• The euro held near a three-week high against the U.S. dollar on Thursday as some traders shut down broad bets against the common currency ahead of the first round of the French presidential elections on Sunday. The euro EUR=EBS was marginally higher at $1.07185 early on Friday. On Thursday, it jumped to 1.0778, its highest level since March 29.
• Traders were taking their cues from polls showing French centrist Emmanuel Macron easily beating far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the second round two weeks later, analysts said.
"Markets are banking on (Macron's) ability to drive the country out of its misery," said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst for Think Markets in London.
Pollsters forecast the most likely outcome of the first round is that Macron will go head-to-head against Le Pen in the May 7 second round.
• The dollar shook off early weakness to trade little changed against a basket of major currencies as the latest data on domestic jobless claims and business activity in the mid-Atlantic region did not change traders' views of modest U.S. economic growth and low inflation.
The dollar index, was up 0.06 percent at 99.796, after hitting a more than three-week low of 99.374 earlier in the session.
• A French policeman was shot dead and two others were wounded in central Paris on Thursday night in an attack carried out days before presidential elections and quickly claimed by the Islamic State militant group.
• New applications for U.S. jobless benefits rose slightly more than expected last week, but a drop in the number of Americans on unemployment rolls to a 17-year low suggested the labor market continues to tighten.
• Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 244,000 for the week ended April 15, the Labor Department said. The increase followed three straight weeks of declines.
• President Donald Trump on Thursday launched a trade probe against China and other exporters of cheap steel into the U.S. market, raising the possibility of new tariffs and sending shares of some U.S. steel makers up over 8 percent.
• U.S. President Donald Trump will sign on Friday an executive order on finding and reducing tax burdens and two memoranda ordering reviews of financial corporate regulations, a White House official said on Thursday.
• Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the country's economy is performing well but warned that geopolitical risks including escalating tensions with North Korea were clouding the global growth outlook, according to an interview with Bloomberg Television.
"There are a lot of geopolitical risks. But I do think leaders, including the U.S. leader, will deal with it in a good way," Kuroda was quoted as saying in the interview in New York on Thursday.
• Oil prices ended mixed on Thursday after a seesaw trading session, as investors weighed rising U.S. production against geopolitical uncertainties and comments from leading Gulf oil producers that an extension to OPEC-led supply cuts was likely.
The benchmark U.S. crude contract, West Texas Intermediate futures, settled down 17 cents for a fourth straight day of losses, to $50.27 a barrel. Brent futures posted modest gains, however, ending up 6 cents to$52.99 a barrel.
• OPEC members Saudi Arabia and Kuwait signaled that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers, including Russia, would likely extend their oil output cut beyond June.
Reference: Reuters
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