• The U.S. dollar slipped on Thursday after the Federal Reserve held back from increasing the pace of this year’s rate hikes, while worries over an impending announcement on trade tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump capped Asian shares.
The yield on two-year U.S. notes slipped back to 2.304 percent US2YT=RR from 9 1/2-year high of 2.366 percent hit on Wednesday while the 10-year yield dipped to2.874 percent US10YT=RR after an initial spike to 2.936 percent.
That pushed the U.S. dollar lower in the currency market, with the dollar index .DXY =USD testing this month’s low after posting its biggest fall in two months on Wednesday.
The euro EUR= gained 0.2 percent to $1.2363, extending its recovery from a near three-week low of $1.2240 touched earlier in the week.
• The Bank of England's (BOE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will meet this Thursday and while it is not expected to hike rates or make any changes to the size of its asset purchase program, investors will be looking for clues regarding the timing of its next hike.
• China’s Ministry of Commerce on Thursday said the country must take all necessary measures to resolutely protect its interests in the face of new tariffs on Chinese imports that the United States is expected to announce later in the day.
President Donald Trump will announce tariffs on Chinese imports, a White House official said, to curb theft of U.S. technology. Beijing is expected to retaliate, raising fears of a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
• Japanese manufacturing activity expanded at a slower pace in March than the previous month as growth in new orders and output moderated, in a sign that the economy may be losing a little momentum.
The Flash Markit/Nikkei Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell to 53.2 in March on a seasonally adjusted basis from a final 54.1 in February.
The headline reading fell for the second consecutive month, but remained above the 50 threshold that separates contraction from expansion for the 19th executive month.
• Oil prices gave up earlier gains as the relentless rise in U.S. crude production threatens to undermine efforts led by producer cartel OPEC to tighten the market.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $69.35 per barrel at 0722 GMT, down 12 cents, or 0.2 percent from their last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $65.15 a barrel, down 2 cents from their previous settlement.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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