The dollar remained mired near its lowest levels since early 2015 as European Central Bank president Mario Draghi’s suggestion that the ECB may begin tapering its massive stimulus programme this autumn continued to underpin the euro.
Meanwhile, expectations of another interest rate hike in the US this year have subsided as stubbornly weak inflation continues to surprise Federal Reserve policymakers.
In a speech on Thursday, New York Fed President William Dudley did not repeat an assertion from three weeks ago that he expects to raise rates once more this year.
An agreement to push US debt ceiling talks three months down the road to December, coinciding with the Fed’s policy meeting, have also cut chances of another rate hike.
Further muddying the outlook for the future path of US interest rates was the ongoing uncertainty over what the make-up of the Fed and White House staff is going to be next year.
Overnight, sources told Reuters that the fraying relationship between United States President Donald Trump and top White House economic adviser Gary Cohn has raised questions about how long Mr Cohn will stay in his job.
In Europe, the euro rose to a fresh 2-1/2 year high as currency bulls judged the central bank’s concerns about the strengthening currency at Thursday’s policy meeting as lukewarm at best.
Yesterday, the euro jumped around 20 ticks to $1.2069, putting it on track for its biggest weekly gain since end-June.
Fears that the euro’s rally would hurt profits at Europe’s large exporters has weighed on regional stocks in recent months. The pan-European STOXX 600 is down about six per cent from May.
Market participants’ focus is increasingly shifting to a series of natural disasters hitting North American coasts and worries that Pyongyang could launch another missile test this weekend, keeping risk appetite in check going into the weekend.
Oil markets were mixed yesterday, with Brent crude supported by expectations that Saudi Arabia could cut its October supplies, while US crude was weighed down by refinery outages due to damage from Hurricane Harvey.
Brent crude futures were up 8 cents at $54.57 a barrel, with the benchmark for international oil prices earlier marking its highest since April at $54.79 a barrel.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $48.98 barrel, 11 cents below their last settlement.