Market News

Global trade-related news took its toll on the Kiwi last week. Will this week’s set of catalysts provide the comdoll some reprieve?

The United States has flouted trade rules with an inquiry into intellectual property and China will defend its interests, Vice Premier Liu He told U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a telephone call on Saturday, Chinese state media reported.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed Congress’ newly passed $1.3 trillion spending bill on Friday, ending several hours of confusion spurred by a tweeted veto threat that raised the specter of a government shutdown.

Canada’s annual inflation rate in February jumped to 2.2 percent from 1.7 percent in January, the highest level in more than three years, in part due to costlier gasoline, Statistics Canada said on Friday.

Today’s morning London session was rather wonky since the higher-yielding Kiwi outperformed its peers while the safe-havens Swissy and yen were at the bottom of the forex heap. By the way, did I mention that today is another risk-off day?

The threat of a global trade war sent stock markets sliding and investors rushing for the safety of currencies like the yen and government bonds on Friday, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs on up to $60 billion of Chinese goods.

With no major economic report on the docket, Asian session market players concentrated on the brewing trade war and its impact on the Asian markets.

U.S. President Donald Trump has temporarily excluded six countries, including Canada and Mexico, and European Union states from higher U.S. import duties on steel and aluminum meant to come into effect on Friday.

The rumblings of a global trade war shook stock and currency markets on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced long-promised tariffs on Chinese goods and China retaliated with a pledge to fight to the end any such war.

Oil prices jumped more than 1 percent on Friday, pushed up by Saudi plans for OPEC and Russian led production curbs introduced in 2017 to be extended into 2019 in order to tighten the market.

Trade war concerns just got real when U.S. President Trump signed a memorandum to impose tariffs on $60 billion worth of Chinese imports. Not surprisingly, higher-yielding currencies and U.S. equities took huge hits.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday that could impose tariffs on up to $60 billion of imports from China, although his action was far removed from threats that could have ignited a global trade war.

European Union leaders gave a cautious welcome on Thursday to news that U.S. President Donald Trump had decided not to apply tariffs to European steel and aluminum but said they were waiting for Washington to confirm that decision.

China is preparing a range of responses to planned U.S. tariffs and will stand up to protectionism, but it still hopes for dialog, Beijing’s ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO) said on Thursday.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, but the increase was marginal, suggesting strong job growth in March that should underpin consumer spending.

Today’s morning London session was a rather lively one, with lots of themes playing out. And the main themes are the euro’s broad-based weakness , the yen’s strength, and the pound’s volatile knee-jerk reaction to the BOE statement and minutes.

European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom expressed cautious optimism on Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump would exempt the European Union from import tariffs to be imposed on steel and aluminum.

Concerns around trade tariffs sent European shares tumbling to a two-week low on Thursday as the U.S. prepared to announce hefty tariffs on Chinese imports.

The U.S. Congress on Thursday was racing to approve a massive spending bill and send it to President Donald Trump for enactment before a midnight Friday government shutdown deadline, in a move that would significantly boost defense and non-military funding through Sept. 30.

China gingerly raised a key short-term interest rate on Thursday following the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank’s move overnight, in a symbolic reminder that Beijing is keeping an eye on global market trends even as it cracks down on financial risks at home.