- Central bankers attempted to cast doubt on the possibility of significant interest-rate cuts early in the upcoming year, which left US stock futures unsure of where to go.
- S&P 500 contracts saw a 0.1% increase, but low volume saw little change on the STOXX Europe 600 index.
- The dollar remained relatively stable, and the three basis point decline in two-year Treasury yields moderated Friday's surge.
- Following the comments made by Fed's Williams last week that wagers on a March reduction were premature and by ECB President Lagarde that the bank had not discussed rate cuts at all, ECB's Vasle joined a chorus of officials who were tampering the market's enthusiasm over rate cuts.
- While speculation has grown that the Bank of Japan will soon end the world's last negative-rate regime, economists see April as the most likely timing for a change, with around 15% expecting BoJ's Governor Ueda to end negative rates in January, according to a survey of over 50 economists.
- BP to pause all oil tanker transits through the Red Sea.
- Fed's Mester: Markets a bit ahead of central bank on rate cuts - FT.
