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MARKETS

• Major US benchmarks were little changed in a shortened Friday trading session
• S&P 500 and Nasdaq cap off fourth-straight week of gains
• S&P 500 is up 8.7% so far in November, the best November since 1957 (ex-Covid)
• S&P 500 VIX Index falls to 12.5, the lowest since January 2020
• US bond yields bounced to 1-2 week highs, with the 2-year almost back at 5.0%
• Gold reclaims US$2,000 level as US Dollar Index nears 3-month low
• Risk sentiment continues to ramp up on easing financial conditions, disinflation momentum, growing soft landing expectations and peak Fed narratives
• Nasdaq launches zero day options across Treasury and commodity markets (FT)
• Investors sell US dollar at fastest pace in a year (FT)
• Investors stashing cash in money market funds may be bullish sign for stocks (WSJ)

STOCKS

• OpenAI turmoil exposes threat to Microsoft's investment (FT)
• Nvidia will delay new AI chip designed to comply with US export restrictions (CNBC)
• Coinbase shares rally as Bitcoin briefly tops US$38,000 (CNBC)
• Amazon set to win unconditional EU approval for $1.4bn bid for iRobot (Reuters)
• Mastercard SpendingPulse says Black Friday sales rose 2.5% year-on-year (Reuters)

CENTRAL BANKS

• ECB's Villeroy says ECB won't raise rates again, excluding surprises (Bloomberg)
• BoE chief economist Pill warns of vigilance in inflation fight (FT)

GEOPOLITICS

• Israel and Hamas set to begin four-day truce on Friday (FT)
• Israeli intelligence 'dismissed' detailed warning of Hamas raid (FT)
• North Korean rocket stage exploded after satellite launch (Reuters)
• US and EU trade meeting was due to take place next month but now expected to slip to early next year (Bloomberg)
• Argentina's new President Milei quickly toning down aggressive rhetoric toward largest trading partners (Bloomberg)

CHINA

• China likely to wait until early next year to cut policy rates (Bloomberg)
• WHO asks China for information on child pneumonia outbreak (Bloomberg)
• China says multiple pathogens are behind spike in respiratory illness (Bloomberg)
• China's labor market seen as weaker than official data shows (Bloomberg)
• Beijing investigating shadow bank Zhongzhi as it faces US$37bn shortfall (FT)

ECONOMY

• Analysts cut holiday spending estimates on weaker Black Friday traffic (Reuters)
• Resilient consumer spending continuing to support broader US economy (Bloomberg)
• Black Friday ecommerce spending rose 7.5% to record US$9.8bn but sales likely to taper off from here, according to Adobe Analytics (CNBC)
• Japan manufacturing PMI flags deeper contraction, services marginally firmer (Reuters)
• Japan core inflation slightly misses, service prices hit 30-year high (Bloomberg)
• German Q3 GDP slightly shrinks (Reuters)
• New Zealand retail sales surprise higher (Bloomberg)
• US PMIs steady in November (Reuters)