China, Europe Manufacturing Surveys, Dollar Weakness

Manufacturing activity in China and Europe in December  was a little weaker than initially thought. The Caixin Manufacturing PMI fell to 53.0, its lowest since August.  

From a preliminary estimate of 55.5, the IHSMarkit’s PMI for the Eurozone was revised down to 55.2. The U.K.’s however, was revised up to 57.5, its highest in three years.

Economic news reports there will be data on U.S. construction spending for November at 10 AM ET.

Chicago’s Charles Evans and Atlanta’s Raphael Bostic are both due to speak at the same time. They are two voting members of the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Markets Committee.

Dollar Weakness

Dollar weakness pushed oil and industrial metals higher across the board. There were also signals from the OPEC+ that current restrictions on output will remain in force for another month.

The dollar index was down 0.5% at 89.54 by 6:30 AM ET. That was close to its lowest in over 30 months.

U.S. crude oil futures, meanwhile, were up 0.7% at $48.80 a barrel. Moreover, Brent futures were up 1.2% at $52.81 a barrel. 

Prices were also buoyed by reports that Iran had resumed enriching uranium. It’s a direct challenge to the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden. 

Iran’s move will make it harder for Biden to rejoin the UN-backed agreement that President Trump walked away from. That’s before imposing tougher sanctions that sharply cut Iran’s oil exports.

U.S. Stocks Set to Open at New Highs

U.S. stock markets are set to start the new year at record highs. Investors are looking through the short-term challenges of high infection rates across the globe. They are betting on a broad economic recovery later in the year.

Dow Jones futures rose 183 points, or 0.6% by 6:30 AM ET (1130 GMT). S&P 500 futures also gained 0.6% and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.4%.

To be in focus later include Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA). It said over the weekend that it missed its 2020 delivery target of 500,000 by a whisker. 

Stock to also be in focus is MGM Resorts (NYSE:MGM). It had an $11 billion offer rejected by U.K.-based Entain. Its technology powers its BetMGM online operations in the U.S.

Trump’s Call

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump called on Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger.   Reports said the telephone call which lasted for over an hour was to find enough votes to overturn the state’s presidential election result.