• U.S. retail sales rose in December amid strong demand for automobiles and furniture, providing further evidence that the economy ended the fourth quarter with momentum and is poised for stronger growth this year.
The Commerce Department reported that retail sales increased 0.6 percent last month after rising 0.2 percent in November. Sales were up 4.1 percent from December 2015. They rose 3.3 percent for all of 2016, up from 2.3 percent in 2015.
• Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales rose 0.2 percent after being flat in November. These so-called core retail sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product. Economists had forecast overall retail sales increasing 0.7 percent and core sales gaining 0.4 percent last month. Despite the unexpectedly smaller gain in core retail sales, the consumer spending trend remains strong.
• Wholesale prices in the U.S. rose for the third time in four months, boosted by increasing fuel costs that are pushing inflation higher throughout the economy.
The producer-price index gained 0.3 percent in December, matching the median projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, following a 0.4 percent advance the prior month, a Labor Department report showed Friday in Washington. The measure was up 1.6 percent from a year earlier, the most since September 2014.
• Sterling dived to three-month lows in thin Asian trade early on Monday, after media reports that the British government is prepared to make a "hard" exit from the European Union rekindled investors' fears about the impact of the impending move.
Sterling stole the spotlight from the dollar, which has come under pressure in recent sessions as investors pondered what to expect from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's economic policies after he takes office on Friday.
The pound sank as low as $1.1983, depths not seen since the flash crash of early October. It last stood at $1.2038, down 1.1 percent on the day.
• Investors have been worried such a decisive break from the single market would hurt British exports and drive foreign investment out of the country.
• May has said she will trigger Article 50, starting the formal withdrawal from the EU, by the end of March. So far, she has revealed few details about what kind of deal she will seek, frustrating some investors, businesses and lawmakers.
• Buoyed by the weaker pound, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, added 0.2 percent to 101.39.
The euro edged down 0.1 percent against the dollar to $1.0629.
The Japanese currency gained broadly, with the U.S. dollar dipping 0.2 percent to 114.30 yen, moving back toward last week's low of 113.75.
• Prime Minister Theresa May will use a major speech on Brexit next week to call on Britons to reject the acrimony of last year's referendum and unite around the vision of a Britain more open to the world, her office said on Sunday.
May intends to kick off the formal process of negotiating the terms of Britain's exit from the European Union by the end of March.
She is due to make a speech in London on Tuesday before an audience including foreign diplomats as well as Britain's own Brexit negotiating team and other senior officials, May's Downing Street office said in a statement.
• The European Union's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Saturday that the EU will demand "special vigilance" before letting British financial firms access the bloc because of the large risk London could pose to the EU's financial stability.
EU officials said Barnier, a Frenchman who ran EU financial services policy, was not speaking of a "special deal" to limit the impact of Brexit on financial services trade between Britain and the EU but rather emphasizing that Brussels would have to take special care not to ignore stability risks in London.
• The West Texas Intermediate for February Delivery decreased 0.64 dollars to settle at 52.37 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for March delivery erased 0.56 dollars to close at 55.45 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem
Oil prices ended lower on Friday on rising concerns over the extent of the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) member countries implementing the output-cut deal.
OPEC reached an agreement in November to cut oil production to curb a global supply glut that has depressed prices for more than two years. Although some countries have promised to implement the deal, there still lacks hard evidence of production reductions.
Investors also worried that the rising U.S. oil supply might offset any reductions, which weighed on the oil prices on Friday.
• Global oil prices will witness "much more volatility" in 2017 even though markets may rebalance in the first half of the year if output cuts pledged by producers are implemented, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Sunday.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed on Nov. 30 to cut output by 1.2 million bpd to 32.5 million bpd for the first six months of 2017, in addition to 558,000 bpd of cuts agreed by independent producers such as Russia, Oman and Mexico.
Reference: Xinhua, Reuters, CNBC, Bloomberg
Thai
Eng