• The dollar slid to a new four-week low on Tuesday, as the U.S.-Mexico trade deal aimed at overhauling the North American Free Trade Agreement prompted investors to unwind more of their safe-haven bets on the greenback, boosting appetite for higher-risk assets.
The U.S. currency has fallen for three consecutive weeks, and is down nearly 2 percent.
By afternoon trading, however, the greenback had retraced its losses, with the dollar index .DXY down just 0.1 percent on the day at 94.717.
The U.S. dollar recovered ground against the yen, trading up 0.1 percent at 111.23 yen JPY=.
The euro EUR=, meanwhile, rose 0.2 percent to $1.1694, despite worries Italy's public deficit could exceed the European Union's ceiling of 3 percent of gross domestic product, senior officials said.
The greenback also pared losses after the U.S. consumer confidence index came in higher than expected.
• U.S. consumer confidence surged to near an 18-year high in August, as househ
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The jump in confidence this month suggests consumers are little worried about the Trump administration’s protectionist trade policy, which has led to an escalation of a trade war between the United States and China as well as tit-for-tat tariffs with the European Union, Canada and Mexico.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index jumped 5.5 points to 133.4 this month, the highest reading since October 2000. Consumers’ assessment of both current business and labor market conditions improved further in August.
• U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Tuesday he believed the United States can reach a trade deal with Canada this week after coming to an agreement with Mexico.
• Canada will restart official talks with the United States on Tuesday in the hope that an updated version of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will be signed off in the coming days.
Maryscott Greenwood, CEO of the Canadian American Business Council (CABC), told CNBC on Tuesday that she thought Canada would join the arrangement and could even finalize a new NAFTA deal this week.
• British shop prices rose for the first time in more than five years in August but by less than broader measures of inflation as retailers continued to battle for consumers.
Shop prices edged up by 0.1 percent in year-on-year terms, ending a run of 63 months of falling prices, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said, citing the impact of a hot, dry summer on food prices and higher international oil costs.
• Britain will use its international aid budget to boost its own interests while also seeking to deepen trade ties with Africa, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday, countering critics who say aid funds would be better spent at home.
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and their Social Democrat (SPD) junior coalition partners agreed on Tuesday to reduce paycheck contributions toward the country’s unemployment insurance system, sharing a slice of bountiful revenues with taxpayers.
Sources at the meeting at the chancellery in Berlin told Reuters that the ruling parties had agreed to cut the contribution rate by 0.5 percentage point to 2.5 percent starting in 2019.
Under current rules, salaried employees contribute 3 percent of their pre-tax income toward the unemployment insurance system.
• The Pentagon has no plans to suspend future joint military exercises with South Korea, the Defense secretary said Tuesday, amid negotiations with North Korea on disbanding its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
• Oil prices fell on Tuesday as some investors took profits on recent strong gains, but losses were limited the day after a U.S.-Mexico trade agreement eased worries about tensions between the two countries.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures fell 26 cents to settle at $75.95 a barrel. The global benchmark touched $76.97 early in the session, the highest since July 11.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures fell 34 cents to settle at $68.53 a barrel.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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