On Monday, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 1.5 percent to close at 1,027.87 points, after it fell in the previous two sessions. The Dow Jones industrial average rose up 85.25 points, to close at 10,414.14. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 11.58 points, to close at 1,114.05. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 25.97 points, to close at 2,237.66. In moderate trade, the benchmark Nikkei gained 194.56 points to close at 10,378.03. The Topix advanced 1.3 percent to 903.06.

According to new research published today, house prices will continue to creep up in the New Year but end next year just one to two per cent higher than now. The RICS predicts that the housing market will revive and that transactions will rise to a monthly average of 70,000 from 55,000 to 60,000. According to Open Europe, the top 100 most costly EU regulations introduced to the UK since 1998 will cost the economy approximately £184bn by 2020. Today, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) will confirm whether it is going to continue its test case against banks over the fairness of their overdraft charges. On Monday, banking regulators said that delinquencies among US prime mortgages rose nearly 20 percent in the third quarter from the second quarter. Yesterday, Iceland’s central bank stated that it had received a loan tranche worth €300million from Nordic countries, this is part of the country’s loan program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Today, Opec producers are set to leave output limits unchanged at a meeting in Angola.

Due for release today is the GBP Current Account, USD Existing Home Sales and the NZD GDP.

By Greg Secker

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