· The dollar slipped against the yen in Asian trade on Tuesday, hovering near a two-week low, as worries over an intensifying conflict between the United States and its trade partners continued to sap risk appetite.
· Markets were buffeted by mixed trade messages from Washington.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday that coming investment restrictions from the department would not be specific to China but would apply “to all countries that are trying to steal our technology.”
However, that statement was contradicted by White House trade and manufacturing adviser Peter Navarro, who said that any investment restrictions proposed by the Trump administration would target China and not other countries.
Although the dollar briefly pared some of its losses after Navarro’s comments, it slipped back to 109.57 yen, down 0.2 percent on the day and near the two-week low of 109.365 touched on Monday.
The dollar index .DXY, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, stood at 94.259, falling further from the 11-month high of 95.533 it reached on Thursday.
· U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry is expected to meet with his Russian counterpart, Energy Minister Alexander Novak, in Washington on Tuesday. Both are speaking at the World Gas Conference.
Novak arrives in the U.S. just days after he co-chaired a Vienna meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC producers, where they agreed to add more oil to the market. Analysts say the agreement calls for producers to return somewhat less than 1 million barrels a day to the market, though Saudi Arabia says it will be about 1 million barrels a day and Russia had initially sought a 1.5 million-barrel increase. Novak told CNBC on the weekend that the hike was sufficient for now.
· Chinese President Xi Jinping said last week that he will not hesitate to retaliate against the U.S. on trade, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing sources.
“In the West you have the notion that if somebody hits you on the left cheek, you turn the other cheek,” Xi said in the report, according to people briefed on his remarks. “In our culture, we punch back.”
Trade tensions between the U.S. and China have escalated in the last several weeks with the Trump administration's planned tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports and Beijing's announcement of counter-duties. Last Monday, President Donald Trump said he asked the U.S. trade representative to identify an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods for a 10 percent tariff.
· Syrian state news agency SANA said two Israeli missiles hit in the vicinity of Damascus international airport in the early hours of Tuesday morning, without giving further details.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian air defence systems failed to intercept the missiles.
· Uncertainty over Brexit has halved new investment in the British car industry as Prime Minister Theresa May’s government current plans for trade after Britain leaves the EU are unrealistic, the biggest car manufacturing lobby said on Tuesday.
Public announcements of fresh investments into new plant, machinery, tooling and equipment, models and model development fell to 347.3 million pounds ($461.1 million) between January and June 21, 2018, down from647.4 million pounds in the first half of 2017.
· China on Tuesday said it would remove import tariffs on animal feed ingredients including soybeans from five Asian neighbors, in a sign that Beijing wants to boost foreign supplies of the commodities as a trade dispute with the United States escalates.
The Ministry of Finance said it would drop tariffs on soybeans, soybean cake and fishmeal originating in Bangladesh, India, Laos, South Korea and Sri Lanka from July 1.
Tariffs on soybeans are currently 3 percent, with 5 percent on soybean cake and 2 percent on fishmeal.
· Oil edged up on Tuesday, lifted by a Canadian production outage and uncertainty over Libyan crude exports, though climbing OPEC supplies and the intensifying trade conflict between the United States and other major economies held back prices.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $74.86 per barrel at 0611 GMT, up 13 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $68.38 a barrel, up 30 cents, or 0.4 percent.
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