• The euro hopped to a one-week high on Tuesday as investors added positions on hawkish overnight comments by a policymaker that reaffirmed bets the euro zone economy’s outlook remains robust.
But on Tuesday, it bounced nearly 0.4 percent to $1.1789, its highest since Oct. 2, after overnight comments from Sabine Lautenschlaeger, a member of the European Central Bank executive board, calling for the ECB to roll back asset purchases in 2018.
The dollar ran into some profit taking on Tuesday with the currency dropping a fifth of a percent against a trade-weighted basket of its rivals.
The index was last at 93.47, down 0.2 percent on the day but still in reach of a 10-week high of 94.267 scaled on Friday when surprisingly stronger U.S. September wages data enhanced already high expectations that the Fed would hike rates for a third time in 2017.
• With a businessman turned politician now in the Oval Office, a small but growing number of bankers and Wall Street financiers across the United States have set their sights on politics.
• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promoted his younger sister to a top political post, according to state media, prompting an air of intrigue about the new Kim in Pyongyang.
Faced with international sanctions and the potential threat of armed confrontation with the U.S., the dictator consolidated his political power at a key meeting of the country's ruling party over the weekend.
• About six in 10 people want Prime Minister Theresa May to remain in her position until the Brexit process is completed, an ORB poll for the Telegraph showed on Monday.
The poll, carried out the weekend following May’s speech to the Conservative Party’s annual conference, found that 57 percent of voters agreed that the prime minister should stay on at least until Brexit negotiations are completed in March 2019.
• German trade activity picked up in August as exports outpaced imports, widening the surplus and adding to evidence that Europe’s biggest economy performed strongly in the third quarter.
Seasonally adjusted exports rose by 3.1 percent on the month while imports were 1.2 percent up, data published on Tuesday showed.
It was the strongest export growth reading in 12 months, easing concerns that a stronger euro might dent sales of German goods and services abroad.
• The European Central Bank must involve the European Parliament in the decision-making process about new guidelines for bank bad loans, the head of the parliament told ECB President Mario Draghi in a letter published by the Italian press on Tuesday.
• Oil prices edged up on Tuesday as OPEC said there were clear signs the market was rebalancing and as U.S. production remained offline following Hurricane Nate.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were trading at $49.65 per barrel at 0648 GMT, up 7 cents, or 0.1 percent, from their last close.
Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were up 12 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $55.91 a barrel.
Reference: Reuters
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