U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that President Joe Biden's $4 trillion spending plan would be good for the U.S., even if it contributes to rising inflation and results in higher interest rates. "If we ended up with a slightly higher interest rate environment it would actually be a plus for society's point of view and the Fed's point of view," Yellen said. "We've been fighting inflation that's too low and interest rates that are too low now for a decade," the report quoted Yellen as saying. "We want them to go back to" a normal interest rate environment, "and if this helps a little bit to alleviate things then that's not a bad thing- that's a good thing," Yellen added.
Biden rejects new Republican infrastructure offer
President Joe Biden and Republicans entered the weekend sharply at odds over how to craft an infrastructure deal that could satisfy
their camps, imperiling the odds of a bipartisan deal. Democrat Biden shot down a new proposal from the main Republican
negotiator on infrastructure, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, that increased spending by about $50 billion over their last offer, the
White House said. Republicans had previously offered roughly $257 billion in new spending, short of the $2.25 trillion Biden initially
offered and suggested he might bring down to as low as $1 trillion. And while the two sides agreed to speak again on Monday, the
White House also strongly signaled that they may seek a path forward with other Republican lawmakers or even with only
Democrats. Biden offered to drop his plan to raise corporate tax rates as high as 28 replacing it with a minimum 15% tax rate aimed
at ensuring all companies pay taxes.
G7 nations 'just one millimetre' from historic tax deal
Some of the world's richest nations are within touching distance of a historic deal to close the net on large companies which do not
pay their fair share of tax, France and Germany said on Friday after a day of talks in London. Finance ministers from the Group of
Seven rich nations are meeting in person for the first time since the start of the COVID pandemic, after U.S. President Joe Biden's
administration gave fresh impetus to stalled global tax talks this year. Rich nations have struggled for years to agree a way to raise
more tax from large multinationals such as Google, Amazon and Facebook, which often book profits in jurisdictions where they pay
little or no tax. But major disagreements do remain on both the minimum rate at which companies should be taxed, and on how the
rules will be drawn up to ensure that very large companies with lower profit margins, such as Amazon, face higher taxes.
Dollar up, but gentle pressure remains as softer-than-expected U.S. employment
The 10-year government bond yield (interpolated) on the previous trading day was 1.86, +0.00 bps. The benchmark government bond yield (LB31DA, 10.5 years) was 1.86, +0.00 bps. LB31DA could be between 1.83-1.88. Meantime, the latest closed US 10-year bond yields was 1.56%, -7.00bps. USDTHB on the previous trading day closed around 31.25 Moving in a range from 31.14-31.22 this morning. USDTHB could be closed between 31.18-31.28 today. Meantime, The dollar was up on Monday morning in Asia.
However, a softer-than-expected U.S. employment report for May put the greenback under gentle pressure as the week opens.
Sources : Bloomberg, CNBC, Investing, CEIC
