• The U.S. dollar retraced most of its early weakness on Monday before the Federal Reserve is expected to hike rates on Wednesday, though concerns about tepid inflation were seen weighing on the greenback.
When the U.S. central bank concludes its two-day December policy meeting, investors will be watching for concern about low inflation from Fed officials and any indications that this may make further rate hikes next year less likely.
Tepid wage growth in Friday’s jobs report for November added to concerns that inflation will remain benign and complicate the Fed’s ability to execute further rate hikes.
The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was last down 0.09 percent at 93.82, after earlier falling as low as 93.666.
• U.S. job growth increased at a strong clip in November, painting a portrait of a healthy economy that analysts say does not require the kind of fiscal stimulus that President Donald Trump is proposing, even though wage gains remain moderate.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 228,000 jobs last month amid broad gains in hiring as the distortions from the recent hurricanes faded, Labor Department data showed on Friday. The government revised data for October to show the economy adding 244,000 jobs instead of the previously reported 261,000 positions.
Average hourly earnings rose five cents or 0.2 percent in November after dipping 0.1 percent the prior month. That lifted the annual increase in wages to 2.5 percent from 2.3 percent in October. Workers also put in more hours last month.
The unemployment rate was unchanged at a 17-year low of 4.1 percent amid a rise in the labor force. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls rising by 200,000 jobs last month.
• The price of bitcoin has pushed back above $17,000, hitting a new all-time high on CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index (BPI).
As of press time, the BPI had climbed as high as $17,382.64, beating the $17,364.56 reported previously on Dec. 7. As previously reported, that day saw significant price divergences among exchanges, leading to spreads in excess of $1,000 between the world's various marketplaces for bitcoin.
Newly launched bitcoin futures on Monday suggested that traders expect the cryptocurrency’s blistering price gains to slow in the coming months, even as it blasted above $17,000 to a fresh record high in the spot market.
The one-month bitcoin contract <0#XBT:> opened at 6 p.m. local time (2300 GMT) on Sunday at $15,460. By late afternoon on Monday in New York, it was trading at $18,650, roughly 8 percent above bitcoin's spot price of $16,900 on the Bitstamp exchange BTC=BTSP.
• The European Union will resume political contact “at all levels” with Thailand, its foreign affairs council said on Monday, after putting relations on hold following a 2014 coup by the Thai military.
The move comes after Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha announced in October that a general election would take place in November2018 - the most precise date the junta has given after many delays since the 2014 coup.
• A Bangladeshi man set off a homemade pipe bomb strapped to his body in a crowded New York City commuter hub during the morning rush hour on Monday, officials said, immediately calling it an attempted terrorist attack.
The blast, which occurred around 7 a.m. (1200 GMT) in a busy underground passageway between the subway station underneath the Port Authority Bus Terminal and the Times Square subway station, sent commuters fleeing for the exits and police officers rushing to the scene, as officials scrambled to reroute trains and shut down streets.
Three people, including a police officer, suffered minor injuries.
• Oil prices rose on Monday, overcoming declines early in the session, after a North Sea pipeline shut for repairs and investors focused on commodities following an explosion in New York.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 settled up $1.29, or about 2 percent, at $64.69 a barrel.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 settled at $57.99 a barrel, 63 cents or 1 percent above their last settlement.
Reference: Reuters
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