· The U.S. dollar was on the defensive on Thursday after the minutes from the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting showed policymakers were increasingly wary of recent softness in inflation and could delay a rate hike.
The euro EUR= traded at $1.1771, having gained 0.3 percent the previous day and recovering from low of $1.1681, its lowest level in nearly three weeks.
The dollar also stepped back to 110.01 yen JPY= from Wednesday's high of 110.95. The dollar's index against a basket of six major currencies .DXY =USD slipped to 93.46 from Wednesday's three-week high of 94.145.
**Trump business councils disband amid wave of CEO exits **
· President Donald Trump announced the disbanding of two high-profile business advisory councils on Wednesday after several chief executives quit in protest over his remarks blaming weekend violence in Virginia not only on white nationalists but also on anti-racism activists who opposed them.
Trump announced the dissolution of the American Manufacturing Council and Strategic and Policy Forum, whose members included some leading American business figures, after eight executives including Campbell Soup Co CEO (CPB.N) Denise Morrison and 3M Co CEO (MMM.N) Inge Thulin quit the panels. Both of the councils were moving to disband on their own when Trump made his announcement on Twitter.
A memorial service was held on Wednesday in Charlottesville for 32-year-old Heather Heyer, killed when a car plowed into the anti-racism protesters. A 20-year-old Ohio man said to have harbored Nazi sympathies has been charged with murder.
The Strategic and Policy Forum was headed by Blackstone Group (BX.N) CEO Stephen Schwarzman, a close ally of Trump in the business world.
· Federal Reserve policymakers appeared increasingly wary about recent weak inflation and some called for halting interest rate hikes until it was clear the trend was transitory, according to the minutes of the U.S. central bank's last policy meeting.
The readout of the July 25-26 meeting, released on Wednesday, also indicated the Fed was poised to begin reducing its $4.2 trillion portfolio of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities.
The central bank's preferred inflation measure dropped to 1.5 percent in June from 1.8 percent in February and has remained below its 2 percent target for more than five years.
· Money market futures FFF8 are pricing in about a 40 percent chance the Fed will raise rates by December, compared to just under 50 percent before the Fed's minutes.
· U.S. homebuilding unexpectedly fell in July as the construction of multi-family houses tumbled to a 10-month low, but strong job growth is expected to continue to support the housing market recovery.
Housing starts declined 4.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.16 million units, hurt also by a drop in groundbreaking on single-family projects, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.
June's sales pace was revised down to 1.21 million units from the previously reported 1.22 million units. Building permits dropped 4.1 percent, with the multi-family segment recording a drop of 11.2 percent.
· U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday praised North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a "wise" decision not to fire missiles toward the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, which has eased escalating tension between the two countries.
· Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 18 cents at $50.62 per barrel by 11:50 a.m. EDT (1550 GMT), after trading as high as $51.40. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $47.20 a barrel, down 35 cents, after rising as high as $47.99.
Oil prices fell on Wednesday even though U.S. crude stockpiles declined by the most in a year, as the government also reported that domestic crude production was edging higher.
· U.S. crude inventories dropped for a seventh consecutive week, falling 8.95 million barrels last week to 466.5 million barrels to their lowest since January 2016. Including emergency reserves, crude stocks were at 1.15 billion barrels, the lowest levels since October 2015, the Energy Information Administration said. [EIA/S]
Reference: Market Watch, Reuters
Thai
Eng