MTS Help Center

• The dollar gained on Friday after a brief dip as investors reckoned a weaker-than-expected U.S. December non-farm payrolls report would not deter the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates multiple times this year.

The dollar index last .DXY rose 0.18 percent. The index briefly dipped following the release of the jobs report, but recovered shortly afterward.

The euro EUR= was down 0.31 percent to $1.203. The Japanese yen weakened 0.31 percent at 113.10 per dollar.

• U.S. Treasury yields rose on Friday and the two-year yield held near a more than nine-year peak. Investors stuck to their view that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates multiple times this year despite a weaker-than-forecast December non-farms payroll report.

Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last fell 7/32 in price to yield 2.4763 percent, from 2.453 percent late on Thursday.

The 30-year bond US30YT=RR last fell 14/32 in price to yield 2.8074 percent, from 2.786 percent late on Thursday.

• Fed funds futures have priced in a more than 60 percent chance the U.S. central bank will hike interest rates in March, according to CME’s Fedwatch.

• The New York Federal Reserve on Friday raised its view of U.S. gross domestic product growth near 4 percent for the fourth quarter on stronger-than-expected data on manufacturing activity and factory orders released this week.

The regional central bank’s “Nowcast” model calculated the U.S. economy was expanding at an annualized pace of 3.97 percent in the fourth quarter, faster than the 3.87 percent rate calculated a week ago.

The New York Fed said its latest tracking estimate on GDP growth for the first three months of 2018 showed a 3.45 percent growth rate, quicker than the 3.15 percent from a week earlier.

• Pressure is building within the Federal Reserve for incoming Chairman Jerome Powell to consider a new strategy for raising U.S. inflation after more than five years of weakness that has baffled the central bank.

• The Federal Reserve should raise interest rates three times this year given the already strong economy will get a boost from tax cuts, and can tighten more or less aggressively if needed, a key U.S. rate-setter said on Saturday.

In an interview, San Francisco Fed President John Williams painted a benign picture of the world’s largest economy operating at or near its full capacity over the next few years.

While his colleagues at the U.S. central bank see unemployment dipping only slightly from 4.1 percent currently, Williams predicted it would fall to 3.7 percent this year without any risk of a worrisome jump in inflation.

• The U.S. economic expansion is firm and inflation, while low, should rebound in coming years, so the time is right for the Federal Reserve to study alternatives to its policy approach, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, a top Fed official said on Friday.

• On Friday, Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said he thinks the central bank will only raise interest rates twice this year, one fewer than the central bank’s median forecast of three moves.

• U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican congressional leaders said after talks on Saturday that they would make an election-year push this year for an immigration overhaul and infrastructure spending but that welfare reform may have to wait for later.

• U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would “absolutely” be willing to talk on the phone to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and that he hopes a positive development results from talks between North Korea and South Korea.

• A United Nations Security Council meeting on Friday to discuss recent protests in Iran turned into criticism of the United States for requesting to meet on what some member states said was an internal issue for Tehran.

• North Korea agreed on Friday to hold official talks with South Korea next week, the first in more than two years, hours after Washington and Seoul delayed a military exercise amid a standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told U.S. media it was too early to tell if the inter-Korea meeting could open the way for future talks involving the United States, but he stressed that if such talks came about they would have to be aimed at North Korean denuclearization.

South Korea said North Korea had sent its consent for the talks to be held next Tuesday at the border truce village of Panmunjom. The last time the two Koreas engaged in official talks was in December 2015.

• The European Central Bank should set a date to end its asset-buying program, the head of Germany’s Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, told Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

The prospects for the evolution of prices correspond to a return of inflation to a level sufficient to maintain the stability of prices.

• Inflation in the euro zone slowed as expected in December, vindicating the European Central Bank’s decision to keep its policy easy despite growing pressure from Germany and other richer euro zone countries.

Prices in the euro zone grew by just 1.4 percent year on year last month, or 10 basis points slower than in the previous month due to smaller increases in food and energy prices. Once those components are stripped out, so called “core” inflation was stable at 1.1 percent.

• China’s foreign exchange reserves rose to their highest in more than a year in December, blowing past economists’ estimates, as tight regulations and a strong yuan continued to discourage capital outflows, central bank data showed on Sunday.

Notching up their 11th straight month of gains, reserves rose $20.2 billion in December to $3.14 trillion, the highest since September 2016 and the biggest monthly increase since July. That compares with an increase of $10 billion in November.

• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday called on central bank governor Haruhiko Kuroda to keep up efforts to reflate the economy, but added he was undecided on whether to reappoint Kuroda for another five-year term.

• Oil prices fell on Friday, dropping from highs last seen in 2015, as soaring U.S. production undermined a 10 percent rally from December lows that was driven by tightening supply and political tensions in OPEC member Iran.

West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 futures fell 57 cents to settle at $61.44 a barrel. WTI hit $62.21 the previous day, which was its strongest price since May 2015.

Brent crude LCOc1 futures for March delivery fell 45 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $67.62 a barrel. The previous day it touched $68.27, also the highest price since May 2015.

Reference: Reuters