Global FX TESTING DATA:

• • • Asian markets
      
       Asian shares gained on Monday, taking a cue from the US close last week and in an otherwise light regional data day.Obayashi Corporation were down 7.19 percent. The move followed a report from local newspaper Asahi Shimbun that prosecutors suspected the company was involved in bid-rigging.
       
    • GOLD
      
      
      Gold prices dipped in Asia on Monday with the market prepared to listen closely to the Fed commentary this week after it reviews rates and in particular language on the impact of expected tax cuts.
       
    • OIL
      
      Oil prices fell on Monday as last week's rise in the U.S. rig count pointed to a further increase in American production that could undermine OPEC-led efforts to tighten markets.
       
    • CRYPTOCURRENCY
      
       The eagerly anticipated launch of futures trading of the world’s largest cryptocurrency bitcoin got off to a positive start on Sunday, with the price nearly 9 percent ahead after briefly slipping below its opening level.
       
    • PHILLIPINE
      
      As she announced in January 2016 that the Philippines would immunise one million children with a new dengue vaccine, the nation’s then health secretary Janette Garin boasted it was a world-first and a tribute to her country’s “expertise” in research.
       
    • MEXICO
      
      Mexican opposition leader Ricardo Anaya said on Sunday he would seek to win the presidency in a left-right alliance after stepping down as head of the conservative National Action Party (PAN).
       
    • CHINA
      
       Australian media reports on Chinese interference in Australia are racist and paranoid, China’s top newspaper said on Monday, stepping up a war of words over concerns in Australia about Chinese influence in the country.
       
    • JAPAN
      
      Large Japanese manufacturers turned more optimistic about economic conditions in the October-December quarter, a government survey showed on Monday, in another upbeat sign for an economy on a record run of growth.
       
    • BANGLADESH
      

      Bangladesh’s finance minister said late on Saturday he wanted to “wipe out” a Philippines bank that was used to channel $81 million stolen from the Bangladeshi central bank’s account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York last year.

    • CALIFORNIA
      
      A massive California wildfire that has already destroyed nearly 800 structures scorched another 56,000 acres on Sunday, making it the fifth largest such blaze in recorded state history, as it ran toward picturesque coastal cities.But fire officials said as darkness fell that with the hot, dry Santa Ana winds not as fierce as expected, crews had been successful in building some fire lines between the flames and the towns of Montecito and Carpinteria.
       

    • SYRIA
      
      The Syrian army and Iranian-backed militias backed by Russian air power stepped up a military campaign against rebels in eastern Hama province in a push towards the rebel stronghold of Idlib province in northwestern Syria.
       

    • FRANCE
      
      In his first seven months in office, President Emmanuel Macron has faced little opposition. But on Sunday, the once-dominant Republicans, now the biggest opposition party in parliament, elected a new leader they hope will recover their voice.
       

    • IRAQ
      
      An Iraqi military parade in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone celebrated final victory over Islamic State on Sunday, with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi looking on as troops marched in formation, their bodies spelling “victory day” in Arabic.
       

    • BERLIN
      
      There is no reason to suspect that two bags of bullets found near a Christmas market and mosque in western Berlin have anything to do with terrorism and the find was related neither to the market nor to the mosque.