• The U.S. dollar rose to its highest level in almost two weeks against its major rivals on Tuesday, after President Donald Trump said that he would push ahead with tariffs on Chinese goods, fuelling concern about world trade tensions.
Sterling was the weakest performing major currency, falling across the board after Trump said the agreement on the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union may make trade between the United States and Britain more difficult.
Separately, Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he expected to move ahead with raising tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports to 25 percent from 10 percent currently.
The dollar index, which measures the dollar's value against six other major currencies, rose 0.32 percent to 97.39, its highest level in almost two weeks.
The euro dipped earlier to $1.1288, its lowest level since mid-November. It was last trading at 1.1291.
• President Donald Trump told The Washington Post on Tuesday that he's "not even a little bit happy" with his appointment Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve.
Trump told the Post, "So far, I'm not even a little bit happy with my selection of Jay," who he appointed earlier this year. The president told the newspaper that he thinks the U.S. central bank is "way off-base with what they're doing."
Trump's comments to the Post come a day before Powell's highly anticipated comments at the Economic Club of New York on Wednesday. The Fed chair is unlikely to signal any significant changes to the central bank's existing rate hike projections. The market generally expects the Federal Open Market Committee to raise its benchmark interest rate in its December meeting.
• The world's second-largest economy remains on track to be one of the fastest-growing globally, according to Jing Ulrich, managing director and vice chairman for Asia Pacific at J.P. Morgan Chase.
"The important thing to note is the Chinese economy may be bending. It is not breaking," Ulrich said Tuesday at CNBC's East Tech West conference in the Nansha district of Guangzhou, China.
She said the firm expects China's economy to slow from 6.6 percent to 6.1 percent next year. Beijing's efforts to reduce reliance on debt for growth, an increase in uncertainty among consumers and an investment slowdown in areas such as real estate are all contributing to the slowdown, Ulrich said.
However, a growth rate above 6 percent would still mark one of the fastest in the world, and would top the U.S., which grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the third quarter.
Ulrich added she expects the U.S. economy to slow next year, as corporate profit growth slows and the stimulative effects of tax cuts wear out.
• China is going to this week’s G-20 summit hoping for a deal to ease a damaging trade war with the United States, Beijing’s ambassador to Washington said on Tuesday, while warning of dire consequences if U.S. hardliners try to separate the world’s two largest economies.
Asked whether he thought hardliners in the White House were seeking to separate the closely linked U.S. and Chinese economies, Cui said he did not think it was possible or helpful to do so, adding: “I don’t know if people really realize the possible consequences - the impact, the negative impact - if there is such a decoupling.”
Asked whether he thought the current tensions, which have seen the two sides impose tit-for-tat tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of goods, could degenerate into all-out conflict, Cui called the outcome “unimaginable” and the two countries should do everything to prevent it.
• The U.S. ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, said that Britain’s exit from the European Union is for the British people to decide, but the United States remains keen to work out a trade deal with the UK, The Times reported on Tuesday, citing an essay written by Johnson for the newspaper.
The British government and the Bank of England are likely to step up their warnings on Wednesday of a hit to the economy from a no-deal Brexit, potentially helping Prime Minister Theresa May to tackle deep opposition to her plan.
Carney said last week that the impact of leaving the bloc without a transition could be akin to the 1970s oil crisis for the world’s fifth-biggest economy.
But the prospect remains of a disruptive Brexit, given the scale of opposition to May’s plan in parliament where it faces a vote on Dec. 11.
• British Prime Minister Theresa May will take her Brexit sales pitch to Scotland on Wednesday, where she will likely face an uphill struggle to convince sceptical voters of the benefits of her deal for businesses and the fishing industry.
“It is a deal that is good for Scottish employers and which will protect jobs,” she will say, adding that the accord created a new free trade area defining an “unprecedented economic relationship that no other major economy has.”
“At the same time, we will be free to strike our own trade deals around the world – providing even greater opportunity to Scottish exporters.”
May needs to win a vote in parliament on Dec. 11 to approve her deal but that looks difficult with an apparent large majority of lawmakers - including the Scottish National Party which has 35 of Scotland’s 59 seats in parliament - opposed to it.
• Brent crude LCOc1 futures fell 27 cents to settle at $60.21 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures fell 7 cents to settle at $51.56 a barrel.
Prices fell to their lowest since October 2017 last week - Brent at $58.41 and WTI at $50.15.
Both crude benchmarks are down more than 30 percent since early October, depressed by an emerging supply overhang and widespread financial market weakness.
Oil prices dipped on Tuesday, weighed down by uncertainty over the U.S.-China trade war and signs of increased global crude production, but losses were limited by expectations that crude exporters would agree to cut output at an upcoming OPEC meeting.
• U.S. President Donald Trump is open to a trade deal with China but is prepared to hike tariffs on Chinese imports if there is no breakthrough on longstanding trade irritants during a Saturday night dinner with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Tuesday.
The White House sees the dinner as an opportunity to “turn the page” on a trade war with China. But he said the White House has been disappointed so far in the Chinese response to trade issues.
• Market participants looked ahead to a meeting of leaders of the Group of 20 nations (G20), the world’s biggest economies, on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, with the trade war between Washington and Beijing top of the agenda.
The top three crude producers, Russia, the United States and Saudi Arabia, will be at the G20 Summit, raising expectations that oil policy will be discussed.
• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is willing to allow inspectors into the reclusive country’s main nuclear complex in Yongbyon, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday, citing a senior diplomatic source.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters