• The dollar rose against most currencies, except the euro, in choppy trading on Monday ahead of a slew of U.S. economic data and events this week, including Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony, which could determine whether the greenback’s recovery from a three-year low can be sustained.
In late trading, the euro was up 0.1 percent against the dollar at $1.2312.
• The focus this week is Powell’s first congressional testimony. Powell will testify on the central bank’s semiannual report on monetary policy and the economy on Tuesday before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee.
“There shouldn’t be too much change in Powell’s initial stance, as to that of Janet Yellen,” said James Hughes, chief market analyst, at forex broker AxiTrader in London.
“The economy is still in a fairly strong position and a course of gradual rate hikes is still the best course of action in terms of overall monetary policy.”
• U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he wants to bring the steel industry back to America even if it means applying tariffs to imports from other countries, but the White House said he has not made a final decision on the issue.
• Euro zone government bond yields drifted lower on Monday with Germany’s benchmark Bund yield briefly touching a one-month low, as investors positioned for a run of potentially market-moving data and events this week.
Having already dipped in early trade, bond yields were pinned lower as ECB chief Mario Draghi told the European Union parliament that slack in the euro zone economy might be bigger than estimated, slowing the rise of inflation.
Germany’s 10-year government bond yields were unchanged at 0.65 percent towards the close of the trading session, having hit a one-month low of0.64 percent in early trade. DE10YT=RR
It is 15 bps below a more than two-year high hit earlier this month.
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives on Monday approved a coalition deal with the Social Democrats (SPD), bringing closer a fourth term for her as well as an end to political limbo in Europe’s preeminent power.
• U.S. oil prices rose for a fourth session on Tuesday to near a three-week high hit a day earlier, supported by signs of robust production curbs by OPEC and non-OPEC countries and a slight fall in U.S. production.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery CLc1 was up 10 cents at $64.01 a barrel by 0020 GMT. The contract hit $64.24 on Monday, its highest since Feb. 6.
London Brent crude LCOc1 had yet to start trading after settling up 19 cents at $67.50.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
Thai
Eng