· The dollar slipped against a basket of currencies on Thursday and hit a two-week low against the Japanese yen, after U.S. President Donald Trump scrapped a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and as traders booked profits following the greenback’s recent rally.
The yen, which tends to rise in times of market turbulence, hit a two-week high against the greenback. The dollar was down 0.75 percent at 109.24 yen.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, was down 0.26 percent at 93.762. Despite the weakness on Thursday, the index is up about 2 percent for the month, on pace for its second straight month of gains.
The euro was up 0.24 percent at $1.1724. Still, it was set to be down for a sixth consecutive week against the dollar, its longest such streak since January 2015, hobbled by worries over a deepening economic slowdown in the currency bloc.
· U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday called off a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un scheduled for next month, citing Pyongyang’s “open hostility,” and warned that the U.S. military was ready in the event of any reckless acts by North Korea.
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan responded to Trump’s announcement by saying Pyongyang remained open to resolving issues with Washington “at any time in any way.”
· North Korea’s vice foreign minister Kim Kye Gwan said the North is open to resolving issues with the United States whenever and however after U.S. President Donald Trump called off a June summit with its leader, Kim Jong Un.
“We had set in high regards President Trump’s efforts, unprecedented by any other president, to create a historic North Korea-U.S. summit,” said the vice foreign minister in a statement released on Friday by the North’s central news agency.
“We tell the United States once more that we are open to resolving problems at any time in any way,” he said.
· French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said he hoped the United States and North Korea would continue working towards denuclearizing the Korean peninsula after U.S. President Donald Trump called off a planned summit.
· Fed's Bostic: Cancellation of of N. Korea summit will add to uncertainty; increased geopolitical tension can weigh on confidence; comfortable with 3 Fed rate hikes in 2018.
And he said Neutral rate lying between 2.25%-2.75%
· A U.S. Senate panel has put a measure to tighten oversight of foreign investment in the United States into a must-pass defense policy bill, a Senate committee said on Thursday.
The measure seeks to strengthen the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a government agency that reviews potential foreign investment to ensure it does not compromise national security.
Among other changes, the new rules would allow CFIUS to expand the definition of which deals may be reviewed and to review purchases of vacant land if they were near a sensitive U.S. facility, like a military base.
The CFIUS legislation is aimed at preventing China or other unfriendly countries from acquiring U.S. technology or data about Americans via investment in U.S. companies.
· Mexico will not buckle to pressure to conclude the long-stalled renegotiation of NAFTA, President Enrique Pena Nieto’s spokesman said on Thursday, but a source said the country made a new offer after the United States launched a probe exploring auto tariffs.
· Britain’s post-Brexit adaptation will run through 2020, as planned, a British government spokeswoman said on Thursday as the EU dismissed London’s ideas for a longer status quo on customs and trade in a fight over the Irish border.
Both sides say they want to avoid a return of border checks on the island of Ireland after Brexit, but the European Union dismisses London’s idea to that end as unrealistic.
· Oil prices fell about $1 on Thursday, with expectations building that reduced supplies from Venezuela and Iran could prompt OPEC to wind down output cuts in place since the start of 2017.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures fell $1.01 to settle at $78.79 a barrel, a 1.27 percent loss. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures fell $1.13 to settle at $70.71 a barrel, a 1.57percent loss.
· Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said production cuts could be eased “softly” if OPEC and non-OPEC countries see the oil market balancing in June, the Interfax news agency reported.
Reference: Reuters, Daily FX
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