• The dollar clung above a five-month low against the yen on Wednesday, its slide halted as a recovery in broader risk sentiment remained intact for the time being.
Recent swings in risk sentiment have been a key driver of currencies and investors now await U.S. January inflation data due at 1330 GMT, with the indicator seen either upsetting the equity market’s fragile recovery or clearing the way for additional gains.
The U.S. currency was flat at 107.820 yen JPY= after dropping to as low as 107.400 overnight, when a slide in Japanese shares increased demand for the yen which is often sought in times of market turmoil.
The dollar index against a group of six major currencies .DXY stood little changed at 89.728 after dropping nearly 0.6 percent overnight.
The euro was steady at $1.2352 EUR= following gains of 0.4 percent the previous day.
• U.S. President Donald Trump urged congressional Democrats on Tuesday to make a deal to modernize the country’s infrastructure after his plan received critical reviews as lacking enough federal funding, but said he was open to changes.
• U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was considering a range of options to address steel and aluminum imports that he said were unfairly hurting U.S. producers, including tariffs and quotas.
Trump’s comments - his strongest signal in months that he will take at least some action to restrict imports of the two metals - came in a meeting with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators and representatives at the White House. Reporters were present for part of the meeting.
• Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, at a ceremonial swearing-in as head of the central bank, said on Tuesday the Fed would keep watching for financial stability risks and preserve “essential” improvements in financial regulation since the 2007-2009 crisis.
He did not explicitly speak about those issues in his prepared remarks or mention the monetary policy outlook for monetary policy.
• The recent stock market sell-off and jump in volatility will not damage the economy’s overall strong prospects, Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester said on Tuesday in warning against any overreaction to the turbulence in financial markets.
• The White House has spoken with Loretta Mester, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, about the vice chair opening at the Federal Reserve Board, a person familiar with the process said on Tuesday.
The source said the team considering nominees for the opening was impressed with Mester, but said there was no front-runner for the position at this point, and declined to confirm names of other candidates under consideration.
A Cleveland Fed spokesman declined to comment on the matter to Reuters. The consideration of Mester for the job was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
• British inflation unexpectedly held close to its highest level in nearly six years in January, highlighting the challenge facing the Bank of England and reinforcing expectations of a rise in interest rates in May.
Consumer price inflation held at an annual rate of 3.0 percent in January, unchanged from December, after hitting its highest since March 2012 in November at 3.1 percent, the Office for National Statistics said.
Markets priced in as much as a 70 percent chance of a quarter-point rise in interest rates by May, and a roughly 50 percent chance of a further increase in rates to one percent by the end of the year - a level last seen in 2009.
• Robust consumer spending drove Japan’s economy to eight straight quarters of growth in October-December, its longest continuous expansion since the 1980s bubble economy, and evidence that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s campaign to restore growth after decades of stagnation is bearing fruit.
The economy expanded at a 0.5 percent annualized rate in October-December, less than the median estimate for annualized growth of 0.9 percent, Cabinet Office data showed on Wednesday. That followed a revised 2.2 percent annualized increase in July-September.
• Oil prices ended largely unchanged on Tuesday as a weaker dollar spurred a rebound from an early slide after the International Energy Agency forecast supply could outstrip demand.
Brent futures LCOc1 hit a two-month low early in the day’s session, but the benchmark settled at $62.72 a barrel, up 13 cents or 0.2 percent. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 closed 10 cents, or 0.2 percent, lower at $59.19a barrel.
Reference: Reuters
Thai
Eng