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Here is what you need to know.
Black Friday sales were down. Brick-and-mortar retail sales fell 5% year-over-year for Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday as online spending broke $3 billion for the first time, Reuters reports.
Tensions are growing among OPEC members. The oil cartel’s meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, and there are growing doubts as to whether members and nonmembers can agree to a production cut, according to Reuters. West Texas Intermediate crude oil is weaker by 0.2% near $46.00 a barrel.
The US dollar is lower. The US dollar index is down 0.4% at 101.12 as the greenback loses ground against all of its major peers aside from the British pound.
The Bank of Japan posted its first loss in four years. The BOJ announced a net loss of 200.2 billion yen ($1.8 billion) in the six months through September as the yen strengthened and the central bank was forced to write down the value of its bond holdings, Bloomberg says.
The French presidential election is down to two candidates. French conservative François Fillon will face far-right National Front candidate Marine Le Pen in the May election, Reuters reports.
Singapore is the world’s most entrepreneurial country. That’s according to the Ashish J Thakkar Global Entrepreneurship Index from the Mara Foundation and Opinium. New Zealand, Denmark, Canada, and the UK round out the top five.
Samsung could split itself in two. The electronics giant is considering a proposal from US activist hedge fund Elliott Management that would split it into a holding vehicle for ownership purposes and an operating company, according to Seoul Economic Daily.
The 2016 World Chess Championship is down to a single game. Titleholder Magnus Carlsen of Norway is tied with Sergey Karjakin of Russia at 5.5 points apiece heading into the 12th and final match, which is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. ET in lower Manhattan.
Stock markets around the world trade mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng (+0.5%) led in Asia, and Germany’s DAX (-0.8%) lags in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open down 0.3% near 2,205.
US economic data is light. Dallas Fed will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is down 3 basis points at 2.33%.
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