The US dollar made its biggest daily gain in a month on Friday and posted a weekly increase for the fifth time in six weeks as progress on US tax reforms raised prospects of a fiscal lift to the economy, bolstering investor appetite for risk.
The US dollar on Friday hit a three-month high against the Japanese yen to ￥113.52, up 1.5 percent from last week’s ￥111.84.
It also hit a five-month high against the Swiss franc, touching SF0.985, up 1 percent from last week’s SF0.975.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the currency against 10 major peers, gained 0.6 percent to 93.701, up 0.7 percent from last week’s 93.091.
Traders seek the yen and Swiss franc in times of uncertainty and fear, and sell the currencies when they favor riskier assets.
“This is clearly a picture of somewhat of a risk-on rotation today, and it’s ignited some of the animal spirits as we take another step closer to the potential for tax reform coming to fruition,” said Bill Northey, chief investment officer at the Private Client Group at US Bank in Helena, Montana.
Senate approval of a budget blueprint on Thursday for the 2018 fiscal year cleared a critical hurdle for Republicans to pursue a tax-cut package without Democratic support.
In Taipei, the New Taiwan dollar on Friday fell against the US dollar, shedding NT$0.011 to close at NT$30.241. The NT dollar fell 0.2 percent against the US dollar from last week’s NT$30.185.
Investors also have viewed as bullish for the US dollar remarks this week from US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and other Fed officials that suggest the US central bank is moving forward with another rate hike this year.
The US dollar briefly fell on news that US President Donald Trump was considering nominating John Taylor and Jerome Powell to the top two posts at the Fed, one as chair and one as vice chair, and on news Yellen had lunched at the White House with Trump adviser Gary Cohn.
It quickly retraced those losses.
The US dollar’s strength dragged the euro down 0.6 percent to US$1.1763 ahead of a European Central Bank meeting next week in which policymakers are seen cutting bond purchases but voting for an extension in stimulus. The common currency slipped 0.5 percent from last week’s US$1.182.
The New Zealand dollar on Friday sank to a five-month low on concerns the new Labour coalition will take a harder stance on immigration and foreign investment than the outgoing center-right government.
Bitcoin soared to another milestone on Friday, as the digital currency breached US$6,000 for the first time to put its gain this year to more than 500 percent.
Additional reporting by CNA and Bloomberg
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
BARRIERS: Gudeng’s chairman said it was unlikely that the US could replicate Taiwan’s science parks in Arizona, given its strict immigration policies and cultural differences Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登), which supplies wafer pods to the world’s major semiconductor firms, yesterday said it is in no rush to set up production in the US due to high costs. The company supplies its customers through a warehouse in Arizona jointly operated by TSS Holdings Ltd (德鑫控股), a joint holding of Gudeng and 17 Taiwanese firms in the semiconductor supply chain, including specialty plastic compounds producer Nytex Composites Co (耐特) and automated material handling system supplier Symtek Automation Asia Co (迅得). While the company has long been exploring the feasibility of setting up production in the US to address
OPTION: Uber said it could provide higher pay for batch trips, if incentives for batching is not removed entirely, as the latter would force it to pass on the costs to consumers Uber Technologies Inc yesterday warned that proposed restrictions on batching orders and minimum wages could prompt a NT$20 delivery fee increase in Taiwan, as lower efficiency would drive up costs. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made the remarks yesterday during his visit to Taiwan. He is on a multileg trip to the region, which includes stops in South Korea and Japan. His visit coincided the release last month of the Ministry of Labor’s draft bill on the delivery sector, which aims to safeguard delivery workers’ rights and improve their welfare. The ministry set the minimum pay for local food delivery drivers at
RSS