• The dollar touched its highest against a basket of major currencies in nearly a week on Monday as the euro weakened on political risks linked to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s failure to form a three-way coalition government.
The dollar index .DXY rose to 94.104, its highest since Nov. 14.
The greenback also climbed against the Japanese yen JPY=, rising to a session high of 112.72 yen, climbing with U.S. stocks as traders took risk-on positions.
The euro EUR= fell to $1.1720 following news of the failure to form a coalition German government.
• U.S. Treasury yields rose on Monday as investors awaited minutes on Wednesday from the Fed’s last meeting, with no major economic releases due this week and trading expected to be subdued before the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.
Benchmark 10-year notes fell 5/32 in price to yield 2.37 percent, up from 2.35 percent on Friday.
• Interest rate futures traders are pricing in a 92 percent chance of a December rate hike, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
• Eurozone workers will have to wait to feel the benefit of the region’s recovery on their pay packets, according to European Central Bank president Mario Draghi.
Mr Draghi told lawmakers in Brussels on Monday that many of those who suffered painful job losses during the crisis years were now finding work: At 8.9 per cent, eurozone unemployment is at its lowest level since January 2009.
But many of those who are in work would like to work longer hours and some people who were in the labour market have become discouraged and stopped seeking work. Because of this, Mr Draghi said the improvements in the jobs market would “still need time to translate into more dynamic wage growth.”
Mario Draghi said falling unemployment will eventually spur inflation in the euro region, even if there’s little sign of that just yet.
• The European Central Bank president has been frustrated by how little workers have managed to increase their pay, perhaps because they’re basing demands on the low inflation of the past few years or because they are more concerned about job security. Draghi on Monday argued many of the factors holding workers back are “transitory,” but that subdued inflation pressures highlight a need for further monetary support.
• Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Monday she will resign her seat on the Fed’s Board of Governors once Jerome Powell is confirmed and sworn in to replace her as head of the U.S. central bank.
Powell, also on the seven-member Fed board, must be confirmed by the Senate before assuming his new job. He will have a confirmation hearing next week before the Senate Banking Committee, but no vote on his nomination has been scheduled.
It is expected that Powell will be in place when Yellen’s four-year term as Fed chief ends in February.
• Americans’ access to credit improved while their perceived vulnerability to a financial shock declined, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey that painted a slightly more optimistic picture of U.S. households.
• President Donald Trump put North Korea back on a list of state sponsors of terrorism on Monday, a designation that allows the United States to impose more sanctions and risks inflaming tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile programmes.
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that she would prefer new elections to leading a minority government after talks about forming a three-way coalition collapsed overnight.
• Prime Minister Theresa May met with senior members of her ministerial team on Monday to discuss their response to European Union demands for more detail on how much Britain is willing to pay as part of its Brexit divorce package.
The EU told May on Friday that there was more work to be done to unlock the Brexit talks, repeating its early December deadline for her to flesh out Britain’s opening offer on the financial settlement -- thought to be worth around 20 billion euros (£17.72 billion).
• Bitcoin hit a new record high on Monday after smashing through the $8,000 (£6,043.6) level for the first time over the weekend, marking an almost 50 percent climb in just eight days.
The new high came after leading U.S. payments company Square Inc said late last week that it had started allowing select customers to buy and sell bitcoins on its Cash app.
Bitcoin traded as high as $8,197.81 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, up over 2 percent on the day and around 48 percent up since dipping to $5,555 on Nov. 12.
• Oil prices slipped on Monday, extending recent weakness ahead of an OPEC meeting next week, while a rally in the dollar negatively affected commodities across the board.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 84 cents at $61.86, or 1.4 percent, by 11:37 a.m. EST (1637 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 70 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $55.85 a barrel. Oil has been under pressure for the last two weeks since peaking in early November; U.S. crude has lost 2.6 percent.
Reference: Reuters, Bloomberg
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