· The euro consolidated gains on Friday and is set to break a six-week losing streak following a drop in Italian bond yields after a revived coalition deal between Italy’s two anti-establishment parties reduced concerns of immediate elections.
On Friday, the euro EUR=EBS was flat at $1.1691 against the dollar. On a weekly basis, it is set to eke out a small 0.3 percent gain, snapping six consecutive weeks of losses.
The dollar edged higher at 94.02 after posting its biggest monthly rise since November 2016 in May against a basket of rivals .DXY. It headed back towards a 6-1/2 month high of 95.03 hit earlier this week.
· U.S. job growth likely accelerated in May as warmer weather boosted hiring at construction sites, but wage gains are expected to have remained marginal, pointing to moderate inflation pressures in the economy.
Nonfarm payrolls probably increased by 188,000 jobs last month, according to a Reuters survey of economists. The economy added 135,000 and 164,000 jobs in March and April, respectively.
Average hourly earnings are expected to have risen 0.2 percent last month after edging up 0.1 percent in April. That would lift the annual increase in average hourly earnings to 2.7 percent from 2.6 percent in April.
· Canada and Mexico retaliated against the U.S. decision on Thursday to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports and the European Union had its own reprisals ready to go, reigniting investor fears of a global trade war.
· The United States’ allies in the G7 vowed on Thursday to push back against Washington’s decision to impose tariffs on their steel and aluminum exports, saying as they gathered for a meeting that the move threatens global growth.
The escalating trade conflict between the United States and many key allies will dominate the three-day meeting in Canada of financial leaders from the Group of Seven industrialized nations that began on Thursday, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin the top target for their complaints and lobbying.
· Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Thursday called for “rational” debate among G7 nations to prevent protectionist trade measures from disrupting the global economy.
· Italy's anti-establishment parties revived coalition plans on Thursday, ending three months of political turmoil by announcing a government that promises to increase spending, challenge EU fiscal rules and crack down on immigration.
· A senior North Korean official will hand over a letter from the country’s leader Kim Jong Un to U.S. President Donald Trump in a rare visit to the White House on Friday as the two sides try to put a derailed summit meeting back on track.
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said late on Thursday that the details of the meeting were still being worked out. It was not clear whether Trump would receive Kim Yong Chol in the Oval Office.
· North Korea’s will for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula remains “unchanged, consistent and fixed,” said leader Kim Jong Un, according to the North’s state news agency on Friday.
· North Korea suggested during high-level talks on Friday that the two Koreas hold a joint celebration of the anniversary of a historic 2000 inter-Korean summit this month in the South, an official in Seoul said.
· Factory growth in Asia’s major manufacturing hubs showed signs of cooling last month as they braced for a rocky ride from rising global trade tensions, while the region’s key emerging markets grappled with accelerating inflation and a strong dollar.
Economies in export-reliant Asia continued to benefit from a synchronized uptick in world growth, though the Trump administration’s moves to slap tariffs on some of the U.S.’s largest trading partners have stoked uncertainty about the outlook and rattled financial markets.
· China will cut import tariffs on nearly 1,500 consumer products ranging from cosmetics to home appliances from July 1, in a bid to boost imports as part of efforts to open up the economy.
The move would be in step with Beijing’s pledge to its trade partners - including the United States - that China will take steps to increase imports, and offers a boon to global brands looking to deepen their presence in China.
Starting next month, the average tariff rate on 1,449 products imported from most favoured nations will be reduced to 6.9 percent from 15.7 percent, which is equivalent to a cut of about 60 percent, the finance ministry said in a statement on its website.
· Crude oil futures erased earlier losses on Friday but the U.S. benchmark price was set to lose ground for the second week, squeezed by record U.S. production and expectations of OPEC boosting output.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 gained 11 cents to stand at $67.15 a barrel by 0702 GMT, bouncing off a session low of $66.81 a barrel having fallen almost2 percent on Thursday.
The global benchmark, Brent crude LCOc1, little changed in the previous session, was up 16 cents, at $77.72 per barrel. Brent prices traded as low as $77.36 a barrel on Friday.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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