• The dollar got support from higher U.S. Treasury yields in early Asian trading on Tuesday, while sterling arrested a recent slide, which followed concerns about Theresa May’s ability to stay on as British prime minister.
The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. currency against a basket of six major rivals, was steady on the day at 94.499 .DXY.
Sterling edged up 0.1 percent to $1.3122 after coming under pressure from political turmoil ahead of this week’s debate by British lawmakers about the government’s plan to leave the European Union.
• The debate on the Brexit bill kicks off on Tuesday and Wednesday, and takes place against an unstable political backdrop. As many as 40 of May’s lawmakers would support a no-confidence motion against her, according to the Sunday Times newspaper.
• The U.S. House of Representatives Republican leadership is confident it has the votes to pass a tax overhaul bill when it comes to the House floor later this week, the chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means committee, Representative Kevin Brady, said Monday.
Debate will begin on Thursday, Brady, a Republican, told reporters in a Capitol hallway. “Leadership believes, is very confident, that ... we do and will have the votes for passage.”
• Oil prices held steady in a tight range Monday after briefly testing lower, with support from Middle East tensions and record long bets by fund managers balanced by rising U.S. production.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 settled down 36 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $63.16 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 settled up 2 cents a barrel at $56.76.
• OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers are moving toward deciding at their Nov. 30 meeting whether to extend a global agreement to curb oil supply further into 2018, two ministers said on Monday, a quicker time frame than previously indicated.
• Global oil demand will fall only modestly alongside the expected rise in electric vehicles over the next two decades, with consumption in petrochemicals and other transportation still growing, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.
The IEA estimates that there will be 50 million electric vehicles on the road by 2025 and 300 million by 2040, from closer to 2 million now. However, this is expected to cut only 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd), or about 2 percent, off global oil demand by that time.
• OPEC raised its forecast on Monday for demand for its oil in 2018 and said its deal with other producers to cut output was reducing excess oil in storage, potentially pushing the global market into a larger deficit next year.
OPEC said the world would need 33.42 million barrels per day (bpd) of OPEC crude next year, up 360,000 bpd from its previous forecast and marking the fourth consecutive monthly increase in the projection from its first estimate made in July.
Reference: Reuters
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