Dollar Finds Footing Ahead Of Fed Meet

Nissan Motor is hoping its smallest vehicle can help spark a big recovery, with its latest minicar selling well and giving it a headstart against Chinese competition at home, while President Donald Trump is encouraging the introduction of such cars in the vital U.S. market.

The struggling Japanese carmaker announced on Monday it had received more than 20,000 orders for the latest generation of its Roox kei minicar, the first model it launched after unveiling a radical restructuring plan in May. The vehicle will serve to counter a move by China's BYD into the popular category in Japan and strengthens Nissan's ability to expand in the US.

"The number of orders is very strong and positive," Nissan Chief Marketing Manager Keiko Kondo said, as the company reported orders that opened in mid-September had reached 22,000 by Dec. 1. According to data from the Japan Light Motor Vehicle and Motorcycle Association, Roox sales numbered 7,741 in November, up 43% from October and 41% from the same month last year.

Kei minicars are a Japanese category of vehicle that meets certain size and engine standards. It accounts for more than 30% of domestic sales, as the cars cope well with Japan's narrow roads and incur lower taxes, making them more affordable than larger ones. Prices for the new Roox start from around 1.6 million yen ($10,300).

The cars have appealing safety features, with the fourth-generation Roox boasting a wide-angle camera that eliminates blind spots.

Yuki Tanaka, chief product specialist at Nissan, said, "You've probably had a moment of panic when you come out of an alley onto the street and can't see clearly to the left or right. The camera helps with that."

Nissan is also aiming to attract female drivers with small kids, offering plenty of storage for a smartphone, tissue box and other items around the front seats of the Roox, and easy access and space created to the rear to care for a child in the back seat.

As part of the Re:Nissan restructuring efforts to improve development efficiency and reduce production costs, the latest Roox was developed with alliance partner Mitsubishi Motors. Shinichiro Irie, program design director at Nissan, explained that around 70% of its parts were the same as Mitsubishi's Delica Mini, its sister model. The companies have given them different exteriors, interior designs and functions.

Both are preparing to take on BYD's kei minicar, due to launch in the Japanese market around next summer. The Racco, unveiled at the Japan Mobility Show in October, is BYD's first model designated exclusively for an overseas market, but the Chinese automaker has yet to disclose prices, battery capacity or range.

Nissan's Tanaka said that while BYD's entry would increase competition, "the growing awareness of EVs in Japan has a positive side which helps expand the [EV] market." Nissan also has the Sakura kei electric car in its lineup and is launching a new Leaf EV, the world's first mass-produced electric vehicle.

Trump created an unexpected opportunity for Japan's kei cars last week. Speaking at the White House, he said he had seen them on his recent trip to Japan, South Korea and Malaysia.

"They have a very small car ... They're very small and they're really cute, and I said 'How would that do in this country?'"

The president added, "But you're not allowed to build them and I've authorized the (transportation) secretary to immediately approve the production of those cars." He stated the names of "Honda, [and] some of the Japanese companies" as major players.

While U.S. demand remains uncertain, introducing kei cars could expand the market and give added momentum to production cooperation between Japanese automakers there.

Nissan President and CEO Ivan Espinosa said in an interview with Nikkei Asia last month, "We are talking about how we can collaborate in the U.S. Is there any opportunity for joint product development or for powertrain development?" Mitsubishi President and CEO Takao Kato also stated he was considering manufacturing vehicles in the U.S. with Nissan and Honda Motor. They are all major kei minicar makers in Japan.

Source: Asia_Nikkei

Sometime in the evening of Dec 2, three days before India's largest airline would lose control of its operations in one of the country's worst aviation disruptions, IndiGo executives noticed that a technology glitch in its check-in system was delaying late-night flights.

This in turn was affecting a pilot duty roster recently fine-tuned to incorporate new government rules mandating longer rest hours and fewer night landings.

Compounded by winter flight schedule changes, air congestion and adverse weather, the math was suddenly not adding up for the low-cost airline whose relentless optimisation had allowed it to turn a profit within three years of inception and over time capture nearly 66 per cent of India's aviation market.

The resource-efficient instincts baked into IndiGo's DNA had led to a severe under-estimation of redundancies needed to accommodate the new pilot rest rules, despite carriers having had nearly two years to prepare since the guidance was first announced in January 2024.

