• The dollar edged up against the yen and other currencies on Friday, trimming earlier losses, as global investors gingerly dipped their toes back into riskier assets amid rapidly shifting views on U.S. monetary policy.
The dollar edged up 0.1 percent to 106.850 yen.
It had dropped nearly 1 percent overnight as U.S. Treasury yields retreated from four-year peaks.
The market focus was on whether equities could extend their gains should U.S. yields resume rising.
Benchmark Treasury 10-year note yields rose to a four-year high of 2.957 percent on Wednesday before dropping to as low as 2.904 percent on Thursday. It last yielded 2.928 percent.
The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies rose 0.2 percent to 89.865.
The index had reached a 10-day high of 90.235 on Thursday, from a three-year trough of 88.253 late last week, before its rally lost a bit of steam. It was on still on track to gain 0.9 percent on the week.
The euro slipped 0.2 percent to $1.2306 after gaining 0.4 percent the previous day. The common currency has lost 0.9 percent so far this week, following its ascent to a three-year top of $1.2556 on Feb. 16.
• The U.S. Defense Department has voiced support for the Trump administration’s bid to impose national security restrictions on imports of steel and aluminium, although it would prefer a system of targeted tariffs and a delay for import curbs on aluminium.
• The Trump administration plans to announce on Friday what is being billed as the largest package of sanctions yet against North Korea to increase pressure on Pyongyang for its nuclear and ballistic missile tests, a senior administration official said.
• The special counsel in the Russia probe filed new criminal charges on Thursday against President Donald Trump’s former campaign aides Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, stepping up pressure in a legal battle that started last year.
Manafort and Gates already face criminal charges by Mueller’s office in federal court in Washington, D.C., that include conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to defraud the United States and failure to register as foreign agents for political work they did for a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party.
• Foreign trade drove a 0.6 percent expansion in Europe’s largest economy between October and December, German data showed on Friday, and the momentum from the fourth quarter is widely expected to carry over into the start of2018.
• Despite strength in Japan’s economy, most analysts predict the central bank will keep a key part of its super-easy monetary policy -- the long-term bond yield target -- at zero percent throughout the year, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.
More than half the economists also said 110-114 yen to the dollar was the optimal exchange rate for Japan’s export-dependent economy. Recently, the yen has strengthened sharply to around 105.50 yen, hurting exporters’ profits.
• Oil prices dipped lower on Friday as investor concerns about high U.S. crude exports outweighed an unexpected drop in oil inventories in the world’s biggest fuel consumer.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $62.74 a barrel at 0750 GMT, down 3 cents from their last settlement. Brent crude futures were down 2 cents at $66.37 a barrel.
WTI was still on track to rise about 1.7 percent for the week, and Brent was up 2.2 percent, with both contracts set for their second weekly gains after falling steeply early in the month.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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