Global FX TESTING DATA:

• • • Asian markets
      
       Asia’s major manufacturing economies saw their fastest expansion in factory activity in years last month, driven by robust demand for electronics and firming the case for central banks in the region to shift to tighter monetary policy next year.
       
    • GOLD
      
      
      Gold prices edged lower but held not far off a six-week high hit in the previous session, as investors awaited a confirmation hearing for U.S. Federal Reserve chair nominee Jerome Powell and a possible Senate vote on U.S. tax reforms.
       
    • OIL
      
      Oil futures rose on Friday after OPEC and other major producers agreed to extend their production curbs in a widely expected move aimed at ending a persistent glut in global supplies..
       
    • PAKISTAN
      
      Pakistani Taliban gunmen disguised in all-enveloping burquas stormed the campus of an agriculture university in Pakistan on Friday, wounding at least five people.
       
    • INDIA
      
      India’s factory activity quickened in November at the fastest pace since just before the government’s surprise cash clampdown late last year, driven by a surge in new orders, a business survey found.
       
    • US
      
       When conservative Christian baker Jack Phillips in 2012 politely but firmly told Colorado gay couple David Mullins and Charlie Craig he would not make them a cake to celebrate their wedding, it triggered a chain of events that will climax on Tuesday in highly anticipated U.S. Supreme Court arguments.
       
    • JAPAN
      
      Emperor Akihito, who has spent much of his nearly three decades on Japan’s throne seeking to soothe the wounds of World War Two, will step down on April 30, 2019 - the first abdication by a Japanese monarch in about two centuries.
       
    • VENEZUELA
      
      Members of Venezuela’s leftist government and opposition coalition will meet in the Dominican Republic on Friday to resume talks aimed at resolving the OPEC nation’s long-running and often bloody political standoff.
       
    • NORTH KOREA
      

      North Korean-owned businesses such as the Chilbosan Hotel in Shenyang, the biggest city in northeastern China, face an uncertain future as United Nations sanctions against Pyongyang-owned overseas businesses loom.

    • LIBYAN
      
      Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj said on Thursday that he was hopeful that a U.N.-imposed arms embargo would be partially lifted against some branches of the country’s military.
       

    • GERMANY
      
      Germany is withdrawing a third diplomat from its embassy in North Korea over increasing concerns about Pyongyang’s missile program, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Thursday, a day after Pyongyang test fired a new missile.
      
      UK
      
      Britain’s intention to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland after Brexit is inconsistent with its plan to withdraw from the European Union’s single market and customs union.