Europe
Page: 9
A view shows Notre-Dame Cathedral reflected on the River Seine after a massive fire devastated large parts of the gothic structure in Paris, France, April 18, 2019. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer
April 18, 2019
By Michel Rose and Julie Carriat
PARIS (Reuters) – A time lapse camera installed just hours before Monday’s devastating blaze at Notre-Dame de Paris may contain vital clues as to what caused the inferno, a French scaffolding company working at the cathedral said on Thursday.
Europe Echafaudage was one of five companies contracted to restore Notre-Dame’s spire. The 90-metre (275-foot) collapsed in the blaze, crashing through the cathedral’s vaulted ceiling.
Footage from the camera, which was placed on the northern belltower and is now in the hands of investigators, shows the first smoke coming out of the spire’s base, Marc Eskenazi, a representative for Europe Echafaudage told Reuters.
“Shots were taken every 10 minutes starting from Monday at 2 p.m.,” Eskenazi said. “Smoke can be seen on these images. It starts on the south side” he said.
So far the authorities have said the fire appears accidental, although they have not ruled out arson. Police sources say an electrical fault is one possibility.
The office of Paris public prosecutor Remy Heitz did not respond to a request for comment on the images.
Investigators have been able to access some areas of Notre-Dame, including its two bell towers, though parts of the historic nave remained too dangerous to enter more than 72 hours after the fire.
The damage to one of France’s best loved monuments prompted an outpouring of national sorrow and urgent calls for the authorities to find out what caused the fire.
(Graphic: The fire at Notre-Dame – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XgGCRi)
Scaffolding specialist Europe Echafaudage, a unit of Le Bras Freres, a family-owned business of 140 employees based in Lorraine in eastern France, had almost finished erecting the scaffolding around the spire, 14 months after starting.
The company’s 12-strong team was the only one working on site on the day of the blaze.
Europe Echafaudage, and a second company involved in the project, Pro Tech Foudre, have said they followed strict safety procedures.
Pro Tech Foudre, which was to start work removing the lightning rod that ran down from the spire’s top, described Europe Echafaudage as a reputable company with a strong safety record and experience working on prestigious sites, including the Pantheon and Louvre museum in Paris.
“These are very serious people. They go beyond the architects’ demands. When they’re asked for a Porsche, they deliver a Rolls,” said Anthony Dupuy, manager of Pro Tech Foudre.
“There are other companies for which I’d have said they were asking for it, but not this one.”
Dupuy, who was involved in work to Notre-Dame in 2013, said safety regulations were very strict at the centuries-old site, with a focus on fire prevention. All extension chords had to be unplugged every night and smoking was not allowed anywhere.
TWO ALARMS
The scaffolders started leaving work at 5:20 p.m. on Monday evening and by 5:50 p.m. – half an hour before the first alarm sounded – all were gone, Eskenazi said.
“The procedure says that at the end of the day, electricity on the site is turned off. So we turn off the lifts and the scaffolding’s lights, and we hand over the keys to the sacristy’s concierge,” he said.
“That’s exactly what the workers did. They followed the procedure, and it was of course duly noted in the registers at the sacristy.”
There was no welding machine or blowtorch on the site, he added.
Police sources confirmed no welding was being done at this stage to the site.
The outside scaffolding had no sprinkler system, but was equipped with movement detectors which did not go off, Eskenazi said. The alarms that activated were the cathedral’s own, he added. That may also yield clues as to where the fire started.
Investigators are trying to understand why the fire was not detected when the first alarm rang at 6:20 p.m., prosecutor Heitz has said. A second alarm sounded at 6:43 p.m., at which point the fire was detected in the roof.
An hour later, the spire, engulfed in flames, collapsed to the gasps of hundreds of dumbstruck onlookers.
André Finot, Notre-Dame’s spokesman said, there were “smoke detectors everywhere” that were connected to the cathedral’s safety HQ at the presbytery, where a firefighter is posted 24 hours a day.
“If something goes off, there is an agent inside the cathedral who can go make checks,” Finot said. He said he was not able to comment on the checks that were carried out after the first alarm sounded.
