Global FX TESTING DATA:

• • • Asian markets
      
      

      Asian shares rose firmly on Friday as strong U.S. earnings and a step forward in Congress on U.S. tax reform brightened the mood, even though investors noted that many hurdles remain to passage of a deal on tax cuts.

    • GOLD
      
      
      Gold prices edged up in Asia as U.S. tax cuts move closer to passage, raising inflation concerns for some investors.
       
    • OIL
      
      Oil prices steadied on Friday after recent declines, but were on track for their first weekly fall in six weeks as concerns about surging U.S. supplies put a dent in the market's recent rally.

    • JAPAN
      
      Japan’s exports are expected to have risen for an eleventh straight month in October, led by robust demand for cars and electronics manufacturing equipment as the world’s third-largest economy continues its recovery

    • VANCOUVER
      
      The condominium market has turned red-hot in Vancouver, with agents saying local and offshore buyers are snapping up units that are not yet completed, even as a foreign buyer tax has sent detached home sales plunging.
       
    • US
      
      Jared Kushner's lawyer failed to give the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee documents President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser received about a "Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite,"
      
       
    • SYRIA
      
      Shelling by Syrian rebels killed six people in Damascus on Thursday, state media said, while a war monitor said government bombing killed 14 in the city’s rebel-held eastern suburbs.
       
    • SAUDI
      
      The Saudi-led coalition rescued two French journalists on Thursday who had gone missing in an area of Yemen held by the Iran-aligned Houthi group, Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television reported.
       
    • RUSSIA
      
      Russia’s lower house of parliament this week approved a law allowing Moscow to force foreign media to describe news they provide to Russians as the work of “foreign agents” and to disclose their funding sources.
       
    • INDIA
      
      Moody’s Investors Services lifted India’s local and foreign currency debt ratings, saying that continued progress on economic and institutional reform will enhance India’s high growth potential.
       
    • BERLIN
      
      Chancellor Angela Merkel's efforts to forge a three-way ruling coalition dragged into the wee hours of Friday, with some participants warning that differences on climate, migration and finances could still cause the talks to collapse.
       
    • CHINA
      
      

      It’s not often that China’s official media agency takes aim at a specific stock.But that’s what happened to Kweichow Moutai Co. on Thursday, when Xinhua News Agency said shares in China’s biggest liquor maker should rise at a slower pace. Within hours, the company had made its own stock exchange filing, says it hopes investors are cautious in making decisions, and that analysts’ share price targets and valuations in the market are "overly high". The result was a plunge of as much as 5.8 percent in the Shanghai-listed shares, their biggest decline in two years.