It appears nothing can stop the upward moment of equities heading into the year end, and as has been the case for the past few weeks, US traders walk in with futures higher, propelled by European stocks which climbed to their highest in almost a year, while the dollar rose and bonds and gold fell, failing again to respond to a series of geopolitical shocks following terrorist attacks in Ankara, Berlin and Zurich. The yen tumbled after the Bank of Japan maintained its stimulus plan even as the central bank touted improving economic prospects for the Japanese economy.

“There was no particular surprise from the policy meeting, but investors are happy that the economy’s fundamentals are finally rising after the BOJ expressed an upbeat view,” said Takuya Takahashi, a strategist at Daiwa Securities.

In an amusing interlude during today’s Kuroda press conference, in which the BOJ head said the BOJ is far from its target, Kuroda said that the BOJ continues to target 10 Year yield at “about 0%” and then added that it is meaningless to try to discuss “what about 0%” is, hinting to markets that as long as US yields keep rising, the Yen will keep falling.

European shares were steady with unease over the attacks balanced by gains by bank shares and the Milan market after Italy’s government said it wanted approval for up to €20 billion to rescue troubled lenders. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.1% to 360, pushed higher by deal activity in media and credit card services. Treasuries and gold reversed gains from Monday following a probable terror attack in Berlin, while Turkey’s lira pared losses sustained after the killing of Russia’s envoy to the country. The yen approached the weakest since February, rising above 118 versus the dollar after the central bank closed a tumultuous year for monetary policy by keeping its yield-curve and asset-purchase programs unchanged.

The dollar and rising bond yields again dominated, after Janet Yellen flagged the strength of the U.S. jobs market in a speech to students on Monday. That sent the greenback bouncing towards last week’s 14-year high and it was at 103.40 on the index that measures it against other leading currencies, just short of its recent peak of 103.56.

“The biggest impact you see from the attacks in Berlin and Istanbul is the Swiss franc/euro,” said Societe Generale FX strategist Alvin Tan. “But apart from that the dollar continues to be strong after we had some rather positive comments from Janet Yellen,”

China’s CSI 300 index slid 0.6 percent, on Beijing’s move to tighten supervision of shadow banking activities and on liquidity concerns, while Japan’s Nikkei .N225 closed up 0.5 percent after the BOJ meeting. 

U.S. stock-index futures were also fractionally higher following a rally that sent equities to record levels. S&P 500 futures expiring in March up 0.1 percent to 2,263 at 6:03 a.m. in New York, while those on the Dow rise 24 points to 19,861. VIX dropped for fourth day, set for lowest close since August.

Energy markets were trading at session highs, with Brent rising above $55/bbl before U.S. stockpiles data due Tuesday, Wednesday. DOE inventories data to be published on Wednesday are forecast to show 5th week of reductions. January WTI near $52/bbl before expiry.“We’re moving sideways as a whole, liquidity is lower at the moment,” said Giovanni Staunovo, commodity analyst at UBS in Zurich. “It’s range-trading still.”

The yield on U.S. 10-year Treasuries climbed four basis points to 2.58 percent, while gold slid 0.5 percent.

The most notable feature of overnight trading, according to Bloomberg, is the remarkable immunity demonstrated by markets to terror incidents this year, with initial knee-jerk reactions to buy haven assets after attacks fading quickly.

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