Gold is trading just above flat leading into the European open

London (Dec 20)  Gold is trading flat leading into the European open holding just below the $1800/oz level. Silver is -0.15% lower at $22.31/oz. In the rest of the commodities complex, copper is just over -1% lower and spot WTI has called -3.13%.

Risk sentiment in the Asia Pac area was poor overnight. The Nikkei 225 (-2.13%), ASX (-0.16%) and Shanghai Composite (-1.07%) all traded lower. Futures in Europe are pointing towards a lower cash open too.

In FX markets, the pound (-0.21%) has taken a hit while EUR/USD rose 0.14%. In the crypto space, Bitcoin is down half a percent. 

News from the weekend and overnight:

ECB's de Cos: Rate hikes are unlikely in 2022.

BOJ Governor Kuroda says the large-scale monetary easing phase is continuing.

U.S. House Speaker Pelosi says she hopes for a deal on Biden's agenda in 2022.

U.S. Senator Manchin said he won’t support the Biden “Build Back Better” plan

German Economy Minister Habeck: Germany won't require a lockdown, but it will need some tougher restrictions.

Polish central banker says the current level of interest rates is definitely too low.

Fed's Waller sad the whole point of accelerating the bond taper was to make the March Fed meeting a live meeting for the first rate hike. 

In the U.K. Brexit minister, Frost resigned over the weekend putting more pressure on Boris Johnson.

Netherlands lockdown over Christmas amid concerns over Omicron - to 14 January.

U.K. Rightmove house prices for December -0.7% m/m (prior -0.6%).

New Zealand Q4 consumer confidence falls to 99.1 from 102.7 in Q3.

There are no significant data releases scheduled for today's session.

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