• MTS Economic News_20180213

    13 Feb 2018 | Economic News

• The euro edged higher on Monday and the dollar fell back, as a strong start to the week for equity markets ended a rally for the greenback.

The euro EUR= was up 0.1 percent at $1.2270 after earlier hitting a day's high of $1.2298. The euro suffered its worst week since November 2016 last week and remains almost three cents off its three year high of $1.2538 hit in January.

The dollar .DXY was down 0.2 percent against a basket of currencies, erasing some of the gains last week.

One of the most popular trades of the year has been to buy euros, betting that the European Central Bank would tighten monetary policy faster than expected.

• President Donald Trump unveiled a long-awaited infrastructure plan on Monday designed to encourage spending on improvements by states, localities and private investors, but it faces an uphill battle in Congress and he made remarks that called into question how hard he will fight for it.

Trump asked Congress, controlled by his fellow Republicans, to authorize $200 billion over 10 years to spur a projected $1.5 trillion in road, bridge and other projects to rebuild what he called “America’s crumbling infrastructure.”

The proposal came under immediate fire from Democrats who said it would put a huge burden on local governments without providing enough federal dollars, and administration officials acknowledged that it faces a tough road ahead.

If the proposal comes to fruition, many Americans could face higher local taxes, fees and tolls imposed by states to pay for new repairs in order to get federal matching funds.

• U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Tuesday to discuss trade matters, as he ponders whether to takes steps to limit steel and aluminum imports seen as damaging to U.S. businesses.

• U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would push for a “reciprocal tax” against countries, including U.S. allies, that levy tariffs on American products, but officials did not provide details on how such a tax would be structured or what goods it would apply to.

• U.S. President Donald Trump gave Congress a wish list for funding cuts to domestic programs in his latest budget on Monday, calling on lawmakers to avoid spending all the money agreed to in a budget deal that was approved last week.

The deal allowed the Trump administration to spend $131 billion more on non-defense programs than originally planned, but the White House asked Congress to slice $57 billion from that total.

• Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Tuesday the next governor of the Bank of Japan would need English skills to deal with global financial issues.

• Crude markets began to steady Monday, settling little changed on the day as global equities began to recoup some losses from their biggest one-week decline in two years.

Brent crude LCOc1 futures slipped 20 cents, or 0.3 percent, to settle at $62.59. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 rose 9 cents to settle at $59.29 a barrel, up 0.2 percent but off the session high of $60.83.


Reference: Reuters

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