Consumer confidence jumped more than forecast this month as Americans expressed the sunniest picture of their financial situation in 11 years, extending a boost following Donald Trump’s election victory.
The University of Michigan said Friday that its preliminary index of sentiment rose to 98, the highest since January 2015, from 93.8 in November. The median projection in a Bloomberg survey called for 94.5. The current conditions index, which measures Americans’ perceptions of their personal finances, increased by 4.8points to 112.1, the highest since 2005.
Estimates in the Bloomberg survey of economists for the Michigan index ranged from 92.5 to 100. December’s reading compares with the average of 91.3 in the first 11 months of this year.
The dollar eased against the yen on Tuesday, coming off a 10-month high, as a surge in Treasury yields was tempered for the time being. The U.S currency was also capped by the prevailing wait-and-see mood ahead of the Fed meet. [USD/]
U.S. Treasury yields have recently spiked on expectations that the Trump administration will enact policies to spark growth and inflation. In addition to these expectations, surging crude oil prices have also stoked inflation expectations.
On Monday, the yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes <US10YT=RR> touched 2.528 percent, its highest since Sept. 29, 2014. It stood at 2.460 percent on Tuesday.
Higher yields in turn lifted the dollar, which climbed as high as 116.120 yen <JPY=> on Monday, its highest since early February. But it was last down 0.2 percent at 114.83 yen.
U.S.-based investment banks should see higher profits than their European peers during 2017 as president-elect Donald Trump enacts his proposed tax cuts, JP Morgan said in a report on Monday.
Investment into U.K. real estate during 2016 hit its weakest level since 2012 and is set for a poorer result still in the year ahead, according to global property services adviser CBRE.
The firm expects total investment in the U.K. for 2016 to amount to £49 billion ($61.9 billion), representing a 30 percent tumble on last year's record of £69 billion.
The CBRE pointed to fears surrounding the global economy and Brexit as the key reasons for the slowdown,with further factors including Chinese financial market turbulence and reduced global capital flows as secondary drivers.
Brent crude futures were up $1.33, or 2.5 percent, at $55.66 per barrel by 2:36 p.m. ET (1936 GMT), having hit a session peak of $57.89, the highest since July 2015.
U.S. crude futures were up $1.33, or 2.6 percent, at $52.83 a barrel. They earlier touched $54.51, also a high going back to July 2015.
Oil rose by as much as 6.5 percent on Monday to an 18-month high after OPEC and some of its rivals reached their first deal since 2001 to jointly reduce output to try to tackle global oversupply.
On Saturday, producers from outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, led by Russia, agreed to reduce output by 558,000 bpd, short of the target of 600,000 bpd but still the largest contribution by non-OPEC ever.
Reference: CNBC, Bloomberg, The Globe and mail
Thai
Eng