• APAC stocks were rangebound in the absence of a lead from Wall Street due to Thanksgiving Day and as participants digest a deluge of data at month-end.
• An outage at CME Group has halted trade in FX, commodities, Treasuries and equities futures; "Due to a cooling issue at CyrusOne data centres, our markets are currently halted," CME said. 
• US President Trump said regarding Venezuela that they will begin to stop drug cartels on land soon.
• S&P said UK public finances remain constrained and it expects fiscal pressures in the UK to persist over the medium term despite revenue-raising measures announced in the Autumn Budget.
• European equity futures indicate a quiet open with Euro Stoxx 50 futures flat after the cash market finished little changed on Thursday.
• Looking ahead, highlights include German Import Prices (Oct), Retail Sales (Oct), French GDP Final (Q3), Prelim. HICP (Nov), Spanish Flash HICP (Nov), German Prelim. HICP (Nov), Italian Prelim. HICP (Nov), Swiss KOF (Nov), GDP (Q3), German Unemployment (Nov), Canadian GDP (Q3), Credit Review for France, Comments from ECB's Nagel.
• Desk Schedule: There is normal service on Friday, 28th November until 18:15GMT/13:15EST at which point the desk will close.

SNAPSHOT

• Click for the Newsquawk Week Ahead.

US TRADE

EQUITIES

• US markets were closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving Day.

TARIFFS/TRADE

• Nexperia issued an open letter to the leadership of Nexperia’s entities in China and noted that it continues to seek constructive collaboration with its entities in China, and has been requesting an open dialogue to find a path forward. Furthermore, it urged the leadership of Co.’s entities in China to take immediate steps towards structured negotiations to address the restoration of the supply chain, but added that it did not receive any meaningful response.
• Indonesia is reportedly resisting attempts by US President Trump to force it to accept a so-called “poison pill” and other coercive clauses in its “reciprocal tariff” trade deal with the US, according to FT.

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• US President Trump said that they may be cutting income tax almost completely because of tariff proceeds.
• US President Trump posted that he will permanently pause migration from all third-world countries to allow the US system to fully recover and will terminate all of the millions of Biden's illegal admissions, while he will end all federal benefits and subsidies to non-citizens.
• US President Trump ordered a review of all green card holders from countries "of concern" after the attack on National Guards in Washington DC, according to Axios.
• CME announced that CME Globex futures and options markets were halted due to technical issues, and Cboe halted trading on C1 due to ongoing issues at CME. CME later announced that markets were halted due to a cooling issue at CyrusOne data centres, while it is working to resolve the outage issue and will advise clients of pre-open details as soon as available.

APAC TRADE

EQUITIES

• APAC stocks were rangebound in the absence of a lead from Wall Street due to Thanksgiving Day and as participants digest a deluge of data at month-end.
• ASX 200 lacked direction as strength in the tech, mining and the consumer sectors is counterbalanced by losses in financials, real estate and telecoms.
• Nikkei 225 traded indecisively amid a slew of data in which Industrial Production and Retail Sales topped forecasts, while Unemployment rose and Tokyo CPI printed mostly in line with estimates, aside from the firmer-than-expected core reading.
• Hang Seng and Shanghai Comp were mixed, albeit with trade confined to within relatively tight parameters, while China Vanke shares and bonds were volatile and initially continued to slump with its H shares hitting a record low amid the ongoing default concerns, before staging a notable recovery.
• US equity futures eked slight gains (before the CME halt) with price action muted following the Thanksgiving holiday lull and CME trading halt.
• European equity futures indicate a quiet open with Euro Stoxx 50 futures flat after the cash market finished little changed on Thursday.

FX

• DXY remained rangebound following the Thanksgiving Day holiday and with reduced volumes also anticipated on Black Friday, while there was a lack of fresh catalysts, although there were some comments from US President Trump that they may be cutting income tax almost completely because of tariff proceeds.
• EUR/USD was lacklustre after pulling back from the 1.1600 handle and with little impact seen following the latest ECB rhetoric, including from ECB's Kazaks who said the time is not right to discuss a rate cut, while the ECB Minutes noted that all members agreed more information was needed before adjusting rates.
• GBP/USD proceeded sideways in quiet newsflow and after comments from BoE's Greene provided very little incrementally, in which she noted encouragement regarding evidence of wage growth and that services inflation is coming down.
• USD/JPY saw two-way trade amid a slew of data releases from Japan, including better-than-expected Industrial Production and Retail Sales, while the Unemployment Rate rose and Tokyo CPI printed mostly in line with estimates aside from the core reading which topped forecasts.
• Antipodeans lacked conviction amid the mixed risk appetite, although they held on to the spoils from earlier in the week.
• PBoC set USD/CNY mid-point at 7.0789 vs exp. 7.0769 (Prev. 7.0779)

