· North Korea fired a missile on Friday that flew over Japan’s northern Hokkaido far out into the Pacific Ocean, South Korean and Japanese officials said, further ratcheting up tensions after Pyongyang’s recent test of a powerful nuclear bomb.
The missile was launched from the communist dictatorship's capital of Pyongyang at about 6:57 a.m. local time Friday headed east, reports said. The projectile passed over Japan before landing in the sea at roughly 7:16a.m., roughly 2,000 kilometers (about 1,240 miles) east of Japan's Cape Erimo, according to reports.
· South Korea conducted its own missile exercise as Pyongyang fired its missile, taking into account the distance to North Korea's firing site, according to NBC News.
· The United Nations Security Council will meet at 3 p.m. ET on Friday to discuss missile test, diplomats said, at the request of the United States and Japan.
· Top U.S. officials have repeatedly said they do not want to take military action against North Korea. But Trump has left the door open to the possible use of force.
· The U.S. dollar initially dropped against the safe-haven yen and Swiss franc following the reports, before recovering some of those losses.
The dollar fell to as low as 109.55 yen JPY= in early Asian trade, but later came off that low and was last trading at 110.05 yen, down 0.2 percent from late U.S. trade on Thursday.
Against another safe haven, the Swiss franc, the dollar slipped 0.2 percent to 0.9621 franc CHF=.
· The outbreak of military conflict on the Korean Peninsula would be destabilizing and could possibly result in a global war, according to Citi's top global political analyst.
While it was impossible to put a number on the scale of the North Korea risk, war games carried out through history have simulated what could happen as a result, said Tina Fordham, managing director and chief global analyst at Citi.
· Markets digested better-than-expected U.S. August consumer prices released on Thursday. The consumer price index rose 0.4 percent in August, a touch above the 0.3 percent increased forecast by economists in a Reuters poll. Some investors speculated that the beat could potentially influence the U.S. Federal Reserve to hike interest rates once more this year.
· U.S. interest rates futures added to earlier losses on Thursday as domestic consumer prices grew 0.4 percent in August, faster than forecast, causing some traders to rebuild bets the Federal Reserve would raise rates at its Dec. 12-13 meeting.
Federal funds futures implied traders saw about a 52 percent chance the U.S. central bank would raise the target range on key short-term borrowing costs by a quarter point to 1.00-1.25 percent in December, up from 42 percent prior to the latest reading on the consumer price index, according to CME Group’s FedWatch program.
· The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, but the data was impacted by hurricanes Harvey and Irma, making it difficult to get a clear pulse of the labor market.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 284,000 for the week ended Sept. 9, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
· The Bank of England was also on the radar after it kept interest rates on hold at 0.25 percent, but noted that a withdrawal of monetary stimulus could be required "over the coming months." The pound traded as high as $1.3406 following the news compared to the $1.32 handle seen before.
· The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a $1.2 trillion bill to fund most government activities in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, knowing the Senate will disagree with many controversial elements and force a negotiation that could stretch into December.
The bill, passed by a 211-198 vote largely along party lines in the Republican-controlled House, provides $658.1 billion for the Department of Defense and $44.3 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, including roughly $1.6 billion for construction of physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexican border.
· Oil prices rose on Thursday, with Brent briefly touching a five-month high, a day after the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast the market would continue to tighten as fuel demand increased.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures were up 56 cents, or 1 percent, at $55.72 a barrel by 12:16 p.m. EDT (1616 GMT). The session high for the global benchmark was $55.99, its highest since April 13. The contract remained in technically overbought territory for a second day in a row.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate CLc1, meanwhile, was up 84 cents, or 1.7 percent, at $50.14 per barrel, its first time over $50 since August. WTI touched $50.50, its highest since May 25, and surpassed its 200-day moving average.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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