• The dollar edged up on Friday though it remained on track for weekly losses, while the euro slumped after Catalan vote results indicated a victory for separatists in a blow to Madrid.
The euro was down 0.2 percent at $1.1848 EUR= after dipping as low as $1.1817 in the Asian morning session. It pared its weekly gain to 0.8 percent.
The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against a basket of six major rivals, was up 0.1 percent at 93.400 .DXY. For the week, it was down 0.6 percent.
The dollar was steady on the day against the yen at 113.32 JPY=, poised to gain 0.6 percent for the week.
• “There is support around $1.1800 level which will likely limit the euro’s downside,” said Yutaka Miura, a senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities.
“This time of year, though, ahead of the holidays, many market participants are away and liquidity is thin, so we need to watch cautiously,” he added.
• Cryptocurrency bitcoin tumbled below $14,000 briefly on the Bitstamp exchange BTC=BTSP on Friday, down roughly 30 percent from its record top near $20,000 set at the start of the week.
It was last down 7 percent at $14,499 BTC=BTSP but fell as much as 14.7 percent earlier in the Asian day.
• The euro dipped on Friday after Catalan separatists wanting to break away from Spain won a regional election, while Asian stocks edged up on new data pointing to steady growth in the U.S. economy.
The euro momentarily dipped to $1.1817 EUR= early in the day as preliminary results from regional votes on Thursday showed pro-independence parties in Catalonia keeping an absolute majority. It trimmed losses to last stand at $1.1849, down 0.2 percent.
• The federal tax bill that Congress approved this week is expected to provide a modest lift to the U.S. economy in 2018 and 2019, as lower taxes should help consumer spending and business spending, J.P. Morgan economists said on Thursday.
They forecast the plan would add 0.3 percentage point to the gross domestic product next year and 0.2 point to GDP in 2009.
• The U.S. Congress on Thursday averted a government shutdown just one day before federal funding was due to expire, sending President Donald Trump a bill to provide just enough money to keep agencies operating through Jan. 19.
With lawmakers eager to begin a holiday recess until Jan. 3, the House of Representatives and Senate scurried to pass the hastily written bill by votes of 231-188 and 66-32, respectively.
• Confidence among British businesses has picked up to its highest level since July as firms expect a busier 2018, though optimism remains well below its level before last year’s Brexit vote, a survey by Lloyds Bank showed on Friday.
Lloyds’ business barometer rose to +28 in December from +24 in November, compared with a pre-referendum average of +44.
• Catalonia’s separatists look set to regain power in the wealthy Spanish region after local elections on Thursday, deepening the nation’s political crisis in a sharp rebuke to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and European Union leaders who backed him.
• Oil prices on Friday dipped away from some of its highest levels since 2015, weighed down by rising U.S. output and the expected January re-opening of the Forties pipeline in the North Sea.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $58.18 a barrel at 0544 GMT, down 18 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last settlement.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $64.75 a barrel, down 15 cents, or 0.2 percent.
Reference: Reuters
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