Stocks rally and crude oil rebounds around economic news

Stock markets in North America and Europe have been steadily gaining strength through their trading days, sending positive momentum into today’s Asia Pacific session and the last full day of market action before Christmas. The rally appears to be due to a number of factors including sellers backing off and some economic reports US news was mixed with the second GDP update coming in a bit above expectations. The highlight of the day was a nice bounce for WTI crude oil which has caught a second wind after the US close on a much larger than expected decrease in API weekly inventories. A stronger oil price helped the FTSE to ourperform its continental neighbours. In currency markets, AUD and NZD continue to outperform with the Kiwi Dollar attracting additional interest on a small than expected trade deficit this morning. Wednesday has the potential to see activity across a number of markets with a number of economic figures crammed into one big day. Highlights include: GDP reports for the UK, France and Canada, Canada retail sales, US DOE crude oil inventories and durable goods orders and more, suggesting that crude oil, energy stocks and oil sensitive currencies like CAD may remain active over the next 24 hours Corporate News Nike $0.90 vs street $0.86 Economic News Significant announcements released overnight include: NZ trade balance ($779M) vs street ($810M) US API crude oil inventories (3.6 mmbbls) vs street (0.6 mmbbls) US Q3 GDP Update 2.0% vs street 1.9% and previous 2.1% US Q3 personal consumption 3.0% vs street 2.9% US Q3 core PCE inflation 1.4% vs street 1.3% US FHFA house prices 0.5% as expected US existing home sales 4.76M vs street 5.35M US Richmond Fed 6 vs street (1) Turkey repurchase rate 0.50% increase to 8.00% as expected Turkey overnight lending 10.75% no change as expected Turkey overnight borrowing 0.25% increase to 7.50% as expected Upcoming significant economic announcements include: (Note: 11:30 am in Sydney/Melbourne is currently 1:30 pm in Auckland, 4:30 pm in Vancouver, 7:30 pm in Toronto/Montréal, 12:30 am in London and 8:30 am in Singapore) 4:00 pm AEDT Singapore consumer prices street (0.7%) 4:00 pm AEDT Singapore core CPI street 0.4% 7:45 am GMT France GDP update street 1.2% 9:00 am GMT Norway unemployment rate street 4.6% 9:00 am GMT Poland unemployment rate street 9.7% 9:30 am GMT UK GDP update street 12.3% 10:00 am GMT Italy retail sales street 1.7% 8:30 am EST Canada Oct GDP street 0.0% 8:30 am EST Canada retail sales street 0.4% 8:30 am EST Canada retail ex auto street 0.4% 8:30 am EST US personal income street 0.2% 8:30 am EST US personal spending street 0.3% 8:30 am EST US core PCE inflation street 1.3% 8:30 am EST US durable goods street (0.6%) 8:30 am EST US durables ex transport street 0.0% 10:00 am EST US new home sales street 505K 10:00 am EST US consumer sentiment street 92.0 10:30 am EST US DOE crude oil inventories street 1.2 mmbbls 10:30 am EST US gasoline inventories street 1.3 mmbbls 1:00 pm EST US Baker Hughes drill rig count previous 709