World finance
On December 21st, a financial agreement permitted British financial entities to engage in
trade with Switzerland without requiring individual permissions. However, this development
coincided with Brexit-related restrictions, prompting UK-based financial firms to relocate
roughly £900 billion in assets to various EU cities. The following day, the US Bureau of
Economic Analysis published GDP data delineating economic performance by state, along
with the Personal Income statistics for the third quarter of 2023. Moreover, it was reported
that the PCE Price Index exhibited a 2.6% escalation over the twelve-month period leading
up to November. Concurrently, Hong Kong introduced regulations aimed at curbing video
game expenditure, triggering an $80 billion divestment from Tencent. Moving to Asia, the
Reserve Bank of India unveiled measures targeting "evergreening" practices in Alternative
Investment Funds used by regulated entities, involving investigations into cases amounting
to approximately 200 billion rupees ($2 billion). Furthermore, Japan announced plans to
raise its long-term interest rate estimate, signalling a departure from an extended period of
extremely loose monetary policy, subsequently leading to a decline in the yen post
negative interest rates.

Indicators
The Dow Jones Industrial Average had maintained a seven-week consecutive upward
trend approaching the highest 2023 level of 37,636.95 on 20th December. The S&P 500
experienced a surge due to the Federal Reserve's projection and reached 4766.16 points.
NASDAQ Composite Index peaked at 15,006.18 with a 1.21% increase over the week. In
Asia, Nikkei 225 edged 0.1% higher to 33,169 points as Japan’s core inflation rate fell. The
Hang Seng lost 1.7% to 16,334. Noteworthy, the stock market will be closed on Monday,
December 25, to celebrate Christmas Day.

Bonds
Bond markets closed the week with the 10-year Treasury yield just above 3.9%;
expectations of Fed rate cuts by March led to a nearly 1% drop since October. The 30-year
yield increased slightly, and the 2-year yield decreased.

Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin started the week at $41,410.3 and swiftly surged to over $43,000 the next day,
hitting a mid-week of $43,651.7 on December 21st. Despite a brief spike to $44,400 on
Friday, the highest since December 9, this turned out to be a false breakout, with Bitcoin
currently at $43,500. In a significant policy shift, Nigeria has authorised banks to open
accounts for cryptocurrency companies, a move following the Central Bank's directive in
2021 to close accounts involved in crypto exchanges within financial institutions.

Commodities
Gold and silver prices have notably risen amid anticipated interest rate easing in 2024.
The increments were reinforced by unexpected positive movements in the PCE Price
Index, bolstered by lower-than-anticipated CPI and PPI numbers. Despite historical trends, where reduced inflation often dampens gold prices, this divergence occurred, evident in
gold's surge to $2070 post-PCE, settling just below $2060/oz by week's end.

Currency
The US dollar continued its downward trend against the euro on Monday, the 18th,
following a trajectory set in the prior week. The pound saw a slight weakening against the
dollar, while the dollar itself faced a decline against the yen.