If indeed the fire was not arson, an electrical source would almost certainly be to blame, one police source said.
“If it’s an accident, there’s a 90 percent chance it came from an electric source, the police source said. “It was the only source of energy in the building.”
(Additional reporting by Emmanuel Jarry; Writing by Michel Rose; Editing by Richard Lough and Raissa Kasolowsky)
Source: OANN
The Google logo is pictured at the entrance to the Google offices in London, Britain January 18, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
April 18, 2019
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Users of Android devices will be able to choose their browsers and search engines from five options starting on Thursday, a senior Google executive said, in a move aimed at addressing EU antitrust concerns and staving off fresh sanctions.
Hit with a record 4.34 billion euro fine last year for using the market power of its mobile software to block rivals in areas such as internet browsing, Alphabet unit Google was also ordered to come up with a proposal to give its rivals a fair chance.
The European Commission said Google had an unfair advantage by pre-installing its Chrome browser and Google search app on Android smartphones and notebooks.
The company last month said it would let Android users choose their browser and search engine but did not provide details.
Android users in Europe who open Google’s app store Google Play will now see new screens with an option to download different search apps and browsers, Paul Gennai, its product management director, said in a blog.
“Two screens will surface: one for search apps and another for browsers, each containing a total of five apps, including any that are already installed,” he said.
The five apps are chosen based on their popularity, which is determined based on industry data and the number of downloads in each country. They will then be listed in a random order.
“Where a user downloads a search app from the screen, we’ll also ask them whether they want to change Chrome’s default search engine the next time they open Chrome,” Gennai said.
The new options will appear on both existing and new Android phones in Europe.
Google faces a fine up to 5 percent of Alphabet’s average daily worldwide turnover if it fails to comply with the EU order to stop anti-competitive practices.
Lobbying group FairSearch whose Android complaint triggered the EU investigation urged regulators to take a tougher line.
“Fairsearch rejects as insufficient Google’s launch today of a choice screen for Android because it does nothing to correct the central problem that Google apps will remain the default on all Android devices,” it said in a statement.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Alissa de Carbonnel)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., April 9, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
April 18, 2019
(Reuters) – Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.
1/CENTRAL PLANNING
The 100 years since the Fed’s creation in 1913 is said to be the century of central banking. Well, since the 2008-2009 crisis, we’ve certainly lived through a decade of central banking. But with monetary policy taken to the limit to lift growth and inflation, can central banks do any more?
Of late, some of the economic and business confidence data is giving rise to hopes rate-setters might just be able to hold fire on further action for now. German and Japanese PMIs ticked modestly higher from March, and from China to the United States, the hope is that spring will bring some green shoots on the economic front. Central banks in Japan, Canada and Sweden hold meetings in coming days so we may get some clues on what they are thinking.
ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos and Olli Rehn, widely tipped to succeed ECB Governor Mario Draghi, will also be quizzed on the subject at upcoming speeches, especially since sources tell Reuters “a significant minority” of ECB rate-setters doubt any recovery is underway. Central bankers in Australia and New Zealand have sounded similarly gloomy. A decade of central banking and planning is not over yet
(GRAPHIC: ECB balance sheet – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Hz4sUC)
(GRAPHIC: The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet – https://tmsnrt.rs/2ULcay0)
2/GDP NOW!
The working thesis through the early months of 2019 was that U.S. economic growth would continue to tail off as tailwinds faded from last year’s $1.5 trillion tax cut and headwinds picked up from a weaker global economy, partial federal government shutdown and trade wars. Indeed, that looked to be the case as most economic data through the first quarter fell short of forecasts. As a result, Citigroup’s U.S. economic surprise index came to near the most negative in around two years.
But one closely tracked gauge of quarterly gross domestic product, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDPNow model, has rebounded sharply in recent weeks and may be signaling that the advance reading of first quarter GDP may not be quite so grim.
A month ago, GDPNow estimated an annualized 0.2 percent growth, which would have been the lowest since a one-off GDP contraction in the first 2014 quarter. Now the model forecasts quarterly growth will come in at 2.4 percent. That would not only top current estimates of 1.8 percent but would mean growth actually accelerated from the fourth quarter’s 2.2 percent.
