• MTS Economic News_20180911

    11 Sep 2018 | Economic News

• The euro and sterling rose against the dollar on Monday after the European Union’s top negotiator said an agreement for Britain to leave the economic bloc might be reached in the coming weeks.

Sterling GBP=D3 was up as much as 1 percent versus the dollar. It was last up 0.9 percent at $1.3033, Reuters data showed.

The euro EUR=EBS rose nearly 0.4 percent at $1.15965, while it touched a near one-month low against the pound, last down over 0.5 percent EURGBP=D4 at 88.98 pence.

An index that tracks the dollar against the euro, sterling, yen and three other currencies .DXY was down 0.24 percent at 95.140.

• Policy-makers at the Bank of England and European Central Bank are widely expected to leave their policy unchanged at their respective meetings on Thursday

 “It seems unreasonable to expect (Mario) Draghi to signal a course change” at the ECB, said Win Thin, global head of emerging market currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York. “It is an easy call: unanimous decision to hold after hiking rates last month,” Thin added.

• China will respond if the United States takes any new steps on trade, the foreign ministry said on Monday, after President Donald Trump warned he was ready to slap tariffs on virtually all Chinese imports into the United States.

On Friday, Trump said he was ready to levy additional taxes on practically all Chinese imports, threatening duties on $267 billion of goods over and above planned tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese products.

• Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday released plans for a second round of tax cuts, which follow comprehensive tax legislation enacted in December.

The three pieces of legislation proposed by Republicans on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee would make permanent lower individual rates, eliminate the maximum age for some contributions to retirement accounts and allow new businesses to write off more start-up costs, among other provisions.

• U.S. President Donald Trump received a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un asking for a second meeting and the White House is already looking at scheduling one, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Monday.

The timing of a second Trump-Kim meeting was unclear. The sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York later this month may provide an opportunity, although Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton said he did not believe Kim would attend.

• Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland will meet U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Washington on Tuesday for another round of talks to renew the NAFTA trade pact, an official said on Monday, as time runs short to seal a deal.

U.S. officials say time is running out to agree on a text on which the current Congress can vote. Canadian officials say they are working on the assumption they have until the end of September.

• Sweden faces a political impasse after its mainstream center-left and center-right blocs virtually tied in an election on Sunday, while the far-right - which neither wants to deal with - made gains on a hardline anti-immigration platform.

With nearly all votes counted on Monday, the ruling center-left Social Democrats and Greens and their Left Party parliamentary ally had 40.6 percent of the vote, while the opposition center-right Alliance was on 40.3 percent.

The Sweden Democrats, a party with white supremacist roots, won 17.6 percent, about 5 percentage points more than four years ago. It was the biggest gain of any party and in line with conventional opinion polls but fell short of the 20-30 percent their leader Jimmie Akesson had predicted.

• President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said on Monday the United States, Britain and France had agreed that another use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government would result in a “much stronger response” compared to previous air strikes.

• Oil prices were mixed on Monday, pulling back from an early rally after data suggested U.S. crude inventories might build, weighing on the market.

Traders said weekly data from Bloomberg suggested U.S. oil inventories are rising, contradicting an earlier report from energy information provider Genscape, which forecast declining inventories.

U.S. crude futures settled down 21 cents at $67.54 a barrel. Brent crude oil rose 54 cents to $77.37 a barrel after touching a session high of $77.92 a barrel.

Earlier in the session, crude had strengthened as growth of U.S. drilling braked and investors anticipated lower supply once new U.S. sanctions against Iran’s crude exports kick in from November.


Reference: Reuters


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