On Monday, the dollar index, which measures the greenback’s performance against a basket of six major currencies, gained 0.1 percent to 96.446. The index has advanced 1.4 percent this month.
The euro dipped 0.1 percent to $1.1395 even as German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s junior coalition partners gave her conservatives until next year to deliver more policy results.
Against the yen, the dollar held steady at 111.90 yen.
• “The development in the U.S. equity market is the main focus in the foreign exchange market,” said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities.
• Analysts at Danske Bank suggest that today is relatively quiet in terms of scheduled data releases in an otherwise busy week with the US PCE core inflation in focus.
“We will get US PCE core, where we expect 1.90% y/y - a number that will fit nicely with the Fed's narrative of hiking in December.”
• The Bank of Japan is considering tweaking its bond buying operations to allow the government debt market to better reflect fundamentals, people familiar with the matter said, following years of heavy central bank buying in the sector.
The proposed changes, which focus on the way the BOJ times its bond purchases, would be aimed at reviving a market that many participants say has been heavily skewed by central bank buying.
While the central bank is in no rush to put such changes into place, sources say it will scrutinize market moves to ensure they are stable and that any tweaks it makes won’t trigger excessive volatility.
• China takes a hard line against any hint of independence or separatist sentiments in Taiwan, Hong Kong and the far western region of Xinjaing bordering Central Asia.
Defense Minister Wei Fenghe on Thursday issued a renewed threat against Taiwan days after U.S. naval warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait for the second time since July.
The U.S. and China are currently engaged in a tit-for-tat tariff war, and military tensions surrounding Taiwan could further complicate efforts at resolving the trade standoff.
• HSBC, Europe's largest bank, said on Monday its its third-quarter reported pre-tax profit jumped 28 percent from a year ago to $5.922 billion.
The bank's revenue for the July-to-September quarter was $13.798 billion, 6.32 percent higher than the same period a year ago.
Despite those improvements, the bank's reported pre-tax profit and revenue for the quarter slightly missed expectations, according to analyst forecasts compiled by data firm Refinitiv.
• Oil prices dipped on Monday amid cautious sentiment as a plunge in financial markets last week and dollar strength early this week underscored concerns that growth may be slowing, especially in Asia’s emerging economies.
Front-month Brent crude oil futures were trading down 39 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $77.23 a barrel at 0616 GMT.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $67.31 a barrel, down 28 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last settlement.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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