GLOBAL FX-
The dollar was steady on Friday, having regained some traction against its peers after stronger-than-expected U.S. inflation data tempered the prospect of an aggressive Federal Reserve interest rate cut later this month.The core U.S. consumer price index excluding food and energy components rose 0.3% in June, the largest increase since January 2018, data on Thursday showed The signs of a pick-up in underlying inflation, along with separate data on weekly jobless claims showing the labor market remained solid, curbed financial market expectations of a more aggressive 50 basis point cut at the Fed’s July 30-31 meeting.
Singapore reported dismal preliminary second quarter growth data on Friday, including the slowest pace of annual expansion in a decade, raising bets that a recession and monetary policy easing could be coming The quarter’s 0.1% gross domestic product (GDP) expansion was below the 1.1% forecast in a Reuters poll and the slowest annual growth since 2009’s second quarter, when it fell 1.2%.
Three Iranian vessels tried to block a British-owned tanker passing through the strait that controls the flow of Middle East oil to the world, but backed off when confronted by a Royal Navy warship, Britain said on Thursday A week after Britain seized an Iranian tanker accused of violating sanctions on Syria, London said the British Heritage, operated by oil company BP, had been approached in the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and the Arabian peninsula Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed as “worthless” the allegation that Iran sought to block the ship.
As trade talks resume between China and the United States, President Donald Trump’s advisers are confident he can portray his stance against Beijing as a strength in the 2020 election, despite making concessions and having no deal in sight Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in Japan last month to another truce in the year-long trade war between the world’s two largest economies, thanks largely to Trump’s promise not to impose new tariffs on Chinese goods and to ease restrictions on technology company Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.
The Los Angeles and Long Beach port complex, the nation’s busiest and the No. 1 for ocean trade with China, - handled 5.1%fewer inbound containers of cargo in June, as the trade standoff between Washington and Beijing disrupts global supply chains Imports to the smaller Port of Long Beach dropped 13.7% from June 2018, more than offsetting the 3.5% gain at the Port of Los Angeles, which processed 396,306.5 20-foot equivalent units, a standardized maritime measurement for counting cargo containers.
Indian and U.S. trade negotiators will meet on Friday, with little sign of a compromise on a series of protectionist measures taken by the two governments in recent months that have strained ties between the strategic partners U.S. President Donald Trump has been putting pressure on India to do more to open its markets, saying this week again on Twitter its high tariffs were “unacceptable”.
Mexico sees a push to close a dispute resolution loophole in the USMCA trade deal as a way to protect its interests as well as helping satisfy demands by U.S. Democrats that the deal contain stricter labor measures, a senior official said on Thursday Reuters reported last week that Mexico was working closely with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to close a loophole in the new United States-Mexico-Canada trade deal that allows a country to refuse to form a dispute panel.
Asian shares veered between small losses and gains on Friday as investors awaited key China trade and lending data, and as worries over Sino-U.S. trade tensions countered optimism rooted in expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut this month Later on Friday, China will release June trade data, with analysts expecting exports to have fallen as weakening global demand and a sharp hike in U.S. tariffs took a heavier toll on the world’s largest trading nation.
Oil prices rose on Friday, hovering near six-week highs, as U.S. oil producers in the Gulf of Mexico cut more than half their output in the face of a tropical storm and as tensions continued to simmer in the Middle East Brent crude LCOc1 futures were up 29 cents, or 0.4%, at $66.81 per barrel by 0300 GMT. The international benchmark settled down 0.7% on Thursday after hitting its highest since May 30 at $67.52 a barrel.