Morning Update – 01/11/2017 – by Arjun Lakhanpal

Morning all.. Wall St had another solid session with the S&P closing up 0.09% and the NASDAQ up 0.43%. In Asia the Nikkei showed another solid close; up 1.86% as we start the new month and USDJPY rallied and the BoJ left rates unchanged and policy set in stone. Shares advanced from Tokyo to Sydney. Electronics makers helped boost the Topix index, which had its best month in almost a year in October, to its biggest gain in six weeks. U.S. equity-index futures climbed with the dollar on optimism U.S. tax reforms are still on track. New Zealand’s dollar jumped as jobs data topped estimates. All LME metals gained, led by nickel, which has been on a tear since Tuesday after Trafigura Group Pte joined Glencore Plc in revealing bullish forecasts because of the popularity of electric cars. The Bloomberg Commodity Index increased 0.6 percent to the highest since March. Also in focus is the Federal Reserve, which is expected to keep rates on hold Wednesday while signaling an all-clear for a December hike. An announcement on who will helm the U.S. central bank is due by the end of the week. Bitcoin soared to a record after CME Group, the world’s biggest exchange operator, said it plans to launch futures trading on the cryptocurrency by year-end. A reading on the health of Chinese manufacturing that gives greater weight to smaller and private firms suggested growth momentum remains robust. The Caixin PMI held at 51, right on estimates, compared with a weaker-than-expected performance from the official measure out earlier this week. This morning we get Manufacturing PMI data in Sweden, Norway and the UK. Good luck.