· The U.S. dollar on Tuesday clung to the previous day’s gains, supported by a bounce in Treasury yields and ahead of U.S. inflation data that could influence the timing of the next Federal Reserve interest rate increase.
The greenback also found support as investors further unwound bearish bets against it. The dollar index, which tracks the currency against a basket of six major rivals, was little changed at 91.892, after rising as high as 92.08.
The dollar was up 0.1 percent at 110.270 yen JPY= and at its highest in almost two weeks. The greenback had slumped to a 10-month low of 107.320 yen on Friday.
The euro was steady at $1.1967 EUR= after edging up 0.1 percent overnight.
· U.S. job openings rose to a record high in July, suggesting a slowdown in job growth in August was an aberration and that the labor market was strong before the recent disruptive hurricanes.
Job openings, a measure of labor demand, increased by 54,000 to a seasonally adjusted 6.2 million. That was the highest level since the data series started in December 2000. Job openings have now been above 6 million for two straight months.
Hiring increased 69,000 to 5.5 million in July, lifting the hiring rate to a near 1-1/2-year high of 3.8 percent from 3.7 percent in June.
· U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the U.N. sanctions on North Korea agreed this week were a small step and nothing compared to what would have to happen to deal with the country’s nuclear program.
· U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned China, North Korea’s main ally and trading partner, that if it did not follow through on the new measures, Washington would “put additional sanctions on them and prevent them from accessing the U.S. and international dollar system.”
· Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell voiced doubt on Tuesday that the U.S. debt ceiling would be eliminated permanently, an idea floated by Democrats and embraced by Republican President Donald Trump last week.
“As far as the debt ceiling is concerned, we will not be revisiting the debt ceiling until some time next year,” McConnell told reporters. “And getting Congress to give up a tool like that would probably be quite a challenging undertaking.”
Congress must periodically raise the debt limit to keep the U.S. government borrowing and operating. Lawmakers sometimes take advantage of that need to push through policy or spending changes.
· The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump to broadly implement a ban on refugees entering the country from around the world.
· Industry-wide retail sales in August and September will fall in the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, with apparel retailers such as Gap Inc (GPS.N) expected to take a longer-term hit than restaurant operators including Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O).
· Investors’ expectations for future U.S. interest rates are too low and could become a source of volatility in bond markets, the chief economist for Fitch Ratings said on Tuesday.
While Fed funds futures prices show investors are anticipating U.S. interest rates will stay low for the foreseeable future, Brian Coulton, Fitch’s chief economist, is expecting the Federal Reserve to raise rates to 3.5 percent by 2020.
· Britain said on Tuesday the next Brexit talks had been postponed until Sept. 25 to give “negotiators the flexibility to make progress in the September round”.
Earlier, Brussels diplomats told Reuters a new round of talks between Britain and the European Union had been delayed until the end of the month to let Prime Minister Theresa May make a key speech on Sept. 21.
· Oil prices rose on Tuesday after OPEC forecast higher demand in 2018 and Russia and Venezuela confirmed their commitment to a production-cutting deal to reduce the global crude glut.
Brent crude LCOc1 settled up 43 cents or 0.8 percent to $54.27 per barrel. Its session low was $53.42.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 was up 16 cents or 0.3 percent to $48.23 a barrel. It hit a session low of $47.73.
Reference: Reuters
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