· The U.S. dollar and euro on Monday were range-bound ahead of decisive meetings of both central banks this week and President Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on Tuesday.
In early trade the euro approached a near-two-week high of $1.1820 after assurances from Italy that it would not leave the European Union calmed investors’ nerves. But the euro ultimately settled around $1.1785 before the European Central Bank’s policy meeting on Thursday.
The dollar index was steady at 93.580, rising further from a three-week low set last Thursday.
· Investors are raising their bets that the ECB will signal at a policy meeting later this week a tapering down of its 2.55 trillion euro bond-buying programme as early as September, following a flurry of hawkish comments by officials last week.
Before the ECB meeting, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates for the second time this year on Wednesday. The market’s focus will be on the Fed’s projection on the path of future interest rates.
· U.S. inflation expectations were flat in May after several months of gains, while Americans grew more pessimistic about income and spending growth, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey published on Monday.
The survey of consumer expectations, which the Fed considers along with other data on U.S. price pressures, remained at a median of 2.98 percent for one year into the future. The three-year measure was 2.96 percent in May, a bit down from 2.97 in April.
While U.S. economic growth is picking up, the New York Fed’s gauge of expected household income growth slipped to 2.62 percent, its lowest level since September. Expectations for median spending growth also dipped last month compared to April.
· Reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Un went on an evening tour of Singapore on Monday, posing with city-state officials at a tropical garden before visiting an infinity pool atop a landmark waterfront hotel, to the surprise of guests.
· North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he was impressed by Singapore’s economic development and hoped he could learn from the country during a night tour of some of the city state’s landmarks, the North’s state media said on Tuesday.
Kim said Singapore was “clean and beautiful”, while looking at the view on Monday from the observation deck of the Marina Bay Sands hotel, adding that he had learned much about the Southeast Asian nation’s economic potential and how it had developed, the official KCNA news agency said.
· North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump reached the venue of their historic summit in Singapore on Tuesday, after both sides sought to narrow differences over how to end a nuclear standoff.
While Trump was optimistic about prospects for the first-ever meeting of sitting U.S. and North Korean leaders, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo injected a note of caution, saying it remained to be seen if Kim was sincere about his willingness to denuclearize.
The summit was due to begin at 9 a.m. (0100 GMT)
U.S. President Donald Trump, in a tweet hours before his historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, said staff-level meetings between the United States and North Korea were “going well and quickly.”
Kim is due to leave on Tuesday afternoon, a source involved in the planning of his visit has said.
· North Korea's Kim Jong Un may be willing to discuss his country's nuclear arsenal with President Donald Trump on Tuesday, but that doesn't mean the reclusive regime will curtail or halt existing programs, strategists told CNBC.
· U.S. President Donald Trump’s blistering attack on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has driven bilateral relations to their lowest point in decades and left Ottawa with few options for averting a trade war with its much bigger neighbor.
· U.S. President Donald Trump fired off a volley of tweets on Monday venting anger on NATO allies, the European Union and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the wake of a divisive G7 meeting over the weekend.
“Fair trade is now to be called fool trade if it is not reciprocal,” said Trump, who flew from Canada to Singapore on Sunday to prepare for the first-ever summit between a U.S. and North Korean leader.
“Sorry, we cannot let our friends, or enemies, take advantage of us on trade anymore. We must put the American worker first!”
· The clouds over the global economy have darkened, especially since the divisive summit of leaders from the Group of Seven economic powers at the weekend, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Monday.
Lagarde, speaking at a joint news conference in Berlin with the chiefs of other leading economic organizations and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said business confidence was declining due to measures that disrupt trade.
· British Prime Minister Theresa May said Russia would not be invited back to join the Group of Seven nations until it stops interfering in the affairs of other countries, rebuffing calls from U.S. President Donald Trump for Moscow to return to group.
· Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow suffered a heart attack and is being treated at a Washington-area hospital, President Donald Trump said in a tweet.
“Our Great Larry Kudlow, who has been working so hard on trade and the economy, has just suffered a heart attack. He is now in Walter Reed Medical Center,” Trump said on Twitter minutes before he was scheduled to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.
A longtime television commentator, Kudlow, 70, was hired by Trump in March to replace Gary Cohn as director of the National Economic Council.
· Oil prices were little changed on Monday as comments from the Iraqi oil minister cast doubt as to whether the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would decide to boost output at its upcoming meeting.
Global benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 was unchanged to settle at $76.46 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 rose 36 cents to settle at $66.07, its highest level since June 1.
U.S. crude’s relative gains were the result of profit-taking on the wide spread between the two benchmarks, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Illinois.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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