· The dollar edged lower for a third consecutive day on Friday as stronger-than-expected U.S. inflation data failed to shake convictions that the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates at a policy meeting later this month.
Against a basket of other currencies .DXY, the dollar fell 0.1% to 96.94 and was on track for its biggest weekly drop in three weeks.
· “Cutting interest rates when inflation data is weakening makes sense, but signaling a dovish stance when inflation is rising is a bit weird and suggests there are political pressures weighing on the Fed,” said Ulrich Leuchtmann, the head of currency research at Commerzbank.
· The euro EUR=EBS got a boost from a selloff in the German bond market, rising 0.1% to $1.1270.
· Comments by Chicago Fed President Charles Evans scheduled later on Friday and New York Fed President John Williams on Monday will provide a chance to gauge how dovish the central bank is, said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief forex strategist at Mizuho Securities.
· U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that China was not living up to promises it made on buying agricultural products from American farmers as the world’s two largest economies work to resolve a trade dispute.
“Mexico is doing great at the Border, but China is letting us down in that they have not been buying the agricultural products from our great Farmers that they said they would. Hopefully they will start soon!” Trump said on Twitter.
· A Koch Industries executive was prevented from leaving the immediate vicinity of his hotel in southern China in early June, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing three sources.
In the days that followed, the unnamed Chinese-American executive was interrogated about topics including U.S.-China trade tensions, and was not allowed to leave the country until the State Department intervened, the Times report said.
The detention plays into growing fears among American businesspeople about harassment from Chinese authorities. In October, a banker with Switzerland-based UBS was prevented from leaving China in order to meet with Chinese officials.
In January, the State Department issued a travel advisory warning Americans to “exercise increased caution” when traveling to China, due to Beijing’s occasional attempts to prevent U.S. citizens from leaving the country. China subsequently made a similar announcement to its citizens about travel to the United States.
· South Korea called on Friday for an international investigation of what it said were accusations by Japanese officials that it had passed some high-tech materials imported from Japan on to North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions.
· Iran called on Britain on Friday to immediately release an oil tanker that British Royal Marines seized last week on suspicion it was breaking European sanctions by taking oil to Syria, a foreign ministry spokesman told state news agency IRNA.
Britain said on Thursday that three Iranian vessels tried to block a British-owned tanker passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which controls the flow of Middle East oil to the world, but backed off when confronted by a Royal Navy warship.
· The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects the return of an oversupplied oil market next year, despite the recent rollover of an OPEC-led pact designed to restrain any glut.
· Oil prices hovered near six-week highs on Friday and was on track for a weekly gain as U.S. oil producers in the Gulf of Mexico cut more than half their output because of a tropical storm and as tensions continued to simmer in the Middle East.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures were up 57 cents, or 0.9%, at $67.09 per barrel by 0642 GMT. The international benchmark settled down 0.7% on Thursday after hitting its highest since May 30 at $67.65.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures were up 46 cents, or 0.8%, at $60.66 a barrel. In the previous session, the U.S. benchmark rose to as much as $60.94, its highest since May 23.
Brent prices have climbed 4.4% this week, while WTI prices rose 5.4%. Both the benchmark crudes posted declines last week.
By Thursday, oil companies in the Gulf of Mexico had cut more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of output, or 53% of the region’s production, due to Tropical Storm Barry which could make landfall Saturday on the Louisiana coast.
· CRUDE OIL TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
Crude oil prices have stalled at resistance in the 60.04-84 zone after breaking trend line resistance set from late April. The setup hints the uptrend late-December 2018 lows has resumed. A push higher from here targets the 63.59-64.43 congestion area. A series of back-to-back support levels runs down through 54.84, with a turn back below that opening the door to retest the $50/bbl figure.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC, Daily FX
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