One factor behind the turnaround was a surprise narrowing in the U.S. trade deficit as Chinese imports plunged in the face of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. By some estimates, trade could now contribute as much as one percentage point to first quarter GDP after being a washout in the fourth quarter.
(GRAPHIC: U.S. GDP – in for a surprise? – https://tmsnrt.rs/2VPQsJN)
3/CORNER KICK
As we said above, central banks don’t have much ammunition left in their arsenal. The toolbox is probably lightest at the Bank of Japan.
At the G20 meeting in Washington, BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said he was ready to expand monetary stimulus if needed. But he also said he had no plans to change the central bank’s forward guidance, or the message it sends to signal policy intentions to financial markets. To many, that sounded like a man backed into a corner.
Kuroda has a chance to prove otherwise at the upcoming BOJ meeting. Expectations are thin though, given the BOJ’s balance sheet is already bigger than the country’s economy and Japanese financial institutions are suffering immense pain from the prolonged monetary easing.
The world’s No. 3 economy may have contracted in the first quarter, and whether it recovers depends much on first, whether China recovers too and second, on whether the trade conflict between the other two powers sharing the podium reaches a resolution.
(GRAPHIC: BOJ’s bloated balance sheet limits further easing – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DjVE16)
3/TAKING A DIP IN EUROPE
The United States is widely seen as heading into an earnings recession (defined as two straight quarters of negative year-on-year earnings growth) but Europe might, at least for now, escape one.
European firms are expected to deliver their first quarter of negative earnings growth since 2016 – the latest I/B/E/S Refinitiv analysis predicts Q1 earnings to fall 3.4 percent year-on-year. But it expects results to pick up again in Q2.
So despite this quarter’s poor outcome, hopes for a bounce-back could keep equities buoyant. After all, sentiment is already rock bottom – investors surveyed by Bank of America Merrill Lynch named “short European equities” the most crowded trade for the second month running.
The auto sector will be in focus in coming days with a flurry of earnings from Michelin, Continental, Daimler, Peugeot, and Renault. These stocks are particularly sensitive to growth in China and will be watched as the stirrings of a recovery were felt in recent Chinese GDP data .
(GRAPHIC: Earnings chart latest April 17 – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Ip8LCj)
5/ RUSSIAN ROULETTE
The past two years have seen an increasingly bitter rift open up between President Donald Trump’s Republican supporters and his Democrat critics over the alleged collusion between Russia and Trump’s campaign in the 2016 U.S. election.
That may not be defused even after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 400-page report on the subject is unveiled by Atttorney General William Barr. He has already told lawmakers the investigation “did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
But that is unlikely to stop U.S. politicians from continuing their clamor for sanctions against Russia. As for investors, their appetite for Russian assets has not so far been dented. After plummeting last year, foreign buying of rouble-denominated government bonds has recovered sharply so it remains to be seen whether that bullishness continues.
Meanwhile, Ukraine — the reason behind the original 2014 sanctions on Russia — looks set to elect comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy as president. Could the election of a new leader bring about some rapprochement between Kiev and Moscow? Watch this space.
(GRAPHIC: Foreign investors dipping their toes back in OFZs – https://tmsnrt.rs/2XiDZyC)
(Reporting by Dan Burns in New York, Marius Zaharia in Hong Kong; Sujata Rao, Helen Reid and Tom Arnold in London; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 16, 2019. REUTERS/Staff
April 18, 2019
By Medha Singh
(Reuters) – European shares were little changed on Thursday as strong quarterly results from Unilever and Nestle tempered data showing euro zone businesses unexpectedly slowed this month.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.01 percent by 0940 GMT, retreating from an eight-month high and set to snap a six-day winning streak ahead of the Easter holiday.
Losses in bank-heavy Milan and Madrid indexes led declines, while Germany’s DAX edged higher.
The yield on the German 10-year bund fell further after flash Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data unexpectedly fell to 51.3, a downturn led again by the bloc’s manufacturing industry.
The data came on the heels of the German government lowering its forecast for 2019 economic growth on Wednesday, which was overshadowed by better-than-expected economic data out of China.
“We … have confirmation that we are in a bit of a weak spot in Europe, if you look at the services sector and the composite PMI, and this is the reason why you’re seeing stock markets in Europe soften,” said Ken Odeluga, market analyst at CityIndex.
“But I think the PMI data is the wrong data at the right time. We are coming to the end of a very short week,” Odeluga added.
Also due are retail sales data and flash PMIs from the United States.
Bank stocks fell 0.7 percent, their steepest loss in three weeks.
Shares in Osram were among the biggest percentage losers on the STOXX 600 after a German magazine reported that private equity groups Bain and Carlyle were losing confidence in their bid for the lighting group.
SIGNS OF SLOWDOWN
Kering dropped 3.6 percent and weighed heavily on France’s CAC 40 after signs of a slowdown at the French fashion company’s Gucci brand, particularly in the United States.
Top gainer in Germany’s DAX was Deutsche Post, after the Federal Network Agency cleared the way for the postal company to significantly increase the cost of sending letters after the company pledged to hire an extra 5,000 delivery workers.
Not all earnings were disappointing. The food and beverage sector raked in a 1 percent rise, the most among European sectors, lifted by upbeat earnings from Nestle.
The food group’s shares advanced after it maintained its full-year forecast after good momentum in the United States and China.
London and Amsterdam-listed shares of Unilever topped the STOXX 600 after the consumer goods group reported stronger than expected quarterly underlying sales growth, helped by increased prices and volume.
Schneider Electric rose after the French company beat first-quarter revenue estimates.
Lab equipment maker Sartorius Stedim Biotech rose 3 percent after it maintained full-year guidance as first-quarter revenue rose.
French vouchers and card provider Edenred gained 2.3 percent after keeping its outlook for 2019 unchanged. Rival Sodexo was up 0.5 percent.
(Reporting by Medha Singh and Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Gareth Jones and David Holmes)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: European Union flags flutter as uncertainty over Brexit continues, in London, Britain April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
April 18, 2019
By Francesco Guarascio
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – British voters at the elections for the next European Parliament would strengthen eurosceptic groups, while the center-right would remain the largest grouping in the legislature, an EU survey showed on Thursday.
The projection, commissioned by the European Parliament, showed that the two most eurosceptic groups in the parliament would increase their share of seats to 14.3 percent of the total compared with 13.0 percent in the previous survey from March which did not include British voters.
The survey included national polls published up to April 15.
With Britain’s participation in the elections, which might still be avoided if a Brexit deal is struck before the May 23-26 vote, the nationalist Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) which includes Italy’s far-right League would scoop 8.3 percent of seats in the next legislature, down from 8.7 percent.
Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy, the other openly eurosceptic grouping which currently includes the United Kingdom Independence Party, would win 6 percent of the seats from 4.3 percent predicted in March when Britain was not expected to take part in the EU elections.
The European Conservatives and Reformists grouping, which includes the PiS party of Polish eurosceptic leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, would obtain 8.8 percent of the seats, up from 7.5 percent in the previous poll which did not include British Conservative voters.
Britain has secured an extension of Brexit to the end of October, meaning British parties have began campaigning for the EU election.
Under the new survey, which assumes the number of seats in the next parliament will remain 751 instead of dropping to 705 after Brexit, the center-right European People’s Party would remain the largest, but its share of seats would fall to 24.0 percent from 26.7 percent forecast in March.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democrats are expected to remain the largest national party in the next legislature, holding 30 seats, down from 33.
The center-left Socialists and Democrats would be the second biggest grouping with 19.8 percent of the seats, down from 20.1 percent in the previous survey in March which did not include British votes.
Despite the contribution of the British Labour Party, which is estimated to win 20 seats in the next EU legislature, the center-left’s total share of seats would fall due to declines for other national parties, including in Germany and Italy.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)
Source: OANN
A cyclist rides past the Bank of Canada building in Ottawa July 17, 2012. The Bank of Canada left interest rates unchanged on Tuesday, but made clear it was still weighing an eventual move higher, even as other central banks ease monetary policy to cope with damaging economic slowdowns. REUTERS/Chris Wattie (CANADA – Tags: BUSINESS POLITICS)
April 18, 2019
By Mumal Rathore
BENGALURU (Reuters) – The Bank of Canada is expected to hold policy steady for the rest of this year, with calls for the next hike in early 2020 resting on a knife’s edge, a Reuters poll showed, the latest dulling of rate expectations for a major central bank.