Scheduling changes began to snowball: IndiGo cancelled at least 70 flights on Dec 3, then 300 on Dec 4 and finally, over 1,000 on Dec 5 – about half of the flights it normally operates daily.

As thousands of furious passengers became stranded in major city airports over the weekend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government was forced to suspend the new pilot rest rules, cap fares to avoid price gouging and order more trains into operation.

On Dec 7, the country's aviation regulator also demanded that chief executive officer Pieter Elbers explain within 24 hours this severe disruption and why action shouldn't be taken against him for the "significant lapses in planning, oversight, and resource management."

The debacle now threatens IndiGo's position in the industry, and its ambitious expansion plans.

After cementing its dominant position in domestic skies, IndiGo was boosting its overseas footprint, had ordered more Airbus jets, and added business class seats. Earlier in 2025, it signed a codeshare pact with Delta Air Lines, Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic Airways.

The flight cancellations pushed parent InterGlobe Aviation down 9 per cent last week, making it the company's worst week since Mr Elbers' appointment in 2022. Even with the drop, the shares have almost tripled since the Dutch executive took over as CEO, far outperforming the Sensex's 49 per cent gain and an 8.4 per cent increase in an index tracking Asian carriers.

The events of the past week, occurring just six months after an Air India crash that killed over 260 people in Ahmedabad, cap one of the worst years for India's aviation industry.

The sight of one carrier bringing national air traffic to a near-halt underscores the danger of India's reliance on too-big-to-falter industrial giants.

"This airline is supposed to be a market leader with outstanding management," said Mark D. Martin, founder of India-based aviation advisory Martin Consulting. "This is going to be so extremely damaging to the airline. They have lost credibility."

It's a stark fall from grace for a company that became a business school case study for its profitable, lean operations in a sector notorious for cash-burn and bankruptcies.

Lean machine

IndiGo's tightly-run operations are built on a rapid turnaround of flights and a strategy of sweating every asset - man or machine - to the limit. It flies only one aircraft type, Airbus A320s family jets – a standardisation that cuts costs on pilot and crew training, maintenance and parts inventory.

The focus is equally sharp on reducing time on the ground, with the carrier terming its punctual reputation "IndiGo Standard Time". Flights have a four-zone system for quick boarding, and crews open all exit doors for speedier disembarking.

No efficiency is too small: flight staff have even switched to a faster method of weighing sandwiches – their top-selling onboard item– instead of counting them, said people familiar with the matter.

This modus operandi shaved down an IndiGo jet's turnaround time to 20 or 25 minutes versus an industry average of 45 minutes. This meant it could squeeze in more and more flights over the years.

"IndiGo's operations are so tightly knit that one flight cancellation would impact at least six flights," said Shakti Lumba, who was IndiGo's head of operations when it first began operating in 2006.

Lack of slack

The lack of slack in the system became all too apparent over the last week, as the scheduling breakdown cascaded through its operations. A flight took off with three cabin crew staff meant for another flight that then got stranded, people familiar with the matter said. One IndiGo pilot was stuck for days at his hotel in the Middle East, waiting for his return flying schedule.

Ground staff cowered from furious throngs of passengers, and could not even retrieve check-in bags that were stuck in grounded aircraft.

Indian officials are furious with the carrier, people familiar with the matter said, and have now sprung into action to quell public anger by tightening scrutiny around the carrier. It also casts a poor light on the country's aviation infrastructure that the government wants to rapidly develop.

The situation is stabilising: there were fewer cancellations on Dec 6 at about 850 and the airline said on Dec 7 that it was "confident" operations will stabilize by Dec 10. But observers expect the crisis to trigger some fundamental changes in the industry.

It's dangerous for one airline to have such a high market share, said Ajay Bodke, a Mumbai-based independent markets analyst.

In the United States and China, the only other aviation markets bigger than India's domestic market, no carrier has a market share of more than a quarter.

"Defying government regulations announced months in advance, and now seeking a last-minute two-month reprieve to comply," Mr Bodke said. "This is not inefficiency. It's willful disregard." BLOOMBERG

Source: Straitstimes

The Japanese stock market is trading slightly lower on Monday, extending the losses in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 50,450 level, with weakness is index heavyweights, financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in automakers and exporter stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 54.83 points or 0.11 percent at 50,437.04, after hitting a low of 50,224.65 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.1 percent and Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 1 percent, Screen Holdings is edging down 0.4 percent and Tokyo Electron is down almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing almost 1 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is declining more than 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.5 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 2 percent, while Panasonic and Canon are adding almost 1 percent each. Sony losing almost 1 percent.

