- The dollar index dropped 0.058 to 97.40. The AUD jumped over 50 pips to ahigh of 0.7240
- US treasury yields fell. 2 year yields fell by 4 points to 0.72% whilst 10 year yields fell by 5 points to 1.70%
- The yen was broadly softer early on Friday as demand for the safe-haven currency waned after a rebound in oil prices helped spur a rally on Wall Street.
- Orders for U.S. capital goods rebounded in January by the most since June 2014, representing a pause in manufacturing’s downturn.
- The Commerce Department said orders for durable goods, items ranging from toasters to aircraft meant to last three years or more, surged 4.9 percent last month, reversing December's 4.6 percent plunge. January's increase was the largest since March and beat economists' expectations for only a 2.5 percent rise.
New orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods in January rose by the most in 10 months as demand picked up broadly, offering a ray of hope for the downtrodden manufacturing sector.
* With the recent market turbulence front and center, investors are looking for reassurance from the G20 finance ministers and central bankers gathering in Shanghai for a two-day meeting starting Friday.
- U.S. oil prices rose above $32 a barrel in North America trade on Thursday, but concerns over a supply glut persisted after weekly stockpile data showed that U.S. oil inventories rose to an all-time high last week.
Crude oil for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange shed 3 cents, or 0.09%, to trade at $32.12 a barrel by 14:40GMT, or 9:40AM ET.
- Oil prices rose almost 4 percent Thursday after Venezuela announced a producers meeting in March to curb output.
Venezuela's oil minister said there would be an extensive meeting between his country and Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Russia in mid-March to take additional steps to trim output, after the four countries met in Doha earlier this month and agreed to freeze individual outputs at Jan. 11 levels.
Reference: Bloomberg, Reuters, MKS News, Investing, Dailysabah
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