· The U.S. dollar gained slightly on Monday as investors repositioned after disappointing inflation data on Friday sent the greenback to its lowest levels in more than two weeks, and with no major U.S. releases on Monday to sway direction.
The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies rose 0.22 percent to 93.287. It fell to 92.75 on Friday immediately after the consumer price data, the lowest since Sept. 26. The euro EUR= slumped 0.25 percent to $1.1792.
· The euro weakened after the Austrian election put conservative Sebastian Kurz on track to become the next leader. He is seen as likely to seek a coalition with the resurgent far right because his party is far short of a majority.
· The dollar held to gains against the yen and euro on Tuesday, supported by a rise in Treasury yields following a report that U.S. President Donald Trump was favoring a policy hawk as the next head of the Federal Reserve.
The greenback was 0.05 percent higher at 112.240 yen JPY= after rising 0.3 percent overnight, when it pulled away from a three-week low of 111.650.
· Treasury yields bounced from two-week lows and rose on Monday after a report that President Trump was favoring Stanford economist John Taylor, seen as more hawkish than current Chair Janet Yellen, to head the Fed.
· U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Thursday as part of his search for a new candidate for her position, a source familiar with the planned meeting said.
Trump is working from a short list that also includes Jerome Powell, a Fed governor; Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor; Trump’s top economic adviser Gary Cohn; and Yellen, whose term expires in February, sources have said.
· U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday declared Obamacare “dead” and “gone,” but urged Republicans and Democrats in Congress to craft a short-term fix of healthcare markets under the 7-year-old law that critics say he has effectively sabotaged.
Crude prices rose 1 percent on Monday as Iraqi forces entered the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, seizing territory from Kurdish fighters and briefly cutting some crude output from OPEC’s second-largest producer.
· Iraqi Kurdistan briefly shut down some 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) of production from the major Bai Hassan and Avana oilfields due to security concerns.
· Iraq launched the operation on Sunday as the crisis between Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) escalated. The KRG voted for independence in a Sept. 25 referendum.
· Brent crude futures LCOc1 settled up 65 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $57.82 per barrel while U.S. crude ended 42 cents, or 0.8 percent, higher at $51.87 per barrel.
· Confidence among Japanese manufacturers rebounded in October to match a peak last seen in mid-2007, a Reuters poll found, further evidence that the economic recovery is gathering momentum helped by a weak yen and strong overseas demand.
Reference: Reuters
Thai
Eng