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• The dollar fell to a near two-week low on Thursday against a basket of currencies as traders pared greenback holdings on lower U.S. Treasury yields and further equity losses on Wall Street.
A weaker-than-forecast rise in U.S. consumer prices in September reduced bets on a faster pace of interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve, further eroding the dollar’s appeal.
The CPI miss reduced bets that U.S. inflation is accelerating, spurring appetite for U.S. government bonds. This added to the safe-haven bid for Treasuries stemming from another sharp sell-off on Wall Street.
An index that tracks the dollar versus six currencies fell to 94.987, the lowest since Sept. 28. At 3:45 p.m. (1945 GMT), the dollar index was down 0.5percent at 95.034.
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield fell to a one-week low at 3.1423 percent. It reached a seven-year peak at 3.261 percent on Tuesday.
The euro zone common currency was up 0.65 percent at $1.15925 after touching a one-week high. It was 0.45 percent higher at 129.885 yen.
• U.S. President Donald Trump launched a second day of criticism against the Federal Reserve on Thursday, calling its interest rate increases a “ridiculous” policy that was making it more expensive for his administration to finance its escalating deficits.
Trump himself later told reporters he would not try to oust Powell, Trump’s handpicked successor to former Fed chair Janet Yellen, and a well-regarded insider in moderate Republican circles. He took over just eight months ago, largely continuing policies set in motion by Yellen.
• The United States is tightening controls on China’s imports of civil nuclear technology to prevent use for military or other unauthorized purposes, the U.S. Department of Energy said on Thursday amid increased trade tensions.
• British Prime Minister Theresa May briefed her inner Cabinet on Thursday evening that a historic Brexit deal was close, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
Cabinet ministers briefed on the Brexit talks said the issue of the Irish backstop was close to being settled, the FT said.
Talks between Britain and the European Union on the crucial question of how to avoid a hard border in Ireland are likely to continue until November, British Prime Minister Theresa May told reporters on Thursday.
• The German economy is losing steam as rising trade tensions abroad and a lack of skilled workers at home limit the growth prospects for Europe’s largest economy, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Thursday.
Presenting the government’s downwardly revised growth forecasts, Altmaier said the economy would expand by 1.8 percent in both 2018 and 2019.
This compared with earlier projections of 2.3 percent and 2.1 percent respectively. In 2017, the economy grew by a calendar-adjusted 2.5 percent.
• Canada will impose new quotas and tariffs on imports of seven categories of steel, the federal government said on Thursday, fresh measures to head off a potential rise in imports as overseas steelmakers shut out of the United States seek new customers.
A tariff of 25 percent will apply starting Oct. 25, 2018 to imports “in cases where the level of imports from trading partners exceeds historical norms,” the government statement said.
Canada does not hold out much hope that Washington will quickly lift tariffs that it imposed on steel and aluminum exports and is resisting a U.S. push to agree to strict quotas, two sources familiar with the matter said.
• Oil prices slumped to more than two-week lows on Thursday as global stock markets fell, with investor sentiment made more bearish by a bigger-than-expected build in U.S. crude inventories.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures fell $2.83 to settle at $80.26 a barrel, a 3.41 percent loss, after hitting a low of $79.80, its weakest since Sept. 24. The global benchmark has retreated after hitting a four-year high of $86.74 on Oct. 3.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures fell $2.2 to settle at $70.97 a barrel, a 3.01 percent loss. WTI hit its lowest since Sept. 21.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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