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Speculation rises on ouster of U.S. national security adviser
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Yen gains, Treasuries inch higher; crude oil steadies
European stocks drifted following a lackluster session in Asia on Friday. The dollar weakened as investors considered the implications of continuing personnel turmoil in the Trump administration.
The greenback was mixed against major peers, but a jump by Japan’s yen helped drive down Bloomberg’s dollar index. The Washington Post reported that President Donald Trump plans to remove his national security adviser, something White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders later denied was happening. U.S. equity futures fell. Stocks were already lower in Asia before the reports, while the Stoxx Europe 600 Index traded little changed.
Any removal of H.R. McMaster as the national security adviser would follow the resignation of the White House’s top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, and the ouster of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Investors were earlier weighing the prospects for heightened U.S. trade protectionism after new White House appointee Larry Kudlowsaid he’d sell gold and buy the greenback, which gained on Thursday.
Elsewhere, West Texas crude steadied above $61 a barrel as signs of stronger U.S. fuel consumption balanced OPEC’s forecasting for the first time that new supplies from its rivals will exceed demand growth this year.
Terminal users can read more in our markets blog.
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- The Stoxx Europe 600 Index decreased less than 0.05 percent as of 8:05 a.m. London time.
- The MSCI World Index of developed countries fell less than 0.05 percent to the lowest in more than a week.
- The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 0.1 percent to the lowest in a week.
- Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average declined 0.6 percent to the lowest in a week.
- The MSCI Emerging Market Index sank 0.2 percent to the lowest in a week.
- The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index increased less than 0.05 percent.
- Futures on the S&P 500 Index sank 0.2 percent to the lowest in more than a week.
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.1 percent.
- The euro climbed 0.1 percent to $1.2321.
- The British pound rose less than 0.05 percent to $1.3942.
- The Japanese yen rose 0.6 percent to 105.67 per dollar, the strongest in about 16 months on the largest advance in more than three weeks.
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0.1 percent to $61.23 a barrel.
- Gold climbed 0.2 percent to $1,318.62 an ounce.
By Adam Haigh and Samuel Potter
March 16, 2018, 7:10 PM GMT+11
Source: Bloomberg