MTS Help Center

• The dollar edged higher against its peers on Tuesday after the United States imposed a new round of tariffs on Chinese imports, exacerbating global trade woes and fuelling demand for the safe-haven greenback.

The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies stood edged up 0.1 percent to 94.607. China’s yuan was 0.25 percent lower at 6.8874 per dollar in offshore trade.

The dollar dipped 0.15 percent to 111.69 yen, another safe-haven currency that draws demand in times of market tensions and risk aversion.

The euro was 0.15 percent lower at $1.1668 after rising 0.5 percent the previous day.

The pound dipped 0.1 percent to $1.3147.

Sterling had gained 0.7 percent on Monday, hitting a six-week high of $1.3165, helped by reports of progress on the Irish border question, an obstacle to Brexit that diplomats will try to overcome this week at a European Union summit.

• Trump, in a statement announcing the new round of tariffs, warned that if China takes retaliatory action against U.S. farmers or industries, “we will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion of additional imports.”

Collection of tariffs on the long-anticipated list will start September 24 but the rate will increase to 25 percent by the end of 2018, allowing U.S. companies some time to adjust their supply chains to alternate countries, a senior administration official said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he will impose 10 percent U.S. tariffs on about $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, but he spared smart watches from Apple (AAPL.O) and Fitbit (FIT.N) Inc and other consumer products such as bicycle helmets and baby car seats.

• The iPhone was not among the ‘wide range’ of products that Apple told regulators would be hit by the $200 billion round of tariffs in a September 5 comment letter to trade officials.

But if the Trump adminstration enacts a further $267 billion round of tariffs, the iPhone, along with all other smart phones, are likely to be included in the list.”

• The White House removed about 300 goods from a previously proposed list of affected products, including smart watches, some chemicals, and other products such as bicycle helmets and high chairs.

Trump, in a statement, said that the tariffs would rise to 25 percent on Jan. 1, 2019, adding that "if China takes retaliatory action against our farmers or other industries, we will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion of additional imports."

• The United States is ready to negotiate a trade deal with China whenever Beijing is prepared for serious talks that will reduce tariffs and eliminate non-tariff trade barriers, top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Monday.

Kudlow, speaking at the Economic Club of New York, also said China’s economic reforms were moving in the wrong direction and that he expected the United States would soon announce tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.

• Analysts said that the focus will now shift towards China's response to the announcement.

• "China may be limited in its ability to impose similar tariffs in volume terms, but it can still aim to disrupt the US supply chain with those tech exports an obvious target and the cancelation of trade talks is also likely to dampen the mood," Rodrigo Catril, a senior foreign-exchange strategist at the National Australia Bank, wrote in a morning note.

"We think (the) US trade spat with China is not just about bringing manufacturing and jobs back to the US, strategically the US is not happy with the approach China has taken in order (to) modernise itself," Catril added, noting that one of the key sticking points is intellectual property rights.

• Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Monday said she would return to Washington, D.C. this week for fresh talks on NAFTA as time is running very short to meet a U.S. demand for a deal by October 1.

• British Prime Minister Theresa May urgently needs to develop an alternative approach to leaving the European Union in case her current negotiating strategy fails, the chairman of parliament’s Brexit committee said on Tuesday.

• Argentina’s battered peso currency inched higher and the risk of its bonds defaulting declined on Monday after the government unveiled its budget plan and the IMF said “important progress” had been made on revamping the country’s standby loan agreement.

The peso ARS= rose 0.76 percent to close at 39.57 to the U.S. dollar and country risk tightened by 10 basis points after the government released its 2019 budget proposal, which pledges to erase the primary fiscal deficit next year. The deficit is expected at 2.6 percent of gross domestic product this year.

• Oil prices were little changed on Monday as the market weighed deepening trade tension between the U.S. and China that is expected to dent global crude demand and potential supply tightening due to Iran sanctions.

• Brent crude futures dipped 4 cents to settle at $78.05 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 8 cents to settle at $68.91 a barrel.

Reference: Reuters, CNBC