• The dollar stumbled against a basket of currencies on Monday, giving up some recent gains, as uncertainties related to proposed U.S. tax revisions and the future composition of the Federal Open Market Committee discouraged traders from bidding the greenback higher.
The dollar index .DXY, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, was down 0.19 percent at 94.764. The index has risen nearly 3 percent since mid-September.
The dollar was 0.31 percent lower against the Japanese yen, and the euro was down 0.03 percent against the greenback.
Uncertainty around the proposed U.S. tax reform and lack of clarity on what the FOMC is going to look like going forward, are among the reasons keeping investors from turning more bullish on the dollar.
• The Federal Reserve Bank of New York confirmed on Monday that William Dudley, among the most influential monetary policymakers throughout the financial crisis and its aftermath, expects to retire by mid-2018, raising another question over leadership at the U.S. central bank less than a week after President Donald Trump chose a new Fed chief.
Dudley, 64, one of the central bank’s strongest advocates of unprecedented monetary stimulus in the last decade and a steady hand on its delicate market operations, will step down before his term as president officially ends in January 2019.
The New York Fed’s board said its search committee had already begun its work, and aims to name a successor by the middle of next year.
• Republican lawmakers on Monday began revising their proposed overhaul of the U.S. tax code, as Democrats pointed to the loss of popular deductions as proof the legislation was an assault on the middle class.
• The head of a U.S. government agency created to monitor financial markets after the 2007-2009 financial crisis will resign from the post at the end of this year.
Richard Berner, director of the Office of Financial Research (OFR), will be leaving that agency on Dec. 31, the Treasury Department announced on Monday. Berner helped create the agency as a Treasury official under President Barack Obama, and has led it since its creation in 2013.
The Treasury did not say who would replace Berner, but his exit gives President Donald Trump another opportunity to shift government watchdogs in a more industry-friendly direction.
• President Donald Trump is unlikely to change China's stance on North Korea when he visits Beijing this week, but he could well make some headway on trade deals between the two countries.
On the economy, Trump is expected to focus on the trade imbalance. After July's Comprehensive Economic Dialogue (an annual economic dialogue session in Washington), both countries expressed their interest in narrowing the U.S.'s trade deficit with China.
• The New Zealand government launched a review of its central bank act on Tuesday, making good on an election promise to include maximizing employment as a goal and instituting a committee-based decision-making model.
• Oil prices rose 3.5 percent on Monday, hitting the highest since early July 2015, as Saudi Arabia’s crown prince cemented his power with an anti-corruption crackdown, while the U.S. rig count fell and markets continued to tighten.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 settled up $2.20, or 3.5 percent, to $64.27 per barrel.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 rose $1.71, or 3 percent, to $57.35 a barrel.
Both benchmarks were at their highest since early July 2015.
Reference: Reuters
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