In European Equity Markets the pan-European Stoxx 600 closed up 0.35%. Basic resource stocks, with their exposure to China, were among the top gainers, with the sector up over 1%. Moller-Maersk climbed around 6% to the top of the Stoxx 600 after releasing strong third-quarter earnings. British budget hotel company Whitbread also climbed, up nearly 5% following a broker upgrade. On the other end of the benchmark, SEB shares fell by more than 12% after a Swedish TV show claimed to have information on the bank’s involvement in Baltic money laundering.

In Currency Markets the U.S. dollar was lower on Friday morning in the North American session as some optimism for the ongoing trade talks with China bolstered trade-linked currencies like the euro and the British pound. Hopes that the United States and China may soon end their trade war after White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said a deal was “getting close” lifted trade-exposed currencies on Friday at the expense of safe-haven assets such as the Japanese yen. The dollar fell 0.26% against the euro and 0.24% against the British pound, at $1.105 and $1.291 respectively. It rose 0.3% versus the yen, last at 108.71, suggesting an end to the past week’s dollar-yen slump may be in sight. The Swiss franc also weakened 0.16% versus the dollar.

In Commodities Markets oil prices fluctuated around flat on Friday as investors weighed concerns about rising supplies next year and signs of progress toward ending the U.S.-Chinese trade row. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Thursday a deal was “getting close”, citing what he described as very constructive discussions with Beijing. Benchmark Brent crude was down 2 cents at $62.26 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude rose 13 cents to $56.90 a barrel. OPEC and its allies have cut supply to prop up prices and are expected to discuss output policy at a meeting on Dec. 5-6 in Vienna. Their existing production deal runs until March.

In US Equity Markets main indexes hit fresh record highs on Friday, as optimism related to U.S.-China trade talks and solid earnings from semiconductor industry bellwether Applied Materials brightened sentiment. Shares in Applied Materials Inc jumped 9.29% and pushed the Philadelphia Semiconductor index to an all-time high after the chip gear maker forecast first-quarter results above estimates. The S&P 500 was up 0.60%, at 3,115.07 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.65%, at 8,534.38. But Nvidia Corp fell 1.7% as the company said it expects its gaming chip business to be impacted by seasonal weakness in the fourth quarter.

In Bond Markets sovereign borrowing costs in Germany and France were set on Friday for sizeable weekly declines, in contrast to southern European countries, whose debt has come under heavy selling pressure again this week. Germany’s 10-year Bund yield was last up 1.1 basis points at -0.34%, off levels hit on Thursday that were its lowest for more than a week. But it was down 7 bps on the week, set for the biggest weekly fall since late September. Dutch 10-year bond yields were down a similar amount; French yields were 5 bps lower. Ten-year Italian bond yields were down 10.4 bps on the day at 1.33%.