1st December 2025

MACRO

Trump Says He Has Picked Next Fed Chair

US President Trump said Sunday he has decided on his pick for the next Federal Reserve chair after making clear he expects his nominee to deliver interest-rate cuts. “I know who I am going to pick, yeah,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Sunday that he would be happy to serve as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve if chosen by Trump. (Bloomberg, Fox News)

Record Black Friday Online Sales

US shoppers spent a record $11.8 billion online on Black Friday, up 9.1% from 2024, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks 1 trillion visits that shoppers make to online retail websites. (Reuters)

American Car Buyers Balk at High Prices

A Wall Street Journal article notes shoppers are downsizing, buying used vehicles, taking on longer car loans and holding out for deals as American consumers have had it with high car prices. (Wall Street Journal)

OPEC+ Holds Output Steady

OPEC+ agreed to leave oil output levels unchanged for the first quarter of 2026 at its meetings on Sunday as the group slows down its push to regain market share amid fears of a looming supply glut. (Reuters)

BOJ Governor Signals December Rate Hike Discussion

BOJ Governor Ueda said the Bank will thoroughly discuss the possibility of an interest-rate increase at its coming meeting (December 18th-19th). Ueda said the bank is actively collecting information regarding companies’ stance toward pay increases ahead of the meeting. JGB yields hit 17-year highs and the yen strengthened, as Ueda’s comments fuelled bets that the central bank could hike interest rates as early as this month. (Wall Street Journal, Reuters)

Japan Finance Minister Flags Erratic FX Moves

Japan’s finance minister said on Sunday that recent erratic swings in the foreign exchange market and rapid yen weakening are “clearly not driven by fundamentals.” (Reuters)

Japan Economic Data Mixed

Japan’s manufacturing activity shrank for the fifth consecutive month in November, weighed by sluggish demand, though the outlook improved slightly. Japanese corporate spending on factories and equipment rose 2.9% in July-September against the same period the year before, slowing from the previous quarter but continuing to underpin domestic demand. (Reuters)

New Japan-Focused Hedge Fund Launches

Former Citadel portfolio manager Takeo Serizawa will join a new Japan-focused hedge fund, teaming up with one-time Point72 Asset Management’s Japan head Tomohiro Yamaguchi, to tap investor interest in the country. (Bloomberg)

China Factory PMI Edges Up But Remains in Contraction

China’s official factory PMI edged up on stronger production and demand in November, but remained in contraction for an eighth straight month. The index rose to 49.2 in November, compared with 49.0 in October and undershooting the consensus estimate of 49.3. S&P’s RatingDog China general manufacturing PMI declined to 49.9 in November from 50.6 in October, marking the first deterioration in manufacturing sector conditions since July. (Wall Street Journal)

China Property Sector Shows Mixed Signals

China’s new home prices rose at a faster pace in November, but prices in the secondary market declined further in a sign that the crisis-hit property sector has yet to bottom out. (Reuters)

Russia Nears First Yuan Bond Sale

Russia is inching closer to its first yuan-denominated sovereign bond sale, aiding China’s push to raise the global standing of its currency. (Bloomberg)

China Cracks Down on Crypto

Hong Kong-listed stocks with cryptocurrency-related businesses tumbled on Monday after China’s central bank vowed to crack down on virtual currencies and flagged concerns about stablecoins. (Reuters)

China Military Revenues Fall Amid Corruption Purges

Revenues at China’s giant military firms fell last year as corruption purges slowed arms contracts and procurement, according to a study released Monday by a leading conflict think tank. (Reuters)

UK Budget Fallout Continues

UK PM Starmer will set out on Monday his economic vision for the rest of the Labour government’s parliamentary term in a speech that builds on last week’s budget. UK Chancellor Reeves denied misleading the British public about the state of the UK’s public finances ahead of her budget, as she faced ongoing criticism over her messaging in the run-up to Wednesday’s £26 billion package of tax hikes. (Reuters, Bloomberg)

London Data Center Rules May Tighten

A London government watchdog wants tougher rules on building data centers, warning that their power demands may impinge on the construction of new homes in the crowded capital. (Bloomberg)

Swiss Reject Inheritance Tax

Switzerland on Sunday overwhelmingly rejected a proposed 50% tax on inherited fortunes of 50 million Swiss francs or more, with 78% of votes against the plan, an outcome that even exceeded the two-thirds opposition indicated in polls. (Reuters)

Norway Budget Impasse

Norway’s ruling Labor Party failed to secure backing for next year’s budget from all its political partners, raising the prospect of a government crisis just three months after its reelection. (Bloomberg)

Australia and New Zealand Property Outlook

Australian home prices jumped in November but gains in Sydney and Melbourne slowed, as expectations there would be no interest rate cuts anytime soon undermined sentiment. New Zealand home prices are forecast to rise steadily around 4% over the next two years after nearly zero growth in 2025, thanks to lower-for-longer interest rates and a gradual pickup in demand. (Reuters)

South Korea Exports Beat Expectations

South Korea’s exports rose at a stronger-than-expected pace in November, backed by brisk demand for semiconductors and a trade deal between Seoul and Washington. (Wall Street Journal)

