• Asian equity markets were mixed as trade continued to lack firm direction following the holiday closure in the US for Thanksgiving
• The AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine is set to undergo a new global trial to appease critics questioning the claim that the vaccine can protect up to 90% of people against COVID-19
• In FX, the DXY trades sub 92.00, GBP/USD is unable to breach 1.34 thus far and EUR/USD maintains 1.19 status
• UK and EU are set to resume face-to-face talks with negotiators preparing to travel to London so they can resume discussions
• Looking ahead highlights include EZ Consumer Confidence (Final) & Economic Sentiment, Black Friday, ECB's Schnabel & Panetta and supply from Italy
• The desk will operate a normal service on Friday 27th November until 18:45GMT/13:45EST, upon which the desk will close given the US market closures

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

US coronavirus cases rose by at least 103,628 to a total of 12.88mln and deaths rose by at least 1,251 to a total of 263.4k, according to a major newswire tally. (Newswires)

US President Trump stated that COVID-19 vaccine delivery will start next week. (Newswires)

WHO’s Ryan commented that it is very possible we can return to some sort of normality next year through addition of vaccines. (Newswires)

UK PM Johnson said he is encouraged by recent data, but a new year national lockdown could be seen if regional restrictions do not work. (Newswires)

The AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine is set to undergo a new global trial to appease critics questioning the claim that the vaccine can protect up to 90% of people against COVID-19. (Guardian) Separately, it was reported that the UK government asked MHRA regulator to assess Oxford University/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine candidate for temporary supply, according to the Health Ministry. (Telegraph) Note, the retrial of the drug is said to not impact the regulatory approval in the UK. Additionally, Developers of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine said on Thursday that AstraZeneca should try combining its experimental shot with the Russian one to boost efficacy. (Newswires)

ASIA

Asian equity markets were mixed as trade continued to lack firm direction following the holiday closure in US for Thanksgiving and lull seen across European counterparts. ASX 200 (-0.5%) was pressured amid further deterioration of Australia’s trade ties with China after the latter announced to collect anti-dumping deposits on Australia wine of around 107%-212% from Saturday which saw double-digit losses in Treasury Wine Estate before it was temporarily halted pending further announcement. The Australian coal blockage situation off Chinese ports also further deteriorated as 82 ships were now involved carrying a total value of AUD 1.1bln, with the ongoing spat overshadowing the encouraging COVID-19 development in which Victoria state reached the threshold for total elimination of the virus after 28 days of zero cases. Nikkei 225 (+0.3%) swung between gains and losses as hopes regarding an extension of COVID-19 relief measures were counterbalanced by the pressure from currency inflows, while there was plenty of attention on Tokyo Dome whose shares were untraded with a glut of buy orders at the daily upper limit after reports Mitsui Fudosan is planning to make a tender offer. Hang Seng (unch) and Shanghai Comp. (+0.3%) conformed to indecision but with the mainland kept afloat after the PBoC’s tepid liquidity operations resulted to a net weekly injection of CNY 130bln and with Chinese Industrial Profits surging 28.2% Y/Y. Finally, 10yr JGBs were subdued amid the lack of firm direction across overnight markets and after mixed results at today’s 2yr JGB auction which showed a weaker b/c.

PBoC injected CNY 120bln via 7-day reverse repos at a rate of 2.20% for a net weekly injection of CNY 130bln and announced CNY 5.0bln 3-month central bank bill swap. PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 6.5755 vs. Exp. 6.5739 (Prev. 6.5780)

• Chinese Industrial Profits (Oct) Y/Y 28.2% (Prev. 10.1%). (Newswires)
• Chinese Industrial Profits YTD (Oct) Y/Y 0.7% (Prev. -2.4%)

China is reportedly to collect anti-dumping deposits on Australian wine from November 28th equal to around 107%-212.1%, while Australia government later responded that it was extremely disappointed by the tariffs and will vigorously fight the tariffs. (Newswires)

Japan's ruling LDP is to urge the government to expand and create new state-backed loan and loan guarantee schemes to support COVID-stricken firms, while it also calls for an extension of zero-interest loan scheme to March and steps to promote EV and battery development. It was later reported that Japan will extend the compensation scheme until February for firms impacted by COVID-19 which retain jobs and was to expire in December. (Newswires)

• Tokyo CPI (Nov) Y/Y -0.7% vs. Exp. -0.5% (Prev. -0.3%); largest decline since May 2012. (Newswires)
• Tokyo CPI Ex. Fresh Food (Nov) Y/Y -0.7% vs. Exp. -0.7% (Prev. -0.5%)
• Tokyo CPI Ex. Fresh Food & Energy (Nov) Y/Y -0.2% vs. Exp. -0.2% (Prev. -0.2%)