FIXED INCOME

• 10yr UST futures were lacklustre (before the CME halt) following the Thanksgiving holiday, with reduced trading hours stateside for Black Friday and amid CME issues.
• Bund futures lingered around the 129.00 level ahead of several German data releases, including Import Prices, Retail Sales, HICP and Unemployment.
• 10yr JGB futures declined, albeit in a choppy fashion, as participants digested a slew of data releases and a weaker 2-yr JGB auction.

COMMODITIES

• Crude futures marginally extended on the prior day's gains following the holiday-thinned conditions and with reports noting that OPEC+ is expected to hold oil output steady for Q1 2026 at its meeting on Sunday, while trade in WTI was halted due to the CME outage issue.
• Canadian PM Carney said a new pipeline to ship oil to Asia is a priority, while Carney and the Alberta Premier agreed to eliminate the federal emissions cap on the oil and gas sector and strengthen industrial carbon pricing and carbon storage. It was later reported that the Canadian Identity and Culture Minister resigned from the Cabinet over the disagreement with the Carney government's deal with Alberta.
• Spot gold resumed its advances alongside gains in silver and after breaking out of its mid-week range.
• Copper futures attempted to nurse some of the prior day's losses, but with the recovery limited amid the tentative overnight risk tone and CME stoppage.

CRYPTO

• Bitcoin was rangebound and traded on both sides of the USD 91,000 level.
• South Korea suspects that North Korea hacked crypto exchange Upbit, according to Yonhap.

NOTABLE ASIA-PAC HEADLINES

DATA RECAP

• Japanese Unemployment Rate (Oct) 2.6% vs. Exp. 2.5% (Prev. 2.6%)
• Japanese Jobs/Applicants Ratio (Oct) 1.18 vs. Exp. 1.2 (Prev. 1.2)
• Japanese Industrial Production MM SA (Oct P) 1.4% vs. Exp. -0.6% (Prev. 2.6%)
• Japanese Industrial Production YY SA (Oct P) 1.5% vs. Exp. -0.5% (Prev. 2.0%)
• Japanese Retail Sales YY (Oct) 1.7% vs. Exp. 0.8% (Prev. 0.5%, Rev. 0.2%)
• Tokyo CPY YY (Nov) 2.7% vs Exp. 2.7% (Prev. 2.8%)
• Tokyo CPY Ex. Fresh Food YY (Nov) 2.8% vs Exp. 2.7% (Prev. 2.8%)
• Tokyo CPY Ex. Fresh Food & Energy YY (Nov) 2.8% vs Exp. 2.8% (Prev. 2.8%)

GEOPOLITICS

RUSSIA-UKRAINE

• Ukrainian President Zelensky said Ukrainian and US delegations will meet this week to work out a formula for peace and security discussed in the Geneva talks.
• Ukrainian Presidential top aide said should not count on them giving up territory as long as Zelensky is President.
• Belgium warned that using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine will endanger a peace deal, according to FT.

OTHER NEWS

• US President Trump said regarding Venezuela that they will begin to stop drug cartels on land soon.

EU/UK

NOTABLE HEADLINES

• BoE's Greene said it's encouraging that services inflation is coming down, and evidence on wage growth is encouraging. Greene said slack opened up in the labour market and the economy, while she expects slack to increase and said the BoE’s projection is benign. Furthermore, she said inflation has stabilised and her big concern is around second-round effects.
• S&P said UK public finances remain constrained and it expects fiscal pressures in the UK to persist over the medium term despite revenue-raising measures announced in the Autumn Budget, while it added that general government deficits are forecast to moderate through to 2028 and there are risks to the UK’s fiscal consolidation plan, especially toward the end of the forecast horizon.

DATA RECAP

• UK Lloyds Business Barometer (Nov) 42 vs Exp. 47 (Prev. 50)