Just last month, a majority of economists said the overnight rate would rise to 2.0 percent in the third quarter of this year, followed by another rise next year.
The findings from the April 12-16 poll of over 40 economists brings expectations for the BoC in line with those for the U.S. Federal Reserve and other major central banks, which are now forecast to stay on the sidelines this year.
The Canadian economy has taken a hit from the mandatory production cut of oil – its biggest export – a slowdown in the housing market and wilting business sentiment over worries surrounding the U.S.-China trade war.
“Although the Bank of Canada still sports a directional bias in its forward-looking language, referring to ‘future rate increases’ in the March announcement, this likely reflects the fact that policy rates are still negative in real terms,” noted Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.
“However, this doesn’t preclude a Fed-comparable desire to stand pat given the substantial risks posed by higher interest rates – given a record-high household debt-to-income ratio – along with global economic headwinds and trade uncertainties.”
All economists polled said the BoC will hold rates at 1.75 percent at its April 24 meeting and about 60 percent of them say they will stay there through to the end of this year.
The median forecast shows the central bank will hike in the first quarter of next year to 2.0 percent, but the sample was split. The rates are forecast to stay put after that through to end-2020.
Almost 90 percent of economists who answered an additional question said a rate cut was unlikely by end-2020 as they remain hopeful the economy will muddle through its current rough patch.
“Those that think the softness will continue will point to signs of slowing growth in the U.S. and Europe, declines in global trade volumes, an inversion of the yield curve, and declines in business and consumer confidence,” noted Jean-François Perrault, chief economist at Scotiabank.
“While these factors are acting to hold back growth to some extent, fundamentals remain generally solid and our models continue to suggest that the probability of a recession in Canada is very low.”
The recent rise in oil prices contributed to a Canadian inflation increase to 1.9 percent in March, just below the central bank’s 2 percent target. A separate Reuters poll showed oil prices are expected to rise over the coming year.
While that may help underpin the economy, a major oil and natural resources exporter, the growth outlook was cut in the latest poll.
Gross domestic product (GDP) growth was forecast to average 1.6 percent this year and 1.7 percent next, a downgrade from 1.8 percent predicted for both those years in the January poll.
The median probability of a recession in the next 12 months was 20 percent, and 27.5 percent in the next two years. That compares with a 25 percent probability of a U.S. recession in the next 12 months and 40 percent chance in the next two years.
(Reporting and polling by Mumal Rathore; Editing by Ross Finley and Chris Reese)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: U.S. dollar and Euro banknotes are seen in this picture illustration taken May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
April 18, 2019
By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO (Reuters) – The euro was buoyant on Thursday after more evidence of strength in China improved the outlook for the global economy, with the market looking next to European indicators to provide the currency with a further boost.
The euro was a shade higher at $1.1298, having eked out a gain of 0.1 percent the previous day.
The single currency has steadily recovered from a recent low of $1.1183 plumbed at the start of April.
The euro was lifted after data on Wednesday showed China’s economy grew at a steady 6.4 percent pace in the first quarter, defying expectations for a further slowdown, as industrial production surged and consumer demand showed signs of improvement.
“A recovering Chinese economy is also good news for the German economy, and thus positive for the euro. The ongoing surge in bund yields amid ‘risk on’ is a key factor supporting the euro,” said Junichi Ishikawa, senior FX strategist at IG Securities in Tokyo.
The 10-year German bund yield rose to a one-month high of 0.10 percent overnight, in a sharp rebound from a 2-1/2-year low of minus 0.094 percent set at the end of March.
Bund yields had sunk in March as concerns about slowing global growth gripped the broader market. Investors are now watching Chinese and European economic data for signs that the global economy is performing better than initially feared.
The Purchasing Managers Indexes (PMIs) for the manufacturing and service sectors in Europe due later on Thursday will provide the next indication of strength for the European economy.