Among the other major losers, Aeon is declining almost 5 percent, Lasertec is losing more than 3 percent and Resonac Holdings is down almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Secom, Fuji Electric and Toppan Holdings are advancing more than 4 percent each, while Japan Steel Works and Mitsubishi Estate are gaining almost 4 percent each. BayCurrent is adding almost 3 percent.

In economic news, Japan's gross domestic product contracted a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent on quarter in the third quarter of 2025, the Cabinet Office said in Monday's preliminary reading. That missed forecasts for a decline of 0.4 percent following the 0.5 percent increase in the three months prior. On an annualized basis, GDP declined 2.3 percent - again missing expectations for a fall of 2.0 percent following the 2.2 percent gain in the second quarter.

Capital expenditure was down 0.2 percent on quarter, missing forecasts for an increase of 1.0 percent following the 0.6 percent gain in the previous three months. External demand was down 0.2 percent on quarter and private consumption was up 0.2 percent on quarter, while the GDP price index jumped 3.4 percent on year.

Meanwhile, Overall bank lending in Japan was up 4.2 percent on year in November, the Bank of Japan said on Monday - coming in at 652.547 trillion yen. That exceeded expectations for an increase of 4.0 percent and was up from 4.1 percent in October. Excluding trusts, lending was up 4.5 percent at 573.647 trillion yen - accelerating from 4.4 percent in the previous month.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 155 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw modest strength during trading on Friday after ending Thursday's choppy trading session little changed. With the upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in a month.

The major averages gave back ground after an early advance but remained in positive territory. The Dow rose 104.05 points or 0.2 percent to 47,954.99, the Nasdaq climbed 72.99 point or 0.3 percent to 23,578.13 and the S&P 500 increased 13.28 points or 0.2 percent to 6,870.40.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also turned mixed on the day. While the German DAX Index climbed by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices edged higher on Friday on persistent geopolitical tension due to the Russia-Ukraine war and the U.S.-Venezuela standoff. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was up $0.35 or 0.59 percent at $60.02 per barrel.

Source: TradingView

Is the recent Bitcoin correction finally nearing its end? According to a fresh analysis from K33 Research, the answer might be yes. The firm sees a high probability of a Bitcoin rebound materializing as early as December, suggesting the current downturn could be setting the stage for a significant recovery. This perspective offers a beacon of hope for investors navigating the recent market volatility.

Why Does K33 Research Predict a Bitcoin Rebound?

K33 Research's optimistic outlook for a Bitcoin rebound is not based on mere speculation. Instead, it stems from a detailed examination of current market mechanics. The analysts point to specific on-chain and derivatives data that signal the selling pressure is exhausting itself. While the market has faced headwinds, the underlying structure appears resilient, paving the way for a potential upward shift.

What's Driving the Current Selling Pressure?

To understand the potential for a rebound, we must first look at what caused the dip. K33 identifies two primary sources of recent selling pressure:

However, the crucial insight is that these factors are now seen as temporary rather than structural.

The Bullish Case: Key Factors Supporting a BTC Recovery

Despite the selling, several powerful factors are aligning to support a Bitcoin rebound. K33 highlights these critical bullish signals that mitigate the downward pressure.

Is Low Leverage a Hidden Strength?

One of the most encouraging metrics is the low leverage burden across the market. Unlike previous cycles where excessive borrowing amplified crashes, the current correction has occurred with relatively low leverage. This means there are fewer forced liquidations to trigger a cascading sell-off. The market has been de-risking, which creates a more stable foundation for the next leg up.

Where is Bitcoin's Strong Support Zone?

Technical and on-chain analysis points to a formidable support zone between $70,000 and $80,000. This price range represents a massive concentration of investor cost basis, meaning many buyers entered the market here. This area acts as a psychological and economic floor, where buying interest historically intensifies, making a sustained drop below it less probable.

Could Policy Changes Fuel a Structural Uptrend?

Beyond technicals, K33 expects a "structural uptrend" to be driven by macro policy shifts. The evolving regulatory landscape in major economies like the U.S. is increasingly seen as moving toward clearer, more crypto-friendly frameworks. Positive regulatory clarity has always been a powerful catalyst for institutional capital inflows, which could supercharge the next Bitcoin rebound.

