Bloomberg Business
-IMF decides on the yuan: At its executive meeting today in Washington, the IMF will decide whether to grant China’s yuan status as a reserve currency by adding it to the fund’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket. The decision is almost certain to be to include the yuan after IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Nov. 13 that the organisation’s staff backed inclusion. The offshore yuan jumped on suspected central bank intervention overnight as the discount to the onshore price briefly widened to its largest since September.
-The world’s biggest pension fund loses $64 billion: Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund lost $64 billion in the stock market rout in August and September, documents released in Tokyo this morning show. The 135.1 trillion yen ($1.1 trillion) fund declined 5.6 percent in the last quarter, the largest in comparable data starting from April 2008. There was a mixed bag of data from Japan on Monday, with retail sales beating expectations while industrial production rose less than forecast.
-Metals hammered: Iron ore futures in Singapore fell below $40 a metric ton for the first time as concern persists over the economic slowdown in China. Copper, meanwhile, is set to close today below its 200 month moving average for the first time since 2003. BHP Billiton Ltd. fell to a seven year low in London this morning after Brazil said it would seek as much as 20 billion reais ($5.2 billion) in compensation for a dam collapse at an iron ore mine which has left 13 dead and six missing.
-Oil slump fallout: Lukoil, Russia’s second largest oil producer reported a bigger than expected 62 percent drop in third-quarter profits this morning amid a persistent global supply glut. Oil bulls even have the weather against them as the Atlantic hurricane season ends without a single major event in the Gulf of Mexico to lift prices. West Texas Intermediate for January delivery was 1.29 percent higher at $42.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 11:15 a.m. London time ahead of this week’s OPEC meeting on Friday that is expected to maintain production at current levels.
-A huge week ahead: It’s not just the OPEC meeting that will keep investors busy. It is hard to overstate the importance of events on Thursday and Friday, which will dominate conversations throughout the week. On Thursday the European Central Bank is due to make its monetary policy decision, with very high expectations for further easing following President Mario Draghi’s priming of the market. Also on Thursday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen will speak to congress, then on Friday morning the last jobs report ahead of the expected start of Fed tightening later in the month is due to be published. Meanwhile there will be plenty of U.S. economic data coming throughout the week.
CNN Money
-Online shopping frenzy: This year, more Cyber Monday sales than ever started well before Monday and will continue all week. Retailers are hoping for a holiday season boost, as it has been a lousy year for them so far. Consumers have been surprisingly skittish, despite improvement in the job market and low gas prices.
– Chinese yuan gets international status: The International Monetary Fund is expected Monday to include the Chinese yuan in the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights basket, the elite group of currencies used to value reserve assets. China has pushed for the yuan to be part of the mix, which currently includes the dollar, euro, British pound and Japanese yen.
-Big meetings: Nearly 150 world leaders are meeting at the COP21 climate summit in Paris this week. They will try to reach an agreement on legally binding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The focus will shift to Frankfurt on Thursday, where the European Central Bank is expected to start pouring more money into the economy. Finally, OPEC is set to meet on Friday to discuss its strategy for next year. There’s likely to be heated discussion about its policy of maintaining high production to protect the oil cartel’s market share despite low oil prices.
-Stock market movers — Paypal, Amazon, Gap, BHP: Cyber Monday is giving a lift to some retailers. Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) is rising 0.4% premarket, and Gap (GPS) is up 0.3%. Paypal (PYPL, Tech30) is up 0.7%. Mining giant, BHP Billiton (BHP) is down 4.5% in London. The Brazilian government said it intends to sue the company for $5.2 billion over the collapse of a dam in Minas Gerais state earlier this month.
-Earnings and economics: A handful of companies will publish their results on Monday. New York listed Chinese classified advertising website 58.com (WUBA) and the mobile game publishing company iDreamSky Technology Ltd. (DSKY) will report before the opening bell. Internet service provider NQ Mobile (NQ), Shoe Carnival Inc (SCVL), and Thor Industries Inc (THO) will follow after the close. The U.S. Pending Home Sales report comes out at 10 a.m. ET. The data gives investors a glimpse of the trends in the U.S. housing market and is one of a range of data the Fed will consider when deciding whether to raise interest rates in December.
-Markets overview: European markets are mixed in early trading. Asian markets also ended the session mixed. Chinese markets experienced a sharp sell-off midday, but recovered later in the day. Last week’s holidays meant stocks saw little change. The Dow Jones industrial average edged down 0.1%, the Nasdaq climbed 0.4% and the S&P 500 closed the week virtually unchanged.