• The U.S. dollar edged lower against a basket of currencies on Wednesday as its recent rally on global trade tensions showed signs of fading, while the offshore yuan steadied near a one-week high.
On Wednesday, the dollar fell 0.15 percent against a basket of six currencies (DXY) and was at 95.065 at 0330 GMT. It fell as low as 94.994 overnight.
"Market reaction to the headlines about the U.S.-China trade war is waning," said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities.
"If there are clear signs of a slowdown of the U.S. economy due to the tariffs imposed in July, then I think the market will begin to price in slower rate hikes or no rate hikes by the Federal Reserve."
On Wednesday, China's offshore yuan traded at 6.8262 yuan per dollar, paring some gains after hitting a one-week high of 6.8063 earlier in the day.
Elsewhere, the yen stood little changed at 111.38 per dollar. The euro (EUR=) rose almost 0.2 percent to $1.16185.
The United States and Japan are scheduled to hold their first bilateral trade talks in Washington on Thursday after Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed in April to a new framework to discuss "free, fair and reciprocal" trade.
• "If the U.S. criticizes Japan's macro-economic or foreign currency policy, it's likely to lead to a stronger yen," said Yukio Ishizuki, senior currency strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo.
"But it's quite unlikely that will happen because these talks are the first bilateral trade negotiations as part of the new framework between the U.S. and Japan."
• China’s exports surged more than expected in July despite fresh U.S. duties and its closely watched surplus with the United States remained near record highs, as Washington finalised its new tariff list in a bitter dispute that some fear could derail global growth.
The headline numbers are the first readings of the overall trade picture for the world's second-largest economy since U.S. duties on $34 billion of Chinese imports came into effect on July 6.
China's closely watched surplus with the United States dipped only slightly to $28.09 billion last month from a record $28.97 billion in June. Washington has long criticized China's trade surplus with the United States and has demanded Beijing cut it. Still, disagreements between the two major economic powers run deeper than just the trade balance and tensions remain over market access, intellectual property, technology transfer and investment.
• Apple has benefited from cheap labor and a strong supply chain in China and needs to share more of its profit with the Chinese people or face "anger and nationalist sentiment" amid the ongoing trade war, an article in the state-backed People's Daily warned Tuesday. The article originally appeared in another state-backed publication, Global Times, last week.
The opinion piece highlights how Apple made $9.6 billion in revenues in China in the June quarter, which helped the U.S. giant to recently hit a $1 trillion valuation.
• Tesla CEO Elon Musk shocked investors Tuesday by floating the idea of taking the company private, in what would be the largest deal of its kind.
The step would remove the public spotlight from the company, which has been burning through cash and struggling to meet production targets. It also suggests Musk feels constrained running Tesla as a public company and would prefer to manage it more on his own terms.
• Italy’s government plans to introduce its reform of the fiscal system and a so-called ‘citizen’s income’ in the next budget, the economy minister was cited as saying by newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore on Wednesday.
Giovanni Tria also said the government had revised down its GDP forecast for this year to 1.2 percent from the 1.5 percent previously expected. He added GDP would grow 1-1.1 percent in 2019.
• Oil prices dipped on Wednesday after China reported relatively weak import data, although the market remained well supported by falling U.S. crude inventories and the introduction of sanctions against Iran.
Front-month Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were at $74.50 per barrel at 0651 GMT, down 15 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $69.15 per barrel, down 2 cents.
Reference: Reuters, FXStreet
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