• The dollar rose against a basket of currencies on Monday as U.S. bond yields rallied on safe-haven demand stemming from a dramatic selloff on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones at one point fell more than 1,500 points.
The Institute for Supply Management’s gauge on U.S. service industries, which hit a 12-1/2-year high last month, also supported the dollar on Monday.
The dollar index .DXY was up 0.33 percent at 89.488 after gaining 0.6 percent on Friday.
• The euro EUR= fell 0.39 percent to trade at $1.2412, slightly below a three-year high of $1.2538 on the EBS trading system EUR=EBS.
The euro briefly pared losses following upbeat comments by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi before the European Parliament, but Draghi also said the current surge of the single currency might impair its outlook for price stability.
• Against the yen, the greenback slipped 0.56 percent at 109.48 yen JPY=, holding above a four-month low of 109.76 yen on Jan. 26, Reuters data showed.
• Analysts cautioned, however, that further gains in the greenback would be limited as other economies seem poised to expand more quickly than the United States. Speculation that other central banks besides the Federal Reserve may roll back stimulus will probably cap the U.S. currency’s recovery.
• Early on Monday, the U.S. benchmark 10-year Treasury note’s US10YT=RR yield touched 2.885 percent, its highest since January 2014, after a robust jobs report showed wage growth last month posted its biggest annual gain since June 2009. The monthly payrolls data spurred worries that the Fed might raise U.S. interest rates faster to counter rising wage pressure.
The 10-year yield was last at 2.764 percent, down 8.8 basis points from late on Friday.
U.S. Treasury yields fell from four-year highs on Monday after a rapid selloff in equity markets sparked demand for the low risk debt.
• Digital currency bitcoin BTC=BTSP fell more than 15 percent on Monday to a nearly three-month low amid a slew of concerns ranging from a global regulatory clampdown to a ban on using credit cards to buy bitcoin by British and U.S. banks.
On the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, bitcoin fell as low as $6,853.53 in early afternoon trading in New York. That marked a fall of more than half from a peak of almost $20,000 hit in December.
• Jerome Powell will have his hands full now that he has become chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Powell, 65, took the oath of office at 9 a.m. ET, succeeding Janet Yellen, who left the position Friday after serving a four-year term. President Donald Trump chose not to reappoint Yellen and instead turned to Powell, a former Fed governor expected mostly to continue to current Fed path.
• The U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee voted unanimously on Monday to release a Democratic rebuttal to a memo written by the panel’s Republicans that accused the FBI and the Justice Department of bias against President Donald Trump in the Russia investigation, the committee’s top Democrat said.
• Japanese Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday he was monitoring the impact that financial market moves might have on Japan’s economy.
Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting, Motegi said Japan’s economic fundamentals were solid given an improving labor market and rising wages.
• Oil prices settled lower on Monday as rising U.S. output, a weaker physical market and recent dollar strength added to the pressure from a widespread decline across equities and commodities markets.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 closed down 96 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $67.62 a barrel after hitting a session low of $66.98 a barrel.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 settled down $1.30, or 1.99 percent, at $64.15.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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