• The dollar fell to a 13-month low against a trade-weighted basket of currencies on Monday, weighed down by softening U.S. Treasury yields and weak data that is undermining the case for a further rise in interest rates this year.
On Monday, the dollar index, measuring the currency's strength against a basket of other currencies, fell to 93.823, its lowest level since June 2016.
• The euro could be on track to hit $1.20 against the dollar before the year is out, according to analysts who say that it is set to ride a wave of improved euro zone data and weakening investor conviction in the U.S.
The single currency hit a two-year high of $1.1655 against the dollar Thursday after European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said the euro zone was showing signs of "unquestionable improvement" and pointed to plans to begin discussing possible changes to its quantitative easing (QE) program in the fall.
In early deals Friday it moved higher to $1.1668, up significantly from the low of $1.1488 seen in the immediate wake of the ECB's decision to keep interest rates on hold. Analysts suggest that the upwards momentum is set to continue.
• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces a grilling in parliament on Monday over a suspected scandal that has cut his ratings to their lowest since taking office in 2012 and after a candidate from his ruling party lost a mayoral election.
Several opinion polls have shown Abe's support below 30 percent and, while this does not immediately threaten his job, it does cloud the longer-term outlook.
• Sen. Al Franken wants Attorney General Jeff Sessions to come back and testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee after a report emerged Friday alleging that Mr. Sessions spoke to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.
• Prospects for tighter monetary policy in Europe and other countries could pose a fresh problem for the Federal Reserve when it meets next week to ponder its plan to reduce its $4.2 trillion bond portfolio purchased after the 2008 financial crisis.
Now, the European Central Bank (ECB) also appears likely to decide later this year on when to scale back its monthly bond purchases. When ECB President Mario Draghi first hinted at the prospect last month, world bond yields rose sharply for a while.
Moreover, Canada's central bank raised interest rates for the first time in seven years this month, and the Bank of England is expected to raise rates next year to combat rising inflation
• The International Monetary Fund kept its growth forecasts for the world economy unchanged for this year and next, although it revised up growth expectations for the eurozone and China.
In an updated World Economic Outlook published on Monday, the IMF said global gross domestic product would grow 3.5 percent in 2017 and 3.6 percent in 2018, unchanged from estimates issued in April.
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The IMF shaved its forecasts for U.S. growth to 2.1 percent for 2017 and 2018, slightly down from projections of 2.3 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively, just three months ago. The Fund reversed previous assumptions that the Trump administration's planned stimulus measures would boost U.S. growth, largely because no details of those plans have been made public.
The IMF said growth in the euro zone was now expected to be slightly stronger in 2018 and pointed to "solid momentum".
· Draghi did not set a time frame for tightening, however, analysts anticipate that the central bank could announce in September plans to reduce its asset buyback program from early 2018, before moving to gradually hiking interest rates from the following year.
"Investors believe that the ECB QE programme will go to 40 billion euros per month during the fourth quarter of 2017 and that the negative deposit rates will go. This has been my view for the last three months and I assume that QE will end in 2Q18," Bob Parker, investment committee member at Quilvest Investment Management, told CNBC via email Thursday.
• Oil prices gained on Monday after a steep fall the session before, buoyed by expectations that a joint OPEC and non-OPEC meeting later in the day may address rising output in Nigeria and Libya, two OPEC members so far exempt from a push to cut production.
Ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other non-OPEC producers gather in the Russian city of St Petersburg on Monday to discuss the pact to curb output by 1.8 million bpd through the end of March 2018.
London Brent crude for September delivery was up 12 cents at $48.18 a barrel by 0651 GMT. The contract settled down $1.24, or 2.5 percent, on Friday after a consultancy forecast a rise in OPEC production for July.
NYMEX crude for September delivery was up 7 cents at $45.84 a barrel.
Reference: Reuters
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