MTS Help Center

• The month of March has been dominated by worries over trade wars, which weighed on the U.S. dollar’s rival currencies and propelled net short positions in the greenback to their lowest level since early January, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

“This follows the trend in the spot market where the dollar has been buffeted by talk of a more hawkish Fed,” wrote Rabobank senior FX strategist Jane Foley about the data for the week ended March 6. “Fears of a global trade war have supported the dollar versus a number of high risk currencies.”

• The cost of living in the U.S. is probably still rising -- just not as fast as at the start of the year. Consumer prices advanced percent last month from January, which saw the biggest increase since September, according to the median projection of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg ahead of Tuesday’s Labor Department report. Even so, the continued gains in prices will be a key reason behind the widely anticipated decision by Federal Reserve policy makers to raise interest rates on March 0.2 21.

• The yen held firm against the dollar on Tuesday as a political scandal engulfing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government raised doubts about his ability to continue to pursue his economic policies, including monetary easing.

The yen traded at 106.44 per U.S. dollar JPY=, after gaining 0.4 percent the previous day as Abe's cronyism scandal attracted fresh attention from market participants.

• U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will urge the European Union to lower its trade barriers, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday, calling them unfair to U.S. farmers and industry, a view rejected by the EU and challenged by a Republican senator.

• Conservative commentator Larry Kudlow has emerged as a strong contender to succeed Gary Cohn as President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Chris Liddell, a former executive at Microsoft Corp and General Motors Co, is also under consideration for the job, a White House official said on Sunday.

Peter Navarro, a trade adviser to Trump who promoted the tariffs, has also been touted as a candidate for the top economic job, though he has said he is not in the running.

• Japan will urge its Gcounterparts at a meeting next week to beef up efforts to prevent cryptocurrencies from being used for money laundering, a government official with direct knowledge of the matter said.20

• Oil prices dipped on Tuesday, extending losses from the previous session, as the inexorable rise in U.S. crude output weighed on markets.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $61.18 a barrel at 0747 GMT, down 18 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their previous close.

Brent crude futures were at $64.77 per barrel, down 18 cents, or 0.3 percent.

Reference: Reuters,CNBC