UK/EU

UK and EU are set to resume face-to-face talks with negotiators preparing to travel to London so they can resume discussions during the weekend barring any last-minute changes to the plan, although other reports noted it still had to be confirmed and that Downing Street admitted it didn’t know if EU chief Brexit negotiator Barnier would turn up. (Newswires/Independent)

There were initial reports that EU's chief negotiator Barnier called an "urgent" meeting of EU fisheries ministers for tomorrow, according to sources. However, an EU official later confirmed Barnier will speak to "some" EU fisheries ministers on Friday but stated talks are not "urgent". (Newswires)

UK said it will impose new competition regulations to prevent Google (GOOG) and Facebook (FB) from abusing market dominance. (Telegraph)

ECB's Panetta said there should be no doubt on inflation commitment and is open to a case-by-case resumption of bank dividends. (Newswires)

FX

In FX markets, the DXY was subdued and gradually retreated below the 92.00 level with price action hampered by thin conditions due to Thanksgiving and Black Friday, while it also largely ignored recent comments from President Trump who stated that the vaccine delivery will begin next week and that it would be a mistake if the electoral college votes for Biden but that he will leave the White House if it does. EUR/USD was calm after yesterday’s choppy price action with the ECB’s minutes release and central bank speakers providing little in terms of new information, while GBP/USD recovered from some of the recent Brexit-related pessimism and prodded above 1.3350 after reports that face-to-face talks are set to resume with EU negotiators preparing to travel to London for discussions this weekend, barring any last-minute changes. USD/JPY was mildly pressured amid the lacklustre risk tone which saw a breach of support at 104.00, while antipodeans were little changed for most the session in-fitting with the widespread uneventful picture across the FX space, but then eked marginal gains as the greenback softened.

BoC Governor Macklem said vaccine news has been encouraging but they still project the economy will be operating below potential into 2023 and the economy will still require extraordinary monetary policy support as it recuperates. Macklem stated that borrowing costs are to remain very low for a long time and the Bank has committed to stop buying government bonds when recovery is well underway and most likely before inflation reaches 2% target. However, he added that there is a lot more room to purchase more government debt and do have capacity to do more if required, while negative rates are in the toolkit but they would not be terribly helpful at this time. Furthermore, Macklem stated they could potentially reduce the effective lower bound without going negative which is at 25bps and that it could be a bit lower. (Newswires)

Brazil Treasury Secretary Funchal said the country must return to fiscal discipline which will help lower long-term interest rates, while he added that they must control mandatory spending and must not give public sector workers pay increase. Funchal also stated that priority in Congress next week will be Federative pact and emergency aid constitutional amendments. (Newswires)

Turkish Central Bank revised banks' reserve ratio requirements and the Turkish banking regulator later noted that required reserves of the banking system is expected to increase by TRY 12.3bln and USD 5.7bln in FX and gold after the revision to required reserves. (Newswires)

COMMODITIES

WTI crude futures retreated beneath the USD 45.00/bbl level after its recent fall from 8-month highs above USD 46.00/bbl with prices weighed amid the absence of US participants and tentativeness heading into next week's critical OPEC+ showdown. Gold was little changed with prices stuck near the USD 1800/oz level amid the holiday-quietened conditions although a recent note from ANZ Bank stated that their model suggested the precious metal was currently undervalued and it maintained its 12-month forecast at USD 2100/oz, while copper was unfazed by the broad indecision across asset classes and continued its November ascent following the recent vaccine optimism.

Mexico’s PEMEX is to soon start its 2021 oil hedging program, according to sources. (Newswires)

Direct oil shipments from Venezuela to China resume after being halted due to US sanctions, according to reports citing data and documents. (Newswires)

GEOPOLITICAL

North Korea is said to have attempted to hack South Korea's coronavirus vaccine producers, while it was also reported that North Korea advised overseas missions not to provoke the US, according to the South Korea spy agency. (Yonhap)

US

NY Fed said FX swaps with foreign central banks totalled USD 1.56bln in the latest week with swaps with the SNB at USD 1.21bln and swaps ECB at USD 150mln. (Newswires)

ELECTION UPDATE

US President Trump said he will travel to Georgia next week to campaign for Republican Senate candidates and commented that conceding is going to be a very hard thing to do, while he stated if electoral college votes for Biden it would be a mistake, but he will leave the White House if it does. However. President Trump later tweeted that the primary point made in his press conference was that the 2020 election was rigged and that he won. (Newswires)