The usual stuff that we’ve been hearing for months on end
In this final stretch of talks, transparency & unity are important as ever: Debriefed @Europarl_EN Conference of Presidents this morning on EU-UK negotiations.
For those who missed out, talks are likely to stretch on until the weekend again in hopes of a breakthrough or compromise.

SNB chief, Thomas Jordan, remarks
This refers to the decision yesterday . The SNB has been given a free pass on this for many years now but the US finally decided to put it on the list this time around.

Latest data released by Eurostat – 17 December 2020
The preliminary report can be found . No change to the initial estimates as this just reaffirms more subdued inflation pressures going into the year-end in the euro area.

Latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association for the week ending 11 December 2020
–  -1.2%
– Market index 857.3 vs 848.3 prior
– Refinancing index 4,014.5 vs 3,959.2 prior
The jump in mortgage activity in the past week comes from a rebound in purchases after the drop in the previous week, with refinancing activity also seen picking up

BBC political correspondent, Nick Eardley, reports
From four nations Christmas call:Christmas relaxation will go aheadBroad agreement no to change regulations, but final working still being worked onMuch stronger advice coming as soon as today. Some parts of UK may toughen guidance on households mixing.

An update to the vaccine situation in the UK after the rollout on 8 December
There are 137,897 people that have received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine so far across the UK, with lawmaker, Nadhim Zahawi, tweeting out that:

One last pain trade before the year comes to a close?
That could very well be the case for USD/JPY as it starts to near the support region from the early November lows at 103.18-19, with the pair continuing to keep in a downwards trajectory since the middle of the year.

Latest data released by Eurostat – 16 December 2020

What did we learn? 
In the latest Bank of Canada statement they kept interest rates unchanged at 0.25% and their QE program unaltered too at $4 billion per week. The Bank of Canada recognised that the recovery was well underway and will adjust its QE purchases as required to help bring inflation back on target.

GBPUSD up higher
A little consolidation in Sunday’s gap before a lift higher for cable. Currently at 1.3354. There was no news flow for the lift.