LONDON: “This week, investor attention turns to Jay Powell, the new Federal Reserve chairman, who speaks before the House Financial Services Committee tomorrow and delivers his [semi-annual] Humphrey-Hawkins testimony [to Congress] on Thursday,” says Jack Siu, investment strategist at Credit Suisse. “We expect four rate hikes by the Fed in 2018, one more than the three priced in by the market and higher than the median Fed forecast.” Hot topic The dollar is slipping back across the board ahead of this week’s test for its rebound, posed by the chairman of the Federal Reserve’s debut testimony to Congress on the state of the US economy and the outlook for monetary policy. The index tracking the world’s reserve currency is down 0.3 per cent at 89.613 — eating into a rebound of 0.9 per cent over past week, which came when minutes from the central bank’s January policy meeting sounded a more hawkish tone. Attention is expected to focus on whether Mr Powell signals four rate rises in 2018 or sticks to the current consensus for three 25 basis point increases. In the meantime, the euro is up 0.3 per cent at $1.2329, while the pound is up 0.5 per cent at $1.4035. The yen is 0.4 per cent stronger at ¥106.46 per dollar.
Markets, oil drop in Asia but bitcoin edges towards $50,000
HONG KONG: Markets fell in Asia on Friday in holiday-thinned trade with investors awaiting developments in US stimulus talks, while...
