· The dollar inched higher against a basket of major peers on Monday as data showing slower U.S. jobs growth did little to dent expectations for further Federal Reserve interest rate increases this year.
The dollar’s index against a basket of six major currencies rose 0.1 percent to 92.051, up from its Jan. 2 low of 91.751, which was its weakest level since Sept. 20.
“The recent trend of dollar-selling is taking a bit of a pause,” said Satoshi Okagawa, senior global markets analyst for Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in Singapore, adding that the dollar drew some support after U.S. Treasury yields nudged higher on Friday.
Against the yen, the dollar firmed about 0.1 percent to 113.20 yen, having traded in a range of roughly 112.00 yen to 113.75 yen over the past month.
· U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers have come to view Donald Trump’s tax overhaul as a short-term economic boost that will neither permanently supercharge the economy, as the president says, or cause an immediate disruption that would require a central bank response, as some analysts have warned.
· China has launched a 30 billion yuan ($4.63 billion) investment fund to boost the services trade industry, in an effort to further improve the country’s foreign trade structure, the official Xinhua News Agency said on Monday.
The fund was jointly set up by the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce and China Merchants Capital Investment, Xinhua said.
· Oil prices firmed on Monday on the back of a slight decline in the number of U.S. rigs drilling for new production, with crude holding just below near three-year highs reached last week.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $61.62 a barrel at 0344 GMT, 18 cents, or 0.3 percent, above their last settlement, and not far off the $62.21 May 2015 high reached last week.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $67.77 a barrel, 15 cents, or 0.2 percent, above their last close. Brent hit $68.27 high last week, the highest since May 2015.
Reference: Reuters
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