The world's two largest economies are in talks about the next round of face-to-face meetings, but hopes for progress hinge on whether Washington can create favourable conditions, China's commerce minister said on Thursday. He also expressed hope the United States would cancel the additional tariffs set to go into effect on Sept. 1.
Thursday saw a slight bid for riskier assets, sending safe-havens such as the Japanese yen and Swiss franc lower and Treasury bond yields higher. The dollar index, which measures the currency against a basket of six rivals, has held up despite a dramatic escalation in tariffs last week, and was last up 0.20% to 98.406.
Against the greenback, the yen was 0.31% weaker to 106.44, but was on track for a more than 2% rise against the dollar for the month of August.
The dollar was little moved by news Thursday the US economy slowed slightly more than expected in the second quarter, despite the strongest growth in consumer spending in 4-1/2 years. "The numbers were pretty close to on the screws so in the major exchange rates we didn't see much of a reaction," Anderson said.
Sterling remained in the spotlight after Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plan to suspend parliament raised the odds of a no-deal Brexit. The British currency edged 0.16% lower to $1.2189, approaching a January 2017 low below $1.2015.