Risk appetite improves on Monday

Earlier today, the German factory crashed and printed -6.9% monthly in October, down from 1.3% in September. The year-on-year gauge cratered to -1%, down from 9.7%. Apparently, that was bullish for the DAX index, sending it half a percent higher. 

Sentiment turned positive today as traders tried to buy the dip in stocks. As a result, US equity futures were notably higher during the London session, while EU bourses also advanced. 

The Nasdaq 100 index is testing strong support of September highs at 15,700 USD, and it must defend it for the primary bull market to continue.

Oil also cheered the bullish mood and rose more than 2%, sending the WTI benchmark to 68 USD again. However, oil needs to climb above its 200-day average at 70 USD to reaffirm the medium-term uptrend. 

Precious metals struggled again, with silver down nearly 1% at around 22.40 USD, erasing Friday's gains. Gold was seen marginally lower, changing hands near 1,780 USD.

Later in the session, the EU Sentix investor confidence index for December is expected to decline to 15.9 from 18.3 as more lockdowns and measures are reintroduced in Europe.

On Friday, data showed the US economy created only 210,000 jobs in November, the smallest monthly increase since December and well below the expectations of 550,000. The unemployment rate improved notably to 4.2%, down from 4.6% in October. At the same time, average hourly earnings stayed at 4.8% year-on-year (against expectations of 5.0%).

From other news, the International Monetary Fund warned Friday that it is likely to lower its global economic growth estimates due to the new variant.