• The dollar slipped against a basket of major currencies on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said that raising interest rates this month would be appropriate as long as the economy continues to improve as expected.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.7percent. It is up about 0.4 percent this week and on Thursday, hit a seven-week high of 102.26. The dollar dipped 0.2 percent to 113.86 yen JPY= while the euro EUR= eased 0.1 percent to $1.0608.
• Futures traders now are pricing in an 86 percent chance of a Fed hike in March, up from 35 percent on Tuesday, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.
• U.S. money market futures FFJ7 are pricing in about 90 percent chance the Fed will raise interest rates by0.25 percentage point at its meeting on March 14-15, with another rate hike fully priced in by September.
• The U.S. Federal Reserve's long-stalled 'liftoff' of interest rates may finally get airborne this year as policymakers from Chair Janet Yellen on Friday to regional leaders across the United States signaled that the era of easy money is drawing to a close.
Yellen capped off a seemingly coordinated push from the central bank on Friday when she cemented the view that the Fed will raise interest rates at its next meeting on March 14-15, and likely be able to move faster after that than it has in years.
It's a welcome turn for the Fed chair, who has hoped to get rates off the ground throughout her three-year tenure, and now sees the economy on track and investors aligned around the idea.
"At our meeting later this month, the committee will evaluate whether employment and inflation are continuing to evolve in line with our expectations, in which case a further adjustment of the federal funds rate would likely be appropriate," Yellen said at a business luncheon in Chicago.
• Stocks were up slightly, and futures tied to rate-hike expectations moved little on Yellen's remarks. The comments from Fed speakers this week had already pushed market pricing of a March hike to 80 percent.
• Demand for travel to the United States over the coming months has flattened out following a positive start to the year, with uncertainty over a possible new travel order likely deterring visitors, travel analysis company ForwardKeys said on Monday.
ForwardKeys, which analyses 16 million flight reservations a day from major global reservation systems, also said that travel from the United States to and from the Middle East has been especially hard hit after President Donald Trump's move to ban people from seven Muslim-majority countries.
After the travel ban was imposed in January, international travel to the U.S. dropped by 6.5 percent in the following eight days, ForwardKeys data showed last month.
In its latest update on Monday, ForwardKeys said that bookings to the United States recovered after the courts halted the ban, but dropped again in the nine days after plans for a new ban were announced on Feb.17.
• China has cut its growth target this year as the world's second-largest economy pushes through painful reforms to address a rapid build-up in debt, and erects a "firewall" against financial risks. China aims to expand its economy by around 6.5 percent, Premier Li Keqiang said in his work report at the opening of the annual meeting of parliament on Sunday.
China set a target of 6.5 to 7 percent last year and ultimately achieved 6.7 percent growth, supported by record bank loans, a speculative housing boom and billions in government investment.
• Oil prices surged on Friday, as a weaker dollar encouraged buying but investors remained cautious after Russian production figures showed weak compliance with a global deal to cut output.
Global benchmark Brent LCOc1 settled up 82 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $55.90 a barrel, recovering some of Thursday's losses. WTI futures CLc1 rose 72 cents to $53.33 a barrel, a 1.4 percent gain.
• North Korea fired four ballistic missiles early on Monday, three of which landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, the latest in a series of provocative tests by the reclusive state.
Japanese officials described the launches as a grave threat and said they lodged "strong protests" with nuclear-armed North Korea.
No reports of damage to shipping or aircraft had been received since the launches, Japanese officials said.
Reference: Reuters
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