• The dollar inched up against a basket of currencies on Tuesday from its lowest level in more than a week as hopes for an easing of global trade tensions pushed U.S. bond yields higher.
The dollar’s index versus a basket of six major peers rose about 0.1 percent to 92.647, pulling up from 92.243 on Monday, which was its lowest level since May 2.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield edged up about 1 basis point in Asian trading to 3.001 percent, after rising 2 basis points on Monday.
The euro edged up 0.1 percent to $1.1932, but remained below Monday’s high of $1.1996, which was the common currency’s highest level since May 3.
• German economic growth slowed slightly more than expected in the first quarter of the year due to weak trade, data showed on Tuesday, but analysts called it a blip and predicted Europe’s biggest economy would shift into a higher gear again.
The German economy grew by 0.3 percent in the first three months - the slowest rate since the third quarter of 2016 - after expanding 0.6 percent in the final three months of last year, preliminary data from the Federal Statistics Office showed.
• China reported weaker-than-expected investment and retail sales in April and a drop in home sales, clouding its economic outlook even as policymakers try to navigate debt risks and defuse a heated trade row with the United States.
Fixed asset investment grew the slowest since 1999 while the pace of retail sales softened to a four-month low, suggesting a long-anticipated slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy may finally be setting in even as protectionism is on the rise.
Industrial output rose 7.0 percent in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said, beating forecasts for a rise of 6.3 percent and up from a seven-month low of 6.0percent in March.
Fixed-asset investment growth slowed to 7.0 percent in January-April from a year earlier, versus forecasts of only a slight dip to 7.4 percent. Growth in April cooled to around 6 percent, analysts estimated.
• Israeli forces opened fire on demonstrators in Gaza on Monday, killing dozens and injuring more than 2,400 people protesting the Monday opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.
As bodies fell on the border on what became the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 war, US and Israeli officials celebrated the opening of the embassy.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo also ignored the deadly protests, while declaring the US was committed to advancing peace between Israel and Palestine.
• North Korea and South Korea agreed on Tuesday to hold high-level inter-Korea talks on May 16 to discuss steps needed to uphold the pledge to denuclearise the Korean peninsula, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said.
North Korea will invite South Korean reporters from one news agency and from one television broadcaster to observe the dismantling of a nuclear test site between May 23 and May 25, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification said on Tuesday.
• Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Tuesday signalled the possibility of allowing long-term interest rates to rise above zero before his 2 percent inflation target is met.
But Kuroda added he had “absolutely no plan” to raise the yield target for the time being with inflation still distant from 2 percent.
• Oil prices were stable on Tuesday as ongoing production cuts by OPEC and looming U.S. sanctions against Iran threatened to tighten the market amid signs of ongoing strong demand.
Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $78.21 per barrel at 0639 GMT, virtually unchanged from their last close and not far off a three-and-a-half year high of $78.53 a barrel reached the previous session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $70.88 a barrel, down 8 cents, though still not far off their Nov. 2014 high of $71.89 a barrel reached last week.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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