· The dollar held modest gains against its peers on Monday, having received a lift after U.S. tax reform efforts moved another step closer to ratification over the weekend.
Top Republicans are confident Congress will now pass the tax bill this week, with a Senate vote as early as Tuesday and President Donald Trump aiming to sign the bill by week’s end.
The dollar’s gains, however, were limited as investors adopted a wait-and-see approach until the deal was sealed.
It was effectively flat at 112.645 yen JPY= following Friday's rise of 0.2 percent. The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies stood little changed at 93.890 after gaining 0.5 percent on Friday .DXY.
· CME, the world's largest futures exchange, launched its own bitcoin futures contract Sunday under the ticker "BTC."
The futures fell more than 4 percent to $18,665 about two hours after opening at $20,650 and rising slightly.
The move lower was a stark contrast from the 19 percent surge in CBOE bitcoin futures during their first day of trading a week ago. The Cboe bitcoin futures, traded under the ticker "XBT," rose more than 2 percent to $18,530 Sunday evening, ET.
· Top U.S. Republicans said on Sunday they expected Congress to pass a tax code overhaul this week, with a Senate vote as early as Tuesday and President Donald Trump aiming to sign the bill by week’s end.
· Japanese exports accelerated sharply in November, yet again pointing to growing momentum in the world’s third-biggest economy. There was just one catch: inflation remained stubbornly low and well off the central bank’s 2 percent target.
The combination of steady growth and benign consumer prices mean the Bank of Japan will lag other major central banks in exiting crisis-era monetary stimulus, with analysts widely expecting BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda to keep the liquidity tap wide open at a meeting later this week.
Separate data from the Ministry of Finance showed exports grew 16.2 percent in the year to November, beating a 14.6 percent gain expected by economists in a Reuters poll and accelerating from the prior month’s 14.0 percent increase, led by a stellar sales to China and Asia.
· Oil prices rose on Monday amid an ongoing North Sea pipeline outage and signs that booming U.S. crude output growth may be slowing, although the 2018outlook points to ample supply despite production cuts led by OPEC.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $57.66 a barrel at 0634 GMT, up 36 cents, or 0.6 percent, from their last settlement.
Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $63.59 a barrel, up 36 cents, or 0.6 percent, from their last close.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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