MTS Help Center

  

· Dollar supported by haven demand after retail frenzy bruises risk sentiment

The safe-haven dollar found support at the start of a new week with traders remaining wary amid the battle on Wall Street between hedge funds and retail investors.

Wrangling over the size of President Joe Biden’s fiscal stimulus package and delays to vaccine rollouts also weighed on sentiment, stoking demand for safer assets.

The dollar index was little changed at 90.58 early on Monday, holding on to last week’s gain of about half a percent, as Asian stocks traded weaker for a fifth session.

The gauge has been largely range-bound in recent weeks, after bouncing from a nearly three-year low of 89.206 at the start of the year.

Investors are trying to evaluate whether an almost 7% selloff in 2020 -- driven by expectations of a global pandemic recovery amid massive fiscal spending and continued ultra-easy monetary policy -- is likely to continue.

A group of Republican senators are urging Biden, a Democrat, to significantly downsize his proposed $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package, and have floated a $600 billion alternative.

Elsewhere, Wall Street is bracing for more volatility after retail investor groups that organised via social media targeted hedge fund short positions, with some traders worried that the wild swings in GameStop and other stocks could foreshadow a market correction.

The dollar slipped 0.1% to 104.63 yen, further retreating from the 2-1/2-month high of 104.94 touched on Friday.

The euro was little changed at $1.2132, as it continued to dither in a narrow range.

· 10 Republican senators present Biden with smaller Covid stimulus proposal, call for compromise

A group of 10 Republican senators called on President Joe Biden to consider a smaller, alternative Covid-19 relief proposal as his administration works to pass a $1.9 trillion package to address the economic fallout triggered by the pandemic.

In a letter to Biden on Sunday, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah, Rob Portman of Ohio, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and five other lawmakers said they would unveil their proposed legislation on Monday.

“We recognize your calls for unity and want to work in good faith with your administration to meet the health, economic, and societal challenges of the Covid crisis,” the senators wrote.

“With your support, we believe Congress can once again craft a relief package that will provide meaningful, effective assistance to the American people and set us on a path to recovery,” the group wrote asking for a meeting with Biden in order to discuss the proposed legislation in greater detail.

The Republican senators explained that their version of the Covid relief package provides “more targeted assistance” to Americans with the greatest need. The proposed legislation asks for a total of $160 billion for vaccine development and distribution, testing and tracing, treatment as well as other crucial supplies.

The senators laid out the following details of their plan:

* An additional round of economic impact payments for families who need assistance the most including their dependent children and adults.

* Extends enhanced federal unemployment benefits at the current level.

* Fully funds nutrition assistance to help struggling families.

* Additional resources to help small businesses and their employees through the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program.

* Funds resources for opening schools safely and for child care.

* Provides $4 billion to bolster behavioral health and substance abuse services.

On Sunday, Portman told CNN’s “State of the Union” that the proposal would be a slimmer version of what was presented by the Biden administration.

“It’d be less than $1.9 [trillion] because much of what the administration has laid out has nothing to do with Covid-19,” Portman explained. “As an example, with regard to the direct payments, we think they should be much more targeted,” he added.

*In a Twitter post on Sunday, Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen echoed the administration’s call for Congress to act as soon as possible.*

· Ohio Senator Rob Portman makes the case for "more targeted" stimulus package

10 Republican Senators, including Ohio’s Rob Portman, requested a meeting with the Biden administration on Sunday to discuss COVID-19 relief measures.

The GOP senators are proposing a $600 billion coronavirus relief package.

President Biden has called for a $1.9 trillion plan.

Portman made an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, speaking on several topics, including coronavirus relief.

· Biden agrees to meeting with GOP senators on Covid relief

President Joe Biden has agreed to hear out a group of Republicans senators who made a last-ditch effort Sunday to engage him on the next coronavirus relief package.

After 10 Republican senators requested a meeting with Biden to begin bipartisan negotiations on the next coronavirus relief bill, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Sunday night that the president had agreed to their ask. Biden spoke to Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) "and invited her and other signers of the letter to come to the White House early this week for a full exchange of views," Psaki said.

A tweet from the US Republican Senator Susan Collins cited that President Joe Bidden is set to meet with 10 Republican senators on Monday at 2200 GMT to discuss a compromise stimulus package worth $600 million, as proposed by them.

· Health Minister Jens Spahn says there is no obstacle to the use of the Sputnik V and Sinopharm vaccines if they receive EU approval. Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to hold a summit Monday to overcome a vaccine shortage.

