Dollar near three-month high vs. yen, boosted by U.S. bond yields
The dollar traded close to a three-month high against the yen on Thursday, underpinned by higher U.S. bond yields and growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by the end of the year.
The market is now pricing in a 74-percent chance that the Fed will raise rates at its December meeting, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool, following a series of hawkish comments from Fed policymakers.
Those expectations have driven the dollar to nine-month highs against a basket of currencies this week, and it was up 0.1 percent on Thursday at 98.716, just off those highs.
China September industrial profit growth slows, signals fragile recovery
Profit growth in China's industrial firms slowed in September from the previous month's rapid pace as several sectors showed weak activity, suggesting the world's second-biggest economy remains underpowered despite emerging signs of stability.
Profits in September rose 7.7 percent to 577.1 billion yuan, slowing sharply from August's 19.5 percent jump, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on its website on Thursday.
Profits in industries such as electronics, steel and electricity were hit by a significant drop in growth, He Ping, a NBS official said in a note accompanying the data.
The August profit growth marked the fastest pace in three years, helped by Beijing's spurge on infrastructure projects and a booming real estate industry.
Total profits for the first nine months stood at 4.64 trillion yuan ($684.77 billion), up 8.4 percent from the same period a year ago, the same pace as in the January to August period.
Oil prices rise on Venezuela protests, strong Asian demand
Oil prices rose on Thursday, lifted by concerns over Venezuela's stability as well as by firm demand in Asia, although doubts over OPEC's ability to organize a coordinated production cut still weighed on markets.
International Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were trading at $50.16 per barrel at 0620 GMT (2:20 a.m. ET) on Thursday, up 18 cents, or 0.36 percent, from their last close.
WTI futures CLc1 were at $49.33 per barrel, up 15 cents, or 0.31 percent, from their previous settlement.
Reference: Reuters
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