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• The dollar climbed to a four-month peak against the yen on Thursday, bolstered by the rise in U.S. Treasury yields that suggests a more upbeat outlook for the world’s largest economy.

The dollar rose to its strongest level versus the Japanese yen since Jan. 23 at 110.80 yen. It was last at 110.74, up 0.3 percent on the day.

The dollar index rose 0.1 percent to 93.462, below its 2018 high of 93.632.

U.S. benchmark 10-year yields hit a high of 3.122 percent on Thursday, the highest in nearly seven years. Since the beginning of the year, U.S. 10-year yields have increased by more than 50 basis points, on track for their largest rise in eight years.

The euro, meanwhile, fell to nearly a five-month low against the dollar on concerns about the demands of populist parties likely to form Italy’s next government.

• Italy’s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the anti-immigrant League, which are working to draft a coalition programme, may ask the European Central Bank to forgive 250 billion euros of debt.

But broader Italian markets held up better on Thursday as investors played down the broader impact on euro zone political stability and questioned whether the Italian parties would really follow through on such plans.

• The euro slipped to $1.1798, just above the $1.1763 2018 low it hit on Wednesday.

The euro has slumped six cents from more than $1.24 in three weeks after a huge dollar rally. Investors are betting U.S. interest rates will need to rise further, while other central banks are postponing monetary tightening.

• The U.S. economy has reached the threshold for maximum employment and it may already be lower than is sustainable, Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan said on Thursday.

Kaplan is currently in favor of two more interest rate rises this year, in line with Fed policymakers’ median estimate.

• Ewald Nowotny, a member of the European Central Bank’s Governing Council, urged the ECB on Thursday not to wait too long to normalize its monetary policy.

With quantitative easing due to expire at the end of September, policymakers have been debating what to do next.

• U.S. President Donald Trump sought on Thursday to placate North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un after Pyongyang threatened to scrap an unprecedented summit, saying Kim’s security would be guaranteed in any deal and his country would not suffer the fate of Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya, unless that could not be reached.

President Donald Trump on Thursday distanced himself from comments from his national security adviser that led North Korea to cast doubt on a planned summit and said as far as he knew the meeting with Kim Jong Un was still on track.

• North Korea’s chief negotiator called the South Korean government “ignorant and incompetent” on Thursday, denounced U.S.-South Korean air combat drills and threatened to halt all talks with the South unless its demands are met.

“Unless the serious situation which led to the suspension of the north-south high-level talks is settled, it will never be easy to sit face to face again with the present regime of south Korea,” the statement said.

The comments by Ri Son Gwon, chairman of North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the country, were the latest in a string of inflammatory statements marking a drastic change in tone after months of easing tension with plans for denuclearisation and a summit scheduled with the United States.

• President Donald Trump said on Thursday that China and other countries had become “very spoiled” on trade, as U.S. and Chinese officials hold high-level talks in Washington on trade ties.

• Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he doubted the trade talks with China would turn out to his satisfaction.

• Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday Britain would leave the EU customs union after Brexit but a source said London was considering a backstop plan that would apply the bloc’s external tariffs beyond December 2020.

• Oil prices climbed above $80 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since November 2014, before retreating on a stronger dollar and climbing U.S. output to end unchanged.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 reached an intraday high of $80.50 a barrel, but later gave up most gains to settle up 2 cents at $79.30 a barrel.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 settled unchanged at $71.49, after earlier also hitting their highest since November 2014 at $72.30 a barrel.

• Worries about rising oil prices have begun to creep into U.S. retailers’ earnings calls, and investors are raising concerns that those costs may slow discretionary spending among Americans and push down the performance of the retailers’ shares.

Finding roughnecks remains a challenge for oil drillers as rising crude prices increase demand for their services, oilfield executives said on Thursday at a conference in Houston.

Oilfield service suppliers cut tens of thousands of workers following the 2014 oil-price collapse, and skilled employees have moved to other industries or are no longer interested. A worker shortage is helping drive up service costs for oil producers, especially in the hottest shale fields.

Reference: Reuters, CNBC