I. Yesterday's News
1. New orders for U.S. manufactured capital goods rebounded in October, driven by rising demand for machinery and a range of other equipment, the latest indication of an acceleration in economic growth early in the fourth quarter. The brightening economic outlook received a further boost from other data on Wednesday showing a jump in consumer sentiment this month following the election of Donald Trump as the next president. While the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose from a 43-year low last week, the trend in jobless claims remained consistent with a tightening labor market.

2. Federal Reserve policymakers appeared confident on the eve of the U.S. presidential election that the economy was strengthening enough to warrant interest rate increases soon, minutes from the Fed's Nov. 1-2 meeting showed. The minutes released on Wednesday back the consensus view on Wall Street that the Fed is poised to raise rates in December. Policymakers left borrowing costs unchanged earlier this month, just days before Republican Donald Trump triumphed in the Nov. 8 presidential contest. Voting members of the Fed's rate-setting committee saw equal risks the economy would overshoot or undershoot their forecasts for continued growth and a tightening labor market. Most of the voting policymakers backed holding off on rate increases "for the time being," according to the minutes. Some argued a hike should come at the Fed's December meeting in order to preserve the central bank's "credibility."

3. Britain has ramped up its borrowing outlook by much more than expected after forecasters said its vote to leave the European Union would hurt the economy, giving the government only a little room to ease looming pressure on households and firms. Finance minister Philip Hammond said June's referendum result made it "more urgent than ever" to invest in tackling Britain's long-term weaknesses, such as productivity growth that is among the slowest of rich nations. To prepare Britain for Brexit, Hammond adopted a less rigid approach than his predecessor George Osborne to bringing down the deficit as he announced a fund to invest 23 billion pounds ($29 billion) in rail, telecoms and housing infrastructure over the next five years.

4. German private sector output continued to show solid growth in November, indicating the the euro area's largest economy remains in good shape, according to data released on Wednesday. The composite output index, which measures the combined output of both the manufacturing and service sectors ticked down to 54.9 from a 10-month high of 55.1.

5. French business activity picked up in November, driven by faster growth in the dominant services sector that offset a slight slowdown in the expansion in manufacturing, a survey showed on Wednesday. Data compiler IHS Markit said its flash monthly purchasing managers index for activity in the services sector rose to a two-month high of 52.6 in November from a final October figure of 51.4.

II. Market Overview
FX
The dollar surged to its highest since March 2003 on Wednesday, bolstered by upbeat U.S. economic reports that showed the economy on track for steady growth as they reinforced expectations of rate increases by the Federal Reserve next month and in 2017. The greenback also rose sharply against the yen, rising to an eight-month high, and climbed versus the euro to its highest in 19 months. In late trading, the dollar index rose 0.6 percent to 101.67, after earlier soaring to an almost 14-year peak of 101.90. The dollar rose 1.2 percent against the yen to 112.51. It earlier hit an eight-month high of 112.97 yen. The euro, meanwhile, continued its descent, down 0.7 percent at $1.0550. China's offshore yuan, meanwhile, fell 0.5 percent on the day to a record low of 6.9530 per dollar.

Precious Metals
Gold fell more than 2 percent to a 9-1/2-month low on Wednesday as a buoyant dollar extended its rally to the highest since 2003 on the back of upbeat U.S. economic data that further cemented a case for increasing interest rates next month.  Spot gold dropped 2.0 percent at $1,187.65 an ounce, after falling 2.5 percent to $1,181.45, the lowest since since Feb. 10. U.S. gold futures settled down 1.8 percent at $1,189.30.

Commodities
1.Crude Oil
Oil prices fell slightly on Wednesday amid investor doubts that OPEC will agree to a production cut large enough to make a significant dent in the global glut of crude. In the U.S. market, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures settled down 7 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $47.96 a barrel. Brent crude futures settled down 17 cents, or 0.35 percent at $48.95 a barrel.

2. Base Metals
Copper surged on Wednesday to its highest in nearly two weeks as upbeat manufacturing data from the United States and the euro zone drove a wave of fund buying that reversed earlier weakness. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange closed 2.2 percent higher at $5,739 a tonne, off a session low of $5,562 a tonne. Earlier it reached its highest since Nov. 11 at $5,786.

U.S. Treasuries
U.S. Treasury yields fell from multi-year highs on Wednesday after the Treasury Department saw very strong demand for an auction of seven-year notes, and after minutes from the Federal Reserve's November meeting contained no large surprises. Two-year notes fell 2/32 in price to yield 1.13 percent, after rising as high as 1.15 percent earlier, the highest since April 6 2010. U.S. benchmark 10-year Treasury notes dropped 9/32 in price to yield 2.35 percent, after earlier rising to 2.42 percent, the highest since July 15, 2015.

Stock Market
1. U.S. Equities
The Dow and the S&P 500 eked out record high closes on Wednesday ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, helped by gains in industrial stocks, though losses in technology shares limited the advance and weighed on the Nasdaq. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 59.31 points, or 0.31 percent, to end at 19,083.18, while the S&P 500 gained 1.78 points, or 0.08 percent, to 2,204.72 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 5.67 points, or 0.11 percent, to 5,380.68.

2. Hong Kong Equities
Hong Kong shares held steady on Wednesday, taking their cue from Wall Street's record run and helped by Chinese money flowing into the city as the yuan weakened further. Gains were capped, however, by fears that a strengthening dollar and a possible U.S. interest rate hike next month would channel money away from emerging markets. The Hang Seng index was unchanged at 22,676.69, while the China Enterprises Index gained 0.2 percent, to 9,665.99 points.