• The United States for the time being will stay in an international nuclear deal with Iran, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said on Sunday, adding that the Trump administration wanted to weigh a "proportionate" response to Tehran's actions on the world stage.
"I think right now, you're going to see us stay in the deal, because what our hope is that we can improve the situation, and that's the goal," Haley said referring to what she said were Iran's ballistic missile tests, international arms sales and state-sponsored terrorism.
• Forcing the Federal Reserve to hew to a specific rule for setting monetary policy, as proposed in legislation considered by the U.S. Congress, could lead to "large policy mistakes," a U.S. central banker argued on Friday.
Opening a two-day conference that features Stanford professor John Taylor, author of one of the best-known monetary policy rules, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren acknowledged that it is essential for policymakers like himself to look to policy rules for guidance.
• Catalonia has once again failed to give clarity on whether the region is officially declaring independence, putting the ball back into the court of the Spanish government.
The letter reiterated an offer by Puigdemont to meet Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as soon as possible to discuss the situation in Catalonia, and asked that dialogue take place over the next two months, Reuters reported.
• China’s producer price inflation unexpectedly accelerated to a six-month high in September as a construction boom shows no signs of abating and a government crackdown on air pollution triggers fears of winter shortages and frenzied jumps in commodity prices.
• China’s economy is expected to grow 7 percent in the second half of this year, the country’s central bank governor said, defying economists’ expectations for a slowdown.
The producer price index (PPI) rose 6.9 percent in September from a year earlier, from 6.3 percent in August, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.
• Asia is set to ramp up crude oil imports from the United States in late 2017 and early next year, with buyers searching out cheap supplies after hurricanes hit U.S. demand for the commodity at a time of rising production in the country.
• Oil markets jumped on Monday on concerns over potential renewed U.S. sanctions against Iran as well as conflict in Iraq, while an explosion at a U.S. oil rig and reduced exploration activity supported prices there.
International Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $57.82 at 0645 GMT, up 65 cents, or 1.1 percent, from the previous close.
An explosion overnight at an oil rig in Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain drew market attention, with at least six people injured.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $51.89 per barrel, up 44 cents, or 0.9 percent.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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