In a month’s time I aim to be standing atop Kilimanjaro, the tallest free-standing mountain in the world. Follow the link here to read about Help 4 Heroes (the charity that I will be donating to) and to sponsor me. Thank you in advance for any donations.

Unfortunately the technical gremlins are still yet to remedied and as such there will once again be no video update today. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.  

The recession is over in Europe. EU GDP limped into positive territory on Friday as the strength of the German economy shone through.

We were given a 0.4% reading against a 0.5% estimate which is why the euro stayed in somewhat of a holding pattern against its main competitors. The revaluation of UK GDP is due next week.

The only other piece of data worth mentioning from Friday was Michigan Consumer Confidence which came out on estimate. The past few months has seen confidence in the US dip; we would expect this to end should Christmas be profitable for those on Main St.

Late on Friday we saw dollar gain as markets closed on news from the Singaporean APEC conference that China may revalue the yuan to make it increasingly competitive. This story comes out every 3 months or so and I don’t believe we’re any closer to it being resolved.

As it turns out there ‘was no lengthy conversation on FX’ according to the Singaporean Prime Minister and the imbalances will have to be readdressed elsewhere. The dollar has also weakened back to the levels before the announcement.

We have European CPI at 10.00 but more importantly US retail sales at 13.30 which will hopefully show a move higher into the holiday season.

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