• The dollar was little changed at 112.625 yen JPY= after losing 0.9 percent overnight.
The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was steady at 93.425 .DXY after sliding about 0.7 percent on Wednesday to pull away from a one-month top of 94.219 set on Tuesday.
The euro was flat at $1.1825 EUR= following gains of 0.7 percent the previous day.
• The European Central Bank is likely to bump up some of its economic forecasts on Thursday and may debate tweaking its pledge to keep money at its current, ultra-easy level, but will ultimately reaffirm is policy stance.
The key number to watch will be the ECB’s initial forecast for 2020 inflation to see whether rising oil prices push the inflation path higher and how far it is from the bank’s target of close-to-but-below 2 percent.
Analysts see the figure in the 1.7-1.8 percent range and while the target is intentionally vague, Draghi has said that 1.7 percent is considered a miss so any figure at the bottom of expectations would make it difficult to argue for an exit.
• Congressional Republicans reached a deal on final tax legislation on Wednesday, clearing the way for final votes next week on a package that would slash the U.S. corporate tax rate to 21 percent and cut taxes for wealthy Americans.
Under an agreement between the House of Representatives and the Senate, the corporate tax would be 1 percentage point higher than the 20 percent rate earlier proposed, but still far below the current headline rate of 35 percent, a deep tax reduction that corporations have sought for years.
As they finalized the biggest tax overhaul in 30 years, Republicans wavered for weeks on whether to slash the top income tax rate for the wealthy. In the end, they agreed to cut it to 37 percent from the current 39.6 percent.
• China’s central bank nudged money market interest rates upward on Thursday just hours after the Federal Reserve raised the U.S. benchmark, as Beijing seeks to prevent destabilising capital outflows without hurting economic growth.
Economists were surprised by the move but said at just five basis points, the increases were small and more symbolic than substantive.
On Thursday, the central bank raised the 7-day reverse repo rate, a liquidity management tool, to 2.5 per cent, while the 28-day reverse repo rate was increased to 2.75 per cent, according to an online statement released by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). It is the first hike of its kind since March, when the Chinese central bank responded to a similar move across the Pacific.
• Japan’s ruling bloc approved a plan on Thursday to slash the corporate tax rate to around 20 percent from 30 percent - but only for companies that raise wages aggressively and boost domestic capital spending.
• Oil markets rose on Thursday, lifted by a fourth straight weekly fall in U.S. crude inventories, though climbing output capped prices well below the 2015 highs reached earlier this week
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $56.74 a barrel at 0711 GMT, up 14 cents, or 0.25 percent from their last settlement.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $62.77 a barrel, up 33 cents, or 0.5 percent from their last close.
Reference: Reuters, South China Morning Post
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