· The dollar started the third quarter on a positive note on Monday, benefiting from mounting global trade tensions and political developments in Europe, as investors scooped up the greenback as a safe-haven bet.
In afternoon trading, the dollar index was up 0.4 percent at 95.048
The dollar further extended gains after the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index showed a reading of 60.2, higher than the market forecast of 60.2, while U.S. construction spending rose 0.4 percent in May.
The euro fell 0.6 percent to $1.1615 on concerns over political developments in Germany. It racked up its third consecutive monthly loss against the dollar in June.
· U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will leave for North Korea on Thursday seeking agreement on a plan for the country’s denuclearization, despite mounting doubts about Pyongyang’s willingness to abandon a weapons programme that threatens the United States and its allies.
· It's too "premature" to say whether President Donald Trump's auto tariffs will come to pass, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC on Monday.
Ross also said it's too early to tell whether the United States will withdrawal from the World Trade Organization.
"We've made no secret of our view that there are some reforms needed at the WTO," Ross said in a "Squawk Box" interview.
· Germany's interior minister Horst Seehofer dropped his threat to quit after hours of talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), saying the two conservative parties had the tightened border controls he was demanding.
· A senior State Department official on Monday reaffirmed the Trump administration's goal of reducing Iran's oil exports to zero by November. However, he signaled that some importers could get leeway to taper off purchases beyond the deadline.
· Oil futures fell Monday as supplies from Saudi Arabia and Russia rose while economic growth stumbled in Asia amid escalating trade disputes with the United States.
Brent crude LCOc1 fell $1.93 to settle at $77.30. U.S. light crude CLc1 fell to settle down 21 cents at $73.94.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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