A United States government delegation will travel to Beijing in the second week of January to hold trade talks with Chinese officials, two people familiar with the matter said. SEE MORE "Looking ahead, global economic activity is expected to decelerate in 2019 and remain steady thereafter," the ECB said in its regular economic bulletin. SEE MORE US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures , were up 26 cents, or 0.56 percent, at $46.48 per barrel at 0032 GMT. They jumped 8.7 percent to $46.22 per barrel in the previous session. SEE MORE Earnings growth at China’s industrial firms in November fell for the first time in nearly three years in the face of slackening domestic and external demand, highlighting rising risks to the world’s second-largest economy. SEE MORE The Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) held a ceremony to inaugurate its rubber latex processing plant in Thuan Chau district in the northern mountainous province of Son La on December 26. SEE MORE