Reports that a file from a former UK intelligence officer, which has circulated among policymakers and reporters for sometime, claim that Russia has material to try to blackmail Trump. Senior people close to the President-elect were said to be in contact with Russia during the campaign.Yet these political developments have been unable to derail the dollar, which is edging higher against most of the major currencies today. Â
The focus is on US politics and the high degree of uncertainty.  The lead story in the Financial Times is that Trump’s nominee for Attorney General “Sessions retreats from Trump’s election rhetoric on in Senate hearing.”In particular, the paper identifies three areas of divergence, Russia, Muslims, and torture. Today, Tillerson, the former Exxon CEO, and nominee for Secretary of State is also expected to take a firmer line on the risks from Russia. Â
Those hearings may be overshadowed to some extent today by Trump’s press conference, the first since July. The topic initially was going to be how he was arranging his extensive investments to avoid potential conflicts of interest, but the reports on Russia may be more immediate interest. And it is not like there is much US data to compete with these political developments. The MBA’s Mortgage Applications report is the only data on tap. The economic calendar picks up starting tomorrow with import prices and weekly initial jobless claims, followed by Friday’s PPI and retail sales. Â
In fact, the economic calendar has been sparse today. The highlights are the continued reporting of national industrial output figures for November in Europe and the UK’s trade figures.The UK and Spain reported industrial production figures, and both followed the lead of France yesterday to report stronger than expected data.Spain’s industrial output jumped 1.8% in the month of November.The Bloomberg median forecast was for a 0.4% gain.The year-over-year seasonally adjusted pace is 3.2%, up from 0.6% in October (initially 0.5%).  Â
