MTS Economic News_20170725

MTS News

MTS Economic News_20170725

25 Jul 2017


 

• The dollar surrendered short-lived gains on Tuesday as concerns about the U.S. economy and politics returned to the fore ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting, while a lack of catalysts kept Asian stocks subdued.

The dollar fell 0.1 percent to 110.99 yen JPY=D4 on Tuesday, after touching a six-week low of 110.65 yen on Monday.

The dollar index .DXY, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major peers, pulled back a little to93.919 on Tuesday. It still remained above Monday's low of 93.823, its lowest level since June 2016.

• Market sentiment was also likely to remain subdued as investors awaited risk events, such as the outcome of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting and release of U.S. second-quarter GDP, due later in the week

• Uncertainty over the Trump administration's policies was expected to weigh on the dollar in the near term, OANDA senior trader Stephen Innes told CNBC.

Market sentiment was also likely to remain subdued as investors awaited risk events, such as the outcome of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting and release of U.S. second-quarter GDP, due later in the week, Innes said. Particularly of note would be the Federal Reserve's outlook on inflation, he added.

• The weaker dollar could give Wall Street's bull more room to run, and boost the earnings growth of multinationals and commodities companies in the second half of the year.

With the latest drubbing, strategists have been taking a look at the impact of the slumping dollar on corporate profits, and it could provide an unexpected windfall. The U.S. Dollar index is down 8 percent so far this year, and the S&P 500 is already up 10.3 percent.

• Sen. John McCain's office said Monday evening that the senator would return to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.

That follows the news last week that the longtime politician had been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

"Senator McCain looks forward to returning to the United States Senate tomorrow to continue working on important legislation, including health care reform, the National Defense Authorization Act, and new sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea," the office said in a statement.

• Jared Kushner on Monday firmly denied collusion with Russia during the 2016 election and said that his actions while serving on his father-in-law's campaign were "proper."

"The record and documents I have voluntarily provided will show that all of my actions were proper and occurred in the normal course of events of a very unique campaign," Kushner said outside the White House.

• Bank of Japan policymakers contested how much information to disclose about a possible exit from quantitative easing, with several worrying about the risks of doing so given the BOJ is still far off its 2 percent inflation goal, minutes of the central bank's June 15-16 meeting showed on Tuesday.

Some members said the BOJ needed to clearly explain how it would manage policy and how an exit would impact the central bank's finances, the minutes showed.

• China's economy is likely to grow at an annual rate of around 6.7 percent in the second half of 2017, slowing slightly from the first half of the year, the State Information Center (SIC) said on Tuesday.

It forecast full-year growth in the world's second largest economy of around 6.8 percent, it was reported as saying by the the state-owned China Securities Journal.

The SIC said the small decline would reflect a number of factors including a slowdown in export growth and a cooling of investment in the real estate market.

"The emerging service industry will maintain good growth momentum," said the SIC.

China's economy grew 6.9 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, slightly faster than expected, supported by a government infrastructure spending spree and a red-hot housing market.

• Oil prices extended gains on Tuesday after Saudi Arabia pledged to curb exports from next month and OPEC called on several members to boost compliance with output cuts to help rein in oversupply and tackle flagging prices.

Gains were also supported by a warning from Halliburton's executive chairman that the growth in North America's rig count was "showing signs of plateauing," a possible threat to U.S. shale oil production.

Global benchmark Brent crude for September delivery LCOc1 was up 22 cents, or 0,5 percent, at $48.82 a barrel by 0705 GMT after settling up 1.1 percent in the previous session.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures CLc1 were up 23 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $46.57 a barrel.


Reference: Reuters

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