Soybean prices rose on Monday, to extend gains for the fifth straight session, and hit a 2-week high, buoyed by Chinese import tariffs waivers for US commodities (including soy.)

Chinese buyers bought over 300,000 tonnes of oil seeds from the US, which also boosted demand on soy.

Beijing waived import tariffs for buyers of at least 1 million tons of soy, within its efforts to make a breakthrough in the trade talks with the US.

Many hope that Washington and Beijing will overcome their differences to sign the phase one trade deal ahead of mid-December, which is the date for the US tariffs hike against Beijing.

Soy futures for January delivery on (CBOT) rose 0.9% to close at $8.97 a bushel (the highest since November 22), and hit an intraday high of $9.03 and a low of $8.89.

US stocks fell on Monday, weighed down the lingering uncertainty over the trade talks between Washington and Beijing, in addition to weak Chinese data.

Chinese exports fell for the fourth straight month in November by 1.1% compared to last year, which renewed concerns about the impact of the ongoing trade war between the US and China.

Despite repeated remarks by President Trump about reaching a trade deal with China, the markets are still pessimistic due to the lack of tangible results.

In the oil market, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell by 0.3% and settled at $59.02 a barrel, and hit a high of $59.2 and a low of $58.2.

Brent fell by 0.2% to $64.25 a barrel, with a high $64.5 and a low of $63.6.

As for stocks, Dow Jones fell by 0.4% or 105 points to close at 27,909, and hit an intraday high of 28,010 and a low of 27,906.

Nasdaq fell by 0.4% or 34 points to 8,622, with a high of 8,678 and a low of 8,619.

S&P 500 fell by 0.3% or 10 points to 3,136, and hit a high of 3,148 and a low of 3,135.

The Australian dollar fell against greenback today amid the lingering uncertainty that casts it shadows over the US-China trade file and the state of the Australian economy.

The recent Australian data revealed that the labor market in country has weakened and the unemployment rate increased, which raised bets for RBA to cut interest rates.

The markets are also cautiously awaiting new updates regarding the trade talks between the US and China, after recent statements about a close signing of the "phase one" trade deal.

Otherwise, the US, Canada and Mexico are close to drafting the final  trade agreement to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), but most Dems in the US House of Representatives are aginst it.

As for trading, AUD/USD fell by 0.2% to 0.6829 as of 17:08 GMT, the pair hit an intraday high of 0.6839 and a low of 0.682.

Silver prices rose on Monday as the US dollar held against most major currencies, amid investors' risk-aversion, which was reflected on stock markets.

Precious metals suffered sharp losses last week, after the release of the US monthly jobs report, which showed that the economy has added 266K jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 3.5%.

The dollar index held against a basket of major currencies at 97.6 points as of 21:04 GMT, and hit an intraday high of 97.7 and a low of 97.5.

President Donald Trump stated that trade negotiations with China are going well, but no further details or updates had been announced.

Silver futures (March delivery) rose 0.3% to close at $16.642 an ounce, and hit a high of $16.73 and a low of $16.565, after losing 3% last week.