Dollar, oil surge as 2017 trading starts in earnest

The dollar notched up its biggest gain in three weeks, oil jumped to a 18-month high and a record FTSE lifted European stocks to a one-year peak on Tuesday, building on upbeat Chinese data to ensure a strong start to 2017 for global markets. Metal prices and bond yields also advanced, as the fastest factory output growth in China in almost six years, the best in Britain in 2-1/2 years and firmer German and French inflation provided confidence for the new year. Britain's FTSE 100 wasted no time o