Taiwan Targets 15% US Tariff Rate

Taiwan is aiming for tariffs on its exports to the United States to be cut to 15% from 20% now, though help in training US workers is not among the “conditions” figuring in their trade talks, senior Taiwan officials said on Monday. (Reuters)

Indian Rupee Hits Record Low

The Indian rupee hit a fresh all-time low against the dollar, as traders said the Reserve Bank of India had stepped away from defending the currency. Indian PM Modi’s government is set to introduce sweeping economic reforms in the upcoming parliament session as part of a plan to attract foreign investment and boost growth. (Bloomberg)

Guyana Crude Heads to India

Two supertankers have begun hauling crude on a lengthy and unusual voyage from Guyana to India, as refiners in the South Asian nation snap up alternatives to sanctioned Russian crude. (Bloomberg)

GEOPOLITICAL

US-Ukraine Talks Progress, Envoys Head to Moscow

US and Ukrainian negotiators said Sunday’s meeting on ending the war with Russia—which included talks on possible elections, land swaps and security guarantees—was productive, and top US envoys will head to Moscow on Monday for further discussions. (Wall Street Journal)

Poland Cancels Hungary Meeting Over Putin Visit

Polish President Karol Nawrocki called off a planned meeting with Hungary’s prime minister after Viktor Orban met on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Bloomberg)

India Eyes Russian Fighter Jets During Putin Visit

India plans to start discussions toward the purchase of Russian fighter jets and a missile defense shield during President Putin’s visit this week, even as President Trump’s administration seeks to reduce dealings between the two nations. (Bloomberg)

Taiwan Accelerates Air Defense Purchases

Taiwan plans to buy its first weapons for a major air-defense system announced less than two months ago, underscoring Taipei’s urgency to get the program online as China escalates its military intimidation. (Bloomberg)

Netanyahu Requests Pardon

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has officially requested a pardon in his corruption trial, an unusual move over an issue that has divided the country. (Wall Street Journal)

EQUITIES

Amazon and Google Launch Joint Cloud Service

Amazon and Google introduced a jointly developed multicloud networking service on Sunday to meet growing demand for reliable connectivity, at a time when even brief internet disruptions can cause major outages. (Reuters)

China May Have AI Chip Surplus

Jefferies analysts note China will have more AI chips than its companies need for the next five years due to local chipmakers catching up and Nvidia stockpiling efforts. (The Information)

Intel Advances AI Packaging at Amkor

Intel is pushing forward with AI semiconductor packaging at Amkor Technology’s factory located in Songdo, Incheon. (ET News)

Google-Foxconn AI Server Partnership Expands

Google is working with Foxconn on TPU servers, as the Taiwan assembly giant won big orders for compute trays for Google AI servers. Foxconn will also work with Google’s robotics company, Intrinsic, to build future AI robot factories. (UDN)

Micron to Invest $9.6 Billion in Japan HBM Plant

Micron Technology will invest 1.5 trillion yen ($9.6 billion) to build a new plant in Hiroshima in western Japan to produce advanced high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. (Nikkei)

CME Data Center Operator Bolsters Backup Cooling

The data center that supports CME Group, one of the world’s largest derivatives exchanges, said it has bolstered its backup cooling capacity after overheating sparked a catastrophic 10-hour outage that roiled world markets on Friday. (Bloomberg)

Samsung HBM and Silicon Photonics Push

Samsung Electronics supplied “more than 60%” of the total High Bandwidth Memory volume for Google through Broadcom this year. Samsung has reportedly begun hiring experienced professionals at the R&D center it established in Singapore to capture the silicon photonics market, which is considered a game changer in the AI semiconductor industry. (Hankyung)

China CXMT HBM Progress

According to Counterpoint Research, China’s CXMT’s current HBM3 yield is said to be in the 10-20% range. It is expected to be used in Huawei’s AI accelerators, and the base die will reportedly be manufactured on SMIC’s 28nm process. (EBN)

China Vanke Pledges Shares to State Backer

China Vanke has pledged all of the shares it holds in a listed property management unit to Shenzhen Metro Group, giving the state shareholder one of its best assets as default fears pile up. (Bloomberg)

BYD Issues Safety Recall

BYD will push a software update to almost 90,000 plug-in hybrid vehicles in China after the national regulator said manufacturing defects in battery packs pose safety risks. (Bloomberg)

Macau Gaming Revenue Beats

Macau’s gaming revenue rose 14.4% in November, exceeding analysts’ expectation as the world’s biggest gambling hub continues to draw big bettors with perks and events. (Bloomberg)

Coupang Data Breach Investigation

South Korean authorities are investigating a data leak at online retailer Coupang that exposed about 33.7 million accounts in what could be the widest hack for the country of 51.7 million people. (Bloomberg)

Airbus Completes Most Safety Modifications

Airbus said on Monday that the vast majority of the around 6,000 A320-family aircraft affected by a safety alert have now been modified, with fewer than 100 jets still requiring work. (Reuters)

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