This was capped on Sunday, when the Fed vice chairman, Stanley Fischer, also gave reassurances of a strengthening U.S. economy and hinted at a hawkish Fed.
Advertisement
CURRENCY: The dollar gained to 100.72 yen from Friday’s 100.22 yen.
The comments from several Fed officials would no doubt bring the rate hike trade back on the table and, looking ahead, we will keep a close eye this Friday, when the Fed convenes at its yearly Jackson Hole policy symposium and the Fed chairwoman, Janet Yellen, delivers her speech.
“Fischer didn’t necessarily state when the Fed has made a decision to hike rates, but his remarks seemed to be alluding that a rate hike might be ’round the corner”, said Craig Erlam, a senior market analyst at OANDA.
Stanley Fischer said Sunday the world’s top economy was meeting all the Fed’s targets and that growth would improve, hinting that borrowing costs could rise this year.
Valeant’s USA -listed shares rose 3.4 percent to $29.73 after the Canadian drugmaker named a new chief financial officer.
Fischer’s remarks come less than a week before Fed Chair Janet Yellen speaks August 26 at an annual symposium hosted by the Kansas City Fed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
The losses come after a seven-day rally that saw the commodity enter a bull market-a 20-percent rise from recent lows-as it emerged that the Opec producers club and its rivals will meet next month, with speculation they could discuss ways to tackle an oversupplied market.
The Medivation deal pushed other biotechnology stocks higher as well.
On Wall Street, the Dow ended Monday down 0.12 percent, while the S&P 500 lost 0.06 percent and the Nasdaq added 0.12 percent.
On Friday, the loonie snapped a almost two-week winning streak as domestic retail sales data disappointed. Prices retreated from two-month highs on worries about burgeoning Chinese fuel exports, more Iraqi and Nigerian crude shipments and a rising USA oil rig count.
US stocks and oil edged lower while US Treasury yields fell on Monday on expectations the Federal Reserve will signal this week that it is preparing to raise US interest rates.
Brent crude futures were trading at $49.94 per barrel at 0712 GMT, down 95 cents, or 1.87 per cent.
He added: ‘Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s predecessor, Ben Bernanke was quite fond of signalling some significant policy moves in the wake of the financial crisis at this very event, so much so that it has become a leading indicator for Fed and central bank policy in the last few years.
A week of talking up the USA dollar will be good for United States financial stocks that would benefit from a rate rise and some of that positivity could spread over into financials globally.
Advertisement
USA crude fell 0.6 percent to $48.25 after gaining 9 percent last week, rising for a second straight week.
