• The dollar held steady versus a basket of currencies on Friday, as investors shifted their focus to U.S. jobs data, with President Donald Trump’s nomination of Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell to be the next Fed chair coming as no surprise.
The dollar index last stood at 94.684, having pulled up from a one-week low of 94.411 set on Thursday.
Against the yen, the dollar eased 0.1 percent to 114.00 yen, trading below a 3-1/2 month high of 114.45 yen that had been set last Friday. Trading volumes were thinner than usual with Japanese markets closed for a public holiday.
• Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will depart as head of the world’s most powerful central bank after four years, during which she has put the U.S. economy on a much firmer footing and steered monetary policy away from the crisis era.
When the New York-born economist, 71, hands over the reins to her successor, Fed Governor Jerome Powell, early next year, she will do so as the first leader of a major central bank since the 2007-2009 financial crisis to have put interest rates on what, so far, has been a sustainable upward path.
• Later on Friday, the dollar could take its cues from U.S. economic data, including jobs data for October and the Institute for Supply Management’s gauge of services sector activity.
• U.S. job growth likely rebounded sharply in October after hurricane-related disruptions depressed employment in September. A strong jump could seal the case for the Fed to raise interest rates in December even as wage growth probably slowed.
• The Bank of England (BOE) raised interest rates for the first time in more than 10 years Thursday, a landmark move after borrowing costs had slumped to the lowest level on record.
Alongside Governor Mark Carney, the majority of rate-setters at the U.K.'s central bank voted in favor of hiking the benchmark rate to 0.5 percent from 0.25 percent. The bank's key rate is crucial for the economy as it is used to price all sorts of bank loans and mortgages.
Carney stressed that rates would "gently" rise as inflation eases in the foreseeable future. The central bank expects the inflation rate to have peaked at 3.2 percent in October — and will be at 3 percent for the year as a whole. The bank had previously said that inflation would be 2.8 percent for 2017.
Meantime, the BOE said Thursday it now forecast Britain's economy would grow by 1.6 percent in 2018 and by 1.7 percent the year after, unchanged from projections it made in August and in line with a new, slower, sustainable rate.
• Oil markets rose on Friday, supported by OPEC-led supply cuts which are tightening the market as well as by strong demand, but analysts cautioned that the cuts would need to be extended to counter rising U.S. output.
Brent futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $60.86 per barrel at 0524 GMT, up 24 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last close. Brent has risen by37 percent since its low in 2017 reached last June.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $54.83 a barrel, up 29 cents, or 0.5 percent, from the last close. WTI is 30 percent above its 2017-low in Ju
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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