G7 central banks are sluggish traders that buy and sell the same foreign currencies, marketable securities, special drawing rights (SDR) and gold day in and day out.

Central bank traders follow the investment policy enforced by the executive committees with specific asset allocation targets. In order of importance, the objective for foreign reserves trading generally is liquidity, security and returns (in last place).