• MTS Economic News_20180307

    7 Mar 2018 | Economic News

• The dollar fell against the safe-haven yen and the Swiss franc on Wednesday as top White House economic adviser Gary Cohn, an ex-Wall Street banker seen as a bulwark against protectionist forces within the Trump administration, is resigning, fanning fears President Donald Trump would go ahead with tariffs and risk a trade war.

The dollar fell 0.4 percent to 105.65 yen, edging near its 16-month low of 105.24 touched on Friday.

The dollar index lost 0.67 percent against a group of currencies to 89.480, the lowest in two weeks.

The dollar had already been under pressure after South Korea said it would hold its first summit with the North in more than a decade, reducing geopolitical tensions.

It also said North Korea is willing to hold talks with the United States on denuclearization and will suspend nuclear tests while those talks are underway.

The euro popped up to $1.2421, again the highest in two weeks, having gained around a cent overnight.

• Traders said there were whispers the European Central Bank might drop its easing bias at a policy meeting this week, though President Mario Draghi has shown little public urgency to do so recently.

• U.S. President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, said on Tuesday he was resigning, a decision that came after he lost a fight within the White House over plans to impose hefty steel and aluminum tariffs.

The White House said the timing of Cohn’s departure from his role as director of the National Economic Council had not been finalized but was still a few weeks away. It was the latest in a series of high-profile departures from the White House.

• U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated on Tuesday his plan to slap big tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum, warning the European Union it would get hit with a “big tax” for not treating the United States well when it comes to trade.

• “They make it almost impossible for us to do business with them and yet they send their cars and everything else back into the United States,” Trump said of the EU at a news conference with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, whose country is an EU member.

Trump said the EU was taking advantage of the United States on trade, adding: “They can do whatever they’d like, but if they do that, then we put a big tax of 25 percent on their cars - and believe me they won’t be doing it very long.”

• Things are looking up for a U.S. economy that struggled in recent years to boost growth and inflation, so the Federal Reserve should expect to gradually raise interest rates, an influential Fed governor said on Tuesday.

In her first public comments on policy since October, a relatively upbeat Fed Governor Lael Brainard said economic “headwinds are shifting to tailwinds” given the “substantial” boost from tax cuts and government spending, and synchronized global growth. Taken together, she said she has more confidence that inflation will finally rise to a target.

• The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted 67-32 in favor of beginning to debate a bipartisan bill that would ease rules for mid-sized and small lenders introduced following the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

• Oil prices rose on Tuesday, supported by a weaker dollar but U.S. crude’s gains were limited by expectations for a weekly rise in U.S. crude stockpiles.

Brent crude LCOc1 futures rose 25 cents to settle at $65.79 a barrel, a 0.4 percent gain. Brent reached a low of $65.30 a barrel and a six-day high of $66.16 a barrel during the session.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures rose 3 cents to settle at $62.60 a barrel. WTI notched its own six-day high at $63.28 a barrel.

Reference: Reuters 

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