What Does This Mean for Investors Before December?

The analysis suggests a strategic perspective for market participants. The approach of December, often a seasonally positive month for asset prices, combined with the identified technical supports, creates a compelling setup. For investors, this period of consolidation may represent an accumulation opportunity ahead of the anticipated Bitcoin rebound.

In summary, K33 Research provides a data-driven case for optimism. While short-term flows have caused friction, the core market structure remains healthy with strong support, low systemic risk from leverage, and a favorable policy horizon. December is pinpointed not as a guarantee, but as a high-probability window for this positive momentum to manifest, potentially marking a decisive turn from correction to recovery.

Source: CryptoSlate

Japan's economy shrank in the three months through September, the government confirmed in a revised report, giving further justification for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's stimulus package announced last month.

Gross domestic product fell at an annualized pace of 2.3% in the third quarter, as revised figures showed business spending and housing investment came in weaker than preliminary figures. The contraction was deeper than the initial reading of a 1.8% fall, and was the first in six quarters.

The lackluster results back up Takaichi's stimulus package, which featured the largest fresh spending since the pandemic. It adds an element of complexity to the Bank of Japan's upcoming policy decision latesr next week, but likely won't derail it from its gradual hiking path.

To ease the burden of inflation on households, Takaichi unveiled a stimulus package featuring ¥17.7 trillion ($114 billion) in planned fresh spending. Outlays from the package include price-relief steps such as utility subsidies and tax cuts, as well as wage-support measures aimed largely at helping smaller firms. Labor unions in the country are pushing for continued growth in pay negotiations after the strong pay hikes of recent years.

The government estimates that the package will lift the nation's GDP by an average of about 1.4 percentage points per year on an annualized basis for three years, assuming the measures take effect during that span. Making sure that voters feel the hit from inflation is easing is key for Takaichi, whose predecessors have been ousted from office partly due to simmering discontent over the cost of living.

Meanwhile, overnight-indexed swaps now indicate an around 90% chance of the central bank hiking this month, following Governor Kazuo Ueda's strong hints last week that an increase in borrowing costs is coming soon. Given that the quarterly economic decline is likely to be temporary and largely caused by one-off factors including housing regulation changes, Monday's data is unlikely to derail the BOJ from its policy path too much.

Separate labor ministry data on Monday showed real wages fell 0.7% from the previous year in October, the 10th straight month of decline. While nominal wages rose 2.6% and base salaries climbed at the same pace in a sign of sustained pay momentum, the pace is still slower than inflation. A more stable measure, which avoids sampling issues and excludes bonuses and overtime, climbed 2.2% for regular workers, slowing slightly from the previous month.

Japan's main price gauge has remained at or above the BOJ's 2% target for more than three and a half years, marking the longest streak since the early 1990s.

Source: Bloomberg Europe

Oil prices hovered at two-week highs on Monday as investors expect a Federal Reserve interest rate cut this week that will lift economic growth and energy demand while eyeing geopolitical risks that threaten oil supplies from Russia and Venezuela.

Brent crude futures rose 4 cents, or 0.06%, to $63.79 a barrel by 0008 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $60.15 a barrel, up 7 cents, or 0.12%.

Both contracts closed Friday's session at their highest levels since November 18.

Markets are pricing in an 84% chance of a quarter-point cut at the Fed meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, LSEG data show, although it is expected to be one of its most contentious in years and investors are focused on the U.S. central bank's policy direction and internal dynamics.

In Europe, progress in Ukraine peace talks remains slow, with disputes over security guarantees for Kyiv and the status of Russian-occupied territory still unresolved.

"The outcome of current negotiations could have a big impact on the oil market," ANZ analysts said in a note.

"The various potential outcomes from Trump's latest push to end the war could release a swing in oil supply of more than 2 million barrels per day."

In the meantime, the Group of Seven countries and the European Union are in talks to replace a price cap on Russian oil exports with a full maritime services ban, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, which may curb supplies from the world's second-largest producer.

The U.S. has also ramped up pressure on OPEC member Venezuela, including strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats and threats of military action to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro's government.

Chinese independent refiners have stepped up purchases of sanctioned Iranian oil from onshore storage tanks using newly issued import quotas, trade sources and analysts said, easing a supply glut.

Source: Reuters