• Sterling steadied on Monday as British Prime Minister Theresa May scrambled to pick up the pieces and reunite her Conservative Party after a disastrous election that could disrupt Brexit negotiations.
Sterling last traded at $1.2743 GBP=D3, little changed on the day, after sliding 1.7 percent on Friday, its biggest one-day drop in about eight months.
The euro edged up 0.1 percent to $1.1207 EUR=, staying below a seven-month high of $1.1285 set in early June.
• The dollar index had risen to as high as 97.500 on Friday, its strongest level since May 30, and up from its June 7 trough of 96.511, which was its lowest level in nearly seven months.
• A key focus for markets this week is the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting that ends on Wednesday.
With the Fed widely expected to raise interest rates, investors' focus will be on any fresh hints on the pace of further tightening in the months to come and next year, and any details on its plans for trimming its balance sheet.
• British Prime Minister Theresa May's top two aides quit on Saturday after her Conservative Party failed to win a majority in a national election. Nick Timothy, May's co-chief of staff, said on the ConservativeHome website that he stepped down on Friday, while the BBC reported that Fiona Hill had also quit.
• Britain's opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Sunday there could be another election this year or early in 2018 after the vote on Thursday produced no clear winner.
• Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May is trying to reach an agreement with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party to form a minority government.
• British consumers cut their spending for the first time in nearly four years last month, figures from credit card firm Visa showed, as households turned more cautious even before last week's shock election result.
• Prime Minister Theresa May's office said on Sunday there had been no change to plans for U.S. President Donald Trump's to come to Britain on a state visit, after the Guardian newspaper reported the trip had been postponed.
No date has been set for the visit, which was agreed during May's visit to Washington in January, but British media had reported it was planned for October.
• U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday denied he tried to interfere with an FBI investigation, effectively accusing James Comey, the FBI's former director, of lying under oath to Congress.
Comey delivered scathing remarks about the president on Thursday at a congressional hearing and testified that Trump had asked him to drop a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into former aide Michael Flynn and his alleged ties to Russia.
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday that putting up walls will not solve problems caused by immigration, challenging one of U.S. President Donald Trump's core principles, during her visit to Mexico.
• Kuwait's foreign minister said on Sunday that Qatar was ready to listen to the concerns of other countries in the Gulf, state news agency KUNA reported, and that his country would continue its efforts to patch a rift within the Gulf.
"(Kuwait) affirms the readiness of the brothers in Qatar to understand the reality of the qualms and concerns of their brothers and to heed the noble endeavors to enhance security and stability," KUNA quoted the Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah as saying.
• U.S. special forces have joined the battle to crush Islamist militants holed up in a southern Philippines town, officials said on Saturday, as government forces struggled to make headway and 13 marines were killed in intense urban fighting.
• Oil prices rose on Friday after a pipeline stoppage in Nigeria, but crude still ended the week down nearly 4 percent on persistent worries about global oversupply.
Brent crude oil LCOc1 settled up 29 cents at $48.15 a barrel. U.S. crude CLc1 futures rose 19 cents to $45.83 a barrel. Both benchmarks posted weekly declines of nearly 4 percent, pressured by big U.S. inventories and heavy worldwide flows.
Reference: Reuters
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