• The dollar stayed on the defensive in Asia on Monday with bulls still nursing a grudge after the Federal Reserve's rate guidance last week proved to be less "hawkish" than many had wagered on.
There was scant reaction to the Group of 20 meeting over the weekend which retained the familiar form of words on currency intervention but dropped a pledge to avoid trade protectionism.
A holiday in Japan made for thin trading, leaving the dollar a fraction softer near two-week lows at 112.68 yen. That was some way from the March top of 115.51 and biased risks to a re-test of the February lows around 111.59/69.
Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was little moved at 100.300, having touched a five-week trough of 100.140 on Friday in the wake of the Fed's rate hike.
The retreat left a double top on the charts at 102.25/26 that looks bearish for the near term.
The situation was much the same against the euro which was holding firm at $1.0741, having reached a six-week peak of $1.0782 on Friday. It now faces stiff chart resistance at the January top of $1.0828.
• A detailed version of President Donald Trump's budget to be released in May will lay out plans to eventually erase U.S. deficits, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said on Sunday.
"We're getting into that now. By May, I think it's mid-May we're shooting for right now, we'll have that larger budget..." Mulvaney said on NBC's "Meet the Press" program.
Mulvaney acknowledged that the budget would not be balanced in the upcoming 2018 fiscal year but said the administration wants to put the country on a path toward eventually wiping out annual deficits.
• Financial leaders from the world's biggest economies found common ground on foreign exchange at a G20 meeting on Saturday but failed to agree on trade, highlighting a global shift towards protectionism and setting a cautious tone for financial markets next week.
For markets, no change to G20's stance on FX is welcome news. Having the world's financial and economic powers on the same page should help keep FX volatility low, a cornerstone for stable markets and rising asset prices more broadly.
But failure to agree on a commitment to keep global trade free and open will have negative consequences for financial markets, even if not dramatically so immediately.
• Oil prices were largely steady on Friday, and looked set to finish the week with modest gains after losing almost 10 percent last week on concerns that an OPEC production cut was failing to reduce a global supply overhang.
Brent crude were up 3 cents at $51.77 per barrel, as of 3:34 p.m. ET (1934 GMT).
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) settled up 3 cents to $48.78 a barrel, ending the week's trading about 0.6 percent higher.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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