The US dollar staged a small but significant recovery on Friday, helped by favorable US corporate news and recovering risk appetites.
The euro fell to US$1.5814 around 9pm GMT from US$1.5886 late on Thursday.
The dollar rose to ¥103.66 from ¥102.48 on Thursday.
“The main force behind the latest reappearance of risk appetite was a new 2008 low in equity volatility yesterday on the back of constructive earnings releases and outlooks by CEOs,” analysts at UBS wrote in a client note. “In that respect today’s announcement by a major US bank of a Q1 loss that was near consensus and considerably lower than in Q4 was constructive enough to further boost risk appetite.”
The bank in question was Citigroup Inc, which reported a US$5.1 billion net loss in the first quarter, half the US$10 billion loss it suffered in the fourth quarter of last year.
To some extent the dollar along with the pound also got a boost as the central banks of both countries sought to put some distance between their support for mortgage and credit markets from monetary policy, in turn allowing them to sound more hawkish on inflation.
The Bank of England is finalizing a plan that would see it accepting mortgage-backed assets in exchange for Treasury gilts in order to kick-start interbank lending back to life, a measure adopted earlier by the US Federal Reserve.
The Fed’s program is allowing rate-setters to “de-couple” their monetary policy from their support for financial markets and mortgage lending.
In late New York trading on Friday, the dollar stood at 1.0180 Swiss francs, up from SF1.0055 late on Thursday.
The pound was at US$1.9978, up from US$1.9918.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS