The US dollar dipped against the euro on Friday as investors sought a safe haven despite economic reports that offered signs of a possible US recovery under way.
The euro was at US$1.5703 around 9pm GMT, up from US$1.5683 late on Thursday. The dollar rose to ¥107.85 from ¥107.19.
“Stronger economic data has driven the US dollar higher against many of the major currencies,” said Kathy Lien, chief strategist at Forex Capital Markets.
“New home sales, consumer confidence and durable goods were all better than the market expected, a sign that the mood of US consumers and businesses may be changing,” she said.
However, Lien warned: “Today’s economic releases were almost too good to be true and for that reason, we are cautiously bullish.”
US durable goods orders rose 0.8 percent last month, much stronger than analyst forecasts for 0.3 percent. Economists said the data suggested that US second-quarter GDP growth could prove healthy.
“Overall, a surprisingly strong report, which supports our view that second-quarter GDP increased by a solid 2.5 percent on the year,” said Paul Ashworth, senior US economist at Capital Economics.
The US government is due to release its initial estimate of second-quarter GDP growth on Thursday. Most analysts expect a smaller acceleration to a 1.8 percent pace.
Pummeled by housing and credit crises, the world’s largest economy grew 1 percent in the first quarter after an anemic 0.6 percent pace in the last three months of the year.
The US Federal Reserve said on Wednesday in its Beige Book report that US economic activity appears to have slowed to a crawl in the past weeks even as price pressures intensified.
The Fed’s latest survey of the US economy will be used by its policymakers for their Aug. 5 meeting. They are widely expected to leave the key interest rate unchanged at 2 percent.
In late New York trading, the pound was at US$1.9913, up from US$1.9865 late on Thursday. The dollar stood at 1.0366 Swiss francs, nearly unchanged from SF1.0364.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
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