“Data from China cleared the way for the euro, which needs follow through support in the form of strong euro zone indicators,” Ishikawa at IG Securities said.
The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was flat at 97.015 after dipping 0.05 percent the previous day.
The U.S. currency was steady at 112.035 yen after briefly touching a four-month peak of 112.17 on Wednesday amid a bounce in U.S. Treasury yields to a one-month high.
Commodity-linked currencies sagged after a surge in crude oil prices ran out of steam.
The Canadian dollar stood at C$1.3352 per dollar, having pulled back from a one-month high of C$1.3275 brushed on Wednesday.
The Australian dollar was down 0.1 percent at $0.7173 after popping up to a two-month peak of $0.7206 the previous day in response to the stronger-than-expected Chinese economic growth data.
(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
Source: OANN
FILE PHOTO: A man looks at an electronic board showing the Nikkei stock index outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, January 7, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo
April 18, 2019
By Daniel Leussink
TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares were subdued on Thursday after a negative performance on Wall Street, with caution ahead of business surveys in Europe and Japan, and the Good Friday and Easter holidays keeping investors on the sidelines.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched up 0.08 percent, trading just below its highest since late July 2018 brushed on Wednesday.
Australian shares advanced a quarter of a percent while Japan’s Nikkei was a shade lower.
“We’re in this kind of hiatus in the global economy,” said Chris Weston, head of research at foreign exchange brokerage Pepperstone in Melbourne.
“People are starting to believe that we’re going to see better times in the second quarter and probably into the third quarter as well, and that perhaps the first quarter has been that trough.”
Wall Street shares ended in the red on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 falling 0.2 percent as a drop in healthcare equities outweighed upbeat economic data from the United States and China.
The U.S. trade deficit fell to an eight-month low in February as imports from China plunged, data on Wednesday showed.
Separate figures from China earlier in the day showed the world’s second-largest economy grew at a steady 6.4 percent pace in the first quarter, defying forecasts for a slowdown. Attention is now turning to how much more stimulus Beijing will apply without triggering more financial risks.
Investors’ immediate focus turned to the release of Purchasing Managers Indexes (PMIs) for the manufacturing and service sectors in Europe later on Thursday to provide more clues on the strength of the euro zone economy.
“It’s going to be interesting to see if we see some stabilization there in line with what we’ve been seeing in the stabilization in the Chinese data flow,” said Pepperstone’s Weston.
A flash manufacturing reading will also be released for Japan.
YEN NEAR 2019 LOW
Market participants are also eyeing signs of progress in U.S.-China trade negotiations.
Washington and Beijing set a tentative timeline for a fresh round of face-to-face meetings ahead of a possible signing ceremony in late May or early June, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Attorney General William Barr is set to hold a news conference at 1330 GMT to discuss the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential race.
“The lack of love for the yen, I suppose, is just telling us that people aren’t seeing this as a general risk event,” said Pepperstone’s Weston.
“It’s probably worth keeping a beady eye in case something really does come out that shocks market into life.”
In the currency market, the safe-haven yen was slightly up at 112.00 yen per dollar, sitting just above a near four-month low of 112.17 brushed overnight.
The euro ticked up to $1.1297, while the Australian dollar was 0.1 percent lower at $0.7173 ahead of job data (0130 GMT).
The dollar index held steady at 97.019 after ending the previous session basically unchanged.
In commodity markets, oil prices were slightly lower as U.S. government data overnight showed inventories drew down less than an industry report had suggested on Tuesday.
U.S. crude was last down 8 cents at $63.68 a barrel, while global benchmark Brent crude futures dipped 7 cents to $71.55.
Spot gold held steady at $1,274.60 per ounce, hovering near its lowest for the year.
(Editing by Kim Coghill)
Source: OANN
GUEST // (OTP/Skype) // TOPICS:
Nick Begich//In Studio
Tommy Sotomayor//Skype
Source: The War Room
GUEST // (OTP/Skype) // TOPICS:
Nick Begich//In Studio
Tommy Sotomayor//Skype
Source: The War Room
MAGA One Radio