U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen tried to sell President Joe Biden's $2.2 trillion corporate tax hike and infrastructure plans to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, saying that American Jobs Plan -- infrastructure investments would have a direct payoff to the American people, create jobs and simply "return the corporate tax rate toward historical norms. Yellen is taking her pitch for Biden's tax and spending plans directly to an organization that is deeply opposed to raising the corporate tax rate, which was cut to 21% from 35% by the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress in 2017. Biden is proposing to raise the rate to 28%. However, Chamber CEO Suzanne Clark said after Yellen's remarks that tax hikes would erect a barrier to economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
ECB's Lagarde committed to further support for euro zone economy
The European Central Bank remains committed to shielding the euro zone economy as the path of the coronavirus pandemic
remains uncertain, and authorities should not withdraw support too soon, ECB President Christine Lagarde said on Tuesday. Bond
yields have been rising in recent weeks as investors factored in higher inflation expectations and the prospect of smaller purchases
from the ECB. The ECB bought 80 billion euros ($97.7 billion) worth of bonds last month and is due to decide at its June 10 meeting
whether to maintain or slow that pace. However, cash-rich, inflation-wary Germany are concerned that the ECB may be turning into a
source of cheap funding for indebted countries such as Italy, rather than just focusing on keeping prices stable.
U.S. delays trading ban on Chinese-military linked securities
The Biden administration on Tuesday gave investors two extra weeks to buy or sell securities in certain companies it deems are tied
to the Chinese military, an extension it said was needed to craft a stronger policy to prohibit such trades. President Joe Biden's
administration has been reviewing a number of aspects of U.S.-China policy, including a ban imposed under his predecessor Donald
Trump on investments in certain Chinese companies that the United States says are linked to China's armed forces and intelligence
agencies. Investors now have until 9:30 a.m. (1330 GMT) on June 11 to compete their transactions, the U.S. Treasury Department
said in a notice posted on its website. The previous deadline was May 27.
Dollar steadies before Fed minutes
The 10-year government bond yield (interpolated) on the previous trading day was 1.77, +0.00 bps. The benchmark government
bond yield (LB31DA, 10.5 years) was 1.785, +0.50 bps. LB29DA could be between 1.76-1.81. Meantime, the latest closed US 10-
year bond yields was 1.64%, +0.00bps. USDTHB on the previous trading day closed around 31.45 Moving in a range from 31.42-
31.47 this morning. USDTHB could be closed between 31.43-31.50 today. Meantime, The U.S. dollar steadied but remained near a
six-year low against its Canadian counterpart and nursed losses against European currencies as expectations that U.S. interest rates
will remain low undermined the greenback.
Sources : Bloomberg, CNBC, Investing, CEIC
