Reuters

U.S. House Republicans said late on Thursday they had made progress toward passing a short-term extension of government funding to avert a politically embarrassing shutdown.

Government agencies were warning U.S. employees on Thursday of a possible federal shutdown at midnight on Friday, as the Republican-controlled Congress and the White House scrambled to pass legislation to keep the lights on in Washington.

The Canadian dollar weakened against its American counterpart on Thursday, after comments by U.S. President Donald Trump the day before appeared to validate concerns that the United States looks increasingly likely to pull out from NAFTA.

The Trump administration is finalizing its long-awaited infrastructure plan, which would push most of the financing of projects to private investment and state and local taxpayers, according to sources familiar with the proposal taking shape.

U.S. homebuilding fell more than expected in December, recording its biggest drop in just over a year, amid a steep decline in the construction of single-family housing units following two months of hefty gains.

European shares notched up modest gains on Thursday, failing to match a rally that lifted Wall Street and Asia to new records.

China’s economy grew faster than expected in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, helped by a rebound in the industrial sector, a resilient property market and strong export growth.

Asian stocks struck record highs on Thursday, with a rally by Wall Street supporting bullish investor sentiment, while the dollar pulled back from three-year lows as comments by European Central Bank officials tempered the euro’s recent rally.

Japanese government bond prices dipped on Thursday, with the benchmark 10-year yield briefly hitting a six-month high, before reversing early losses to end flat on bargain-hunting.

The U.S. economy should grow at a good clip this year, boosted by tax cuts, two Fed officials said on Wednesday, though they disagreed on how close the economy is to overheating and the need for rate hikes this year.