· Covid-19 vaccines 'have been offered to all older people in England's care homes', says NHS

· 19 deaths and 426 new cases of Covid-19 confirmed in Northern Ireland

· China's software, IT service sector posts 2020 profit growth

China's software and information technology (IT) service industry reported a 7.8-percent year-on-year increase in combined profits last year, official data showed.

The sector's total profits reached nearly 1.07 trillion yuan (about 165.4 billion U.S. dollars), according to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Last year, the software and IT service sector raked in an accumulated revenue of 8.16 trillion yuan, up 13.3 percent from one year earlier.

The sector's exports dipped 2.4 percent on a year-on-year basis to 47.87 billion U.S. dollars.

· Xiaomi sues U.S. to overturn Chinese military designation and share investment ban

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has sued the U.S., seeking to to be removed from Washington’s blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies, which prev

· Japan expected to extend COVID-19 state of emergency: sources

Japan is expected to extend a state of emergency on Tuesday to fight the spread of COVID-19 for Tokyo and other areas, three sources with knowledge of the legal procedures said on Monday.

The government will decide on the extension after a meeting of its experts panel on Tuesday, with the emergency period in prefectures including the Tokyo area expected to run for another month, the sources said.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is expected to hold a news conference on Tuesday, one source told Reuters.

· Taiwan’s economy outgrows China’s for the first time in 30 years, as chips demand soars

Taiwan unexpectedly became Asia’s top-performing economy last year — and outgrew China for the first time in 30 years.

It came as strong global demand for the island’s tech exports outweighed the hit from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Taiwanese economy grew 2.98% in 2020 compared to a year ago, advance estimates by the island’s statistics office showed on Friday.

It beat the 2.58% forecast by its central bank and edged out Vietnam’s 2.9% growth. Some economists had predicted Vietnam would be Asia’s fastest-growing economy in 2020.

Taiwan’s expansion last year was also higher than China’s 2.3% full year growth in 2020. The island last outgrew its giant neighbor in 1990, when its 5.5% growth beat China’s 3.9%, official data from both sides showed.

· Germany sees a new tougher line on China and Russia as Merkel leaves the political stage

· Germany's stricter lockdown sinks retail sales in December

German retail sales plunged far more than expected in December as a decision to tighten lockdown measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 choked consumer spending in Europe’s largest economy at the end of the year, data showed on Monday.

The Federal Statistics Office said retail sales fell by an unprecedented 9.6% on the month in real terms after a downwardly revised increase of 1.1% in November.

This undershot a Reuters forecast for a drop of 2.6% and marked the steepest monthly drop since records began in 1994, the office said.

· ADB Provides $25 Million to Help Philippines Procure COVID-19 Vaccines

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has allocated $25 million to help the Philippine government purchase vaccines for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in 2021.

The financing will come from the $125 million Health System Enhancement to Address and Limit COVID-19 project, which ADB approved on 24 August 2020. It will allow the Philippine government to pay vaccine manufacturers in advance to secure the delivery of vaccines to its citizens. The country has reported more than 500,000 COVID-19 cases.

· India to double health-care spending to $30 billion in new budget aimed at reviving growth

· Myanmar military seizes power, detains elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar’s military seized power on Monday in a coup against the democratically elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained along with other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in early morning raids.

The army said it had carried out the detentions in response to “election fraud”, handing power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing and imposing a state of emergency for one year, according to a statement on a military-owned television station.

· Japan does not plan to repatriate nationals from Myanmar

Japan has no plans to repatriate its nationals from Myanmar, a foreign ministry official said on Monday, after Myanmar's military seized power from a democratically elected civilian government and arrested its leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar's army declared a state of emergency on Monday and said it had detained senior government leaders, accusing Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) of winning a landslide victory in the Nov 8 vote through "election fraud".

· Oil gains despite patchy vaccine rollouts, new coronavirus variants

Oil prices rose on Monday after a weak start, adding to the gains of the last three months, although patchy coronavirus vaccine rollouts, new infections and the discovery of new variants are casting a shadow over the outlook for demand.

Brent crude futures were up 36 cents, or 0.7%, at $55.40 a barrel by 0612 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained 24 cents, or 0.5%, to $52.44. Both benchmarks gained nearly 8% in January.

Oil prices have been boosted by vaccination programmes getting underway in hard-hit countries and output cuts by major producers like Saudi Arabia. But euphoria over a possible end to the pandemic has been undermined by the slow pace of vaccinations and the rise of new variants of the coronavirus.

Still, with more vaccines proving successful in trials and infections falling in some areas, demand for oil and fuel is likely to pick up as more of the world’s population gets inoculated against COVID-19.

Reference : Politico, The Journal, The National News, CNN, BBC, Japantoday