·The dollar slipped to a month low against the yen on Monday, pressured by lingering fears of a global trade war and a political crisis that has engulfed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.16- The U.S. currency traded at 104.955 yen after falling to 104.560, its weakest since November 2016. The euro gained 0.2 percent to $1.2372 after rising 0.5 percent last week. The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was steady at 89.397 and in close reach of a one-month low of 89.356 set last week. ·"Blunt force instruments" like tariffs won't go as far with China as talks will, said Douglas Peterson of financial services firm S&P Global, as the U.S. moves ahead with levies on Chinese imports. "Clearly there are aspects to access to the Chinese market that people have been frustrated with," Peterson acknowledged in a Sunday interview with CNBC. "On the other hand, I don't know if this is really the right approach to have ... the United States coming in unilaterally to put in place tariffs and sanctions on trade." ·Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont was detained in Germany on Sunday, five months after entering self-imposed exile from Spain, where he faces up to years in prison for organizing an illegal secession 25referendum last year. ·President Donald Trump is considering the expulsion of some Russian diplomats in the United States in solidarity with Britain over the poisoning of a former Russian spy in England, a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday. ·The United States and South Korea agreed to revise a trade pact sharply criticised by U.S. President Donald Trump, Seoul said on Monday, with U.S. automakers winning improved market access and Korean steelmakers hit with quotas but avoiding hefty tariffs. In April, Trump told Reuters he would either renegotiate or terminate what he called a “horrible” trade deal that has doubled the U.S. goods trade deficit with South Korea since 2012. The agreement means South Korea will be forced to cut its steel exports to the U.S. by 30 percent of past three years’ average, in exchange for becoming the first U.S. ally to receive an indefinite exemption on steel tariffs imposed by Trump. ·Japan’s steel industry is worried that the United States is using new import tariffs on steel and aluminium as a card for wider trade negotiations, the head of the industry’s group said on Monday. “We are concerned that the new tariffs are being used by the U.S. as a card for wider trade negotiation deals,” Japan Iron and Steel Federation Chairman Kosei Shindo told a news conference. ·China is willing to hold talks with the United States to resolve their differences over trade, China’s foreign ministry said on Monday, as alarm grows over a possible trade war between the world’s two largest economies. ·Saudi air defences have shot down seven ballistic missiles fired by Yemen’s Houthi militia as the kingdom’s three-year military campaign against the rebel group threatened to escalate. ·Brent and WTI crude oil futures dipped on Monday as concerns of a looming trade dispute between the United States and China weighed on global markets. This weighed on crude oil futures as well. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $65.59 a barrel at 0700 GMT, down 29 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their previous close. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $70.23 per barrel, down 22 cents, or 0.3 percent.
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