• It would be "quite challenging" for the United States to reach the 3 percent growth target set by President Donald Trump, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told a Senate panel on Thursday in a hearing focused on regulatory reform and a discussion of lagging productivity.
Trump has pledged to boost annual growth to 3 percent, the average for much of the last 70 years, and predicated an earlier tax plan on reaching that figure.
She also indicated the Fed agreed with some of the suggested changes to the current bank regulatory system that congressional Republicans and the administration have advocated, such as easing the strict Volcker rule on bank securities trading, and limiting application of the most stringent regulations to only the very largest institutions.
However the Senate panel pressed her for ideas about boosting economic growth, asking whether Trump's goal is achievable, and whether things like tax reform in particular might help.
• Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan on Thursday advocated a go-slow approach to further U.S. interest-rate hikes, saying he wants to see more evidence that inflation is heading back up to the Fed's 2-percent goal.
Kaplan said he believes that the U.S. economy will likely grow slightly faster than 2 percent this year, squeezing the remaining slack out of an already tightening labor market and putting upward pressure on inflation.
• The dollar trod water against a group of peers early on Friday, as currency investors remained cautious ahead of U.S. inflation data due later in the session, which is expected to set the greenback's near-term direction.
The dollar index against a basket of major currencies was flat at 95.766 .DXY, poised to end the week 0.25 percent lower.
The greenback was a shade higher at 113.425 yen JPY= but still some distance away from a four-month peak of 114.495 struck on Tuesday, while the euro was flat at $1.1403 EUR.
• HOT TOPIC: TRUMP’S NEWS
- New Senate Republicans healthcare bill already in trouble
Senate Republican leaders released on Thursday a revised plan to dismantle the Obamacare law, but it drew criticism from senators on both sides of the political divide within the Republican party, indicating a treacherous path for the bill.
- Trump spending plan will cut deficit but not balance budget: CBO
President Donald Trump's proposed government spending plan would reduce the federal deficit over the next decade but fail to balance the budget, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Thursday.
The 2018 fiscal year budget, unveiled in May, put numbers on Trump's vision of a government that would boost military spending while radically cutting assistance to lower-income Americans.
The annual budget deficit in 2027 would be about $720 billion under Trump's proposal, the CBO said in a report, not eliminated as promised by the White House, which has projected a $16 billion surplus.
- The White House plan to cut transportation spending, privatize air traffic control and scrap long-distance train service is facing strong resistance in Congress .
- Exclusive: U.S. asks nations to provide more traveler data or face sanctionsThe U.S. State Department will require all nations to provide extensive data to help it vet visa applicants and determine whether a traveler poses a terrorist threat, according to a cable obtained by Reuters.
Countries that fail to comply with the new protocols or take steps to do so within 50 days could face travel sanctions.
- Trump administration reduces royalty rates in first U.S. oil, gas lease sale
The Trump administration announced its first offshore oil and gas lease sale on Thursday, offering 76 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico and reduced royalty rates for shallow water leases to encourage drilling at a time of low oil prices.
- Trump says he is considering quotas, tariffs on Chinese steel dumping
U.S. President Donald Trump said he is considering quotas and tariffs to deal with the "big problem" of steel dumping from China and others.
"They're dumping steel and destroying our steel industry, they've been doing it for decades, and I'm stopping it. It'll stop," he told reporters on Air Force One during a flight from the United States to France.
- Trump says wall may not need to cover entire U.S.-Mexico border
President Donald Trump said the wall he wants to build on the 2,000-mile (3,200-km) U.S.-Mexico frontier may not need to cover the entire border because of existing natural barriers, according to remarks released by the White House on Thursday.
- Trump says he would invite Putin to White House, but not now
- Trump says 'something could happen' on climate accord
President Donald Trump held the door open to a reversal of his decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord on Thursday, but did not say what he would need in return to persuade him to do so.
-Trump to get a range of options to curb steel imports: senators
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday he will present to President Donald Trump a range of options to restrict steel imports on national security grounds, according to senators who met with Ross.
• U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday urged President Donald Trump's eldest son to testify to a congressional committee about alleged links between Trump's team and Russia in the 2016 presidential election campaign.
• Oil prices rose 1.3 percent on Thursday after much stronger demand in China overshadowed a downbeat report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that showed higher production by key OPEC exporters.
Brent crude LCOc1 settled up 68 cents or 1.42 percent at $48.42 a barrel. U.S. light crude CLc1 settled up 59 cents at $46.08 a barrel.
Reference: Reuters
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