• The dollar edged higher against the yen on Friday and set a fresh four-month high, buoyed by a further rise in U.S. Treasury yields that suggests a more upbeat outlook for the world’s largest economy and possibly more rate hikes.
U.S. benchmark 10-year yields hit a high of 3.128 percent in early Asian trade on Friday, the highest in nearly seven years.
The U.S. 10-year bond yield has climbed about 15 basis points this week, putting it on track for its biggest weekly rise in more than three months.
The dollar touched a high of 111.005 yen, its strongest level since Jan. 23, and last changed hands at 110.92 yen, up 0.1 percent on the day.
The dollar’s index against a basket of six major currencies stood at 93.467, trading within sight of a five-month high of 93.632 set earlier this week.
The euro inched up 0.1 percent to $1.1806. On Wednesday it had set a five-month low of $1.1763 as it came under pressure on concerns about the demands of populist parties likely to form Italy’s next government.
• U.S. companies could plow more of the money saved from sweeping tax cuts into business investment later this year, perhaps even surpassing a jump in first-quarter capital expenditure that was the highest in almost seven years, strategists and analysts said.
• The United States must reckon with Europe responding in kind if it declares “America First” and places its own economic interests before those of others, Germany’s Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said.
In an interview with ARD television, Altmaier attributed the United States’s desire to block the building of a new pipeline linking Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea to its need to secure markets for its own liquid natural gas (LNG) exports.
• China dropped its anti-dumping probe into imports of U.S. sorghum on Friday, beating a hasty retreat from a dispute that wreaked chaos across the global grain market and raised concerns about rising costs and financial damage at home.
The move was seen as a goodwill concession as Chinese Vice Premier Liu He was in Washington for talks aimed at resolving trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
• Japan’s exports are expected to have risen for a 17th straight month in April thanks to solid global demand, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.
Exports likely grew 8.1 percent in April from a year ago, the poll of 16 economists found, accelerating from a 2.1 percent rise in March, supported by shipments of autos and capital goods such as machinery.
Imports were expected to rise 9.6 percent last month from a year earlier after oil price gains drove up import costs, the poll showed, compared with a 0.6 percent decline in March.
The trade surplus for the month was seen at 405.6 billion yen ($3.66 billion).
• Japan’s core consumer price growth slowed in April for a second straight month, showing little of the inflationary momentum needed to reach the central bank’s elusive 2 percent target.
The core consumer price index, which includes oil products but excludes volatile fresh food costs, rose 0.7 percent in April from a year earlier, slightly less than a median market forecast for a 0.8 percent rise.
It followed a 0.9 percent gain in March, marking the second straight month of slowdown, despite recent gains in oil prices that pushed up electricity and gasoline bills.
• Oil prices held firm on Friday on strong demand, ongoing supply cuts led by producer cartel OPEC and looming U.S. sanctions against major crude exporter Iran.
But markets remained below multi-year highs from the previous day as surging output from the United States is expected to offset at least some of the shortfalls.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $79.55 per barrel at 0651 GMT, up 25 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last close. Brent broke through $80 for the first time since November 2014 on Thursday.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $71.65 a barrel, up 16 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last settlement.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
Thai
Eng