· The dollar hovered near a five-month high against a group of major currencies on Wednesday, as a surge in the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield above 3 percent reignited a rally that had lost steam last week.
The dollar index versus a basket of six major peers stood at 93.270 after rallying to 93.457 overnight, its highest since Dec. 22. It was still 0.05 percent higher than Tuesday.
The advance stalled last week after weaker-than-expected April U.S. inflation data, but regained traction overnight as strong U.S. consumer spending numbers sent long-term Treasury yields surging to a seven-year peak of3.095 percent.
The euro was 0.05 percent lower at $1.1833 after brushing $1.1815, its weakest since late December.
The dollar edged down 0.05 percent to 110.285 yen, having risen to 110.450 overnight, its strongest since Feb. 5.
· North Korea on Wednesday injected further uncertainty into plans for a highly anticipated summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump.
The reclusive regime said it will reconsider the historic June 12 meeting scheduled to take place in Singapore if the U.S. insists on Pyongyang relinquishing its nuclear weapons, Reuters and others reported, citing sources in North Korea including state news agency KCNA.
· Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s top deputies are edging toward a clash that could shape the pace of interest-rate hikes in coming months, as well as how the Fed should prepare for and combat the next economic downturn.
· Japan’s economy contracted more than expected at the start of this year, suggesting growth has peaked after the best run of expansion in decades, unwelcome news for a government struggling to get traction for its reflationary policies.
The world’s third largest economy shrank by 0.6 percent on an annualised basis, a much more severe contraction than the median estimate for an annualised 0.2 percent decline.
· President Xi Jinping has told the British ambassador to China that the Communist Party has “the levers and the country had the resilience” to come out of a trade war in better shape than the United States.
· Potential oil supply disruptions in Iran and Venezuela have prompted oil traders to focus on geopolitics rather than fundamentals, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its latest monthly report Wednesday, warning that any supply cuts could prompt prices to rocket.
· Oil prices fell on Wednesday, weighed down by ample supplies despite ongoing output cuts by producer cartel OPEC and looming U.S. sanctions against major crude exporter Iran.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $78.22 per barrel at 0644 GMT, down 21 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $71.03 a barrel, down 28 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last settlement.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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