• MTS Economic News_20181211

    11 Dec 2018 | Economic News

• The pound’s slide was a boon for the dollar, which rallied back from a 2-1/2-week low against a basket of currencies initially driven by a growing view the Federal Reserve could pause its rate hike cycle sooner than previously thought.

The dollar index, a measure of the greenback’s strength versus a group of six major peers, advanced 0.75 percent on Monday and was back firmly above97.00. At one stage in overnight trade it had fallen to 96.364, its lowest since Nov. 22.

The pound struggled near a 20-month low against the dollar on Tuesday after British Prime Minister Theresa May postponed a crucial vote on her Brexit deal.

Sterling was little changed at $1.2565 GBP=D4 after slumping 1.3 percent the previous day, when the currency brushed $1.2507, its lowest since April 2017.

The euro was flat at $1.1354 EUR= after shedding 0.2 percent on Monday.

• May on Monday postponed a parliamentary vote, which was due to take place on Tuesday, on her Brexit deal to seek more concessions. The move stoked more uncertainty as Britain now faces Brexit without a deal, a last-minute agreement or another EU referendum.

• British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday postponed a parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal to seek more concessions but the European Union refused to renegotiate and lawmakers doubted her chances of winning big changes.

• Prime Minister Theresa May will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday to discuss the concerns expressed by British lawmakers over her Brexit deal, her office said on Monday.

May is meeting other EU leaders to try to secure assurances to ease concerns in parliament over her agreement to leave the European Union after she abruptly delayed a vote on the deal.

• France’s President Emmanuel Macron on Monday announced wage rises for the poorest workers and tax cuts for pensioners in further concessions meant to defuse weeks of often violent protests that have challenged his authority.

• The Federal Reserve’s plans to continue raising interest rates next year were met with more skepticism on Wall Street on Monday, with futures traders betting on a pause and one major bank partially walking back a hawkish prediction.

The U.S. central bank is still seen raising rates a notch next week in a nod to a hot labor market and economy running well above potential even as inflation remains at target. Yet two volatile months in financial markets and signs of an overseas slowdown have raised doubts the Fed can carry through with the three rate hikes its officials have predicted for 2019.

The sharp tightening of financial conditions convinced Goldman Sachs’ chief economist that the U.S. central bank is now more likely to pause its rate hikes in March, before continuing with three more hikes later in 2019. Goldman had previously predicted four rate hikes next year, far more than that implied by financial markets.

• “We think the probability of a move in March has now fallen to slightly below 50 percent,” Goldman’s Jan Hatzius wrote in a note on Monday. But “we see a return to quarterly hikes in June that last through the end of 2019.”

• Oil prices fell 3 percent on Monday, echoing the weakness in global stock markets as the focus returned to demand growth concerns. Crude prices erased the gains they made on Friday following an OPEC-led decision to cut output.

Losses in Europe and Asia extended to Wall Street on new signs the U.S.-China trade spat was impacting world economic growth.

The market was also weighed down by confusion stemming from British Prime Minister Theresa May's postponement of a parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal and sluggish data from the world's largest economies including the U.S, China, Japan and Germany in recent days.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude ended Monday's session down $1.61, or 3.1 percent, at $51 a barrel. International Brent crude oil futures fell $1.68, or2.7 percent, to $59.99 a barrel by 2:20 p.m. ET.


Reference: CNBC, Reuters


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