U.S. President Joe Biden will unveil the first detailed budget proposal of his term in office on May 28, a day later than originally planned, the White House said on Wednesday. No reason was given for the delay. The budget blueprint will cover the fiscal year starting in October. It will be the first exhaustive list of the programs Biden wants to expand or cut - from foreign aid to immigration and policing. At the conclusion of its previous meeting on April. 28, the FOMC kept its benchmark rate steady in a range of 0% to 0.25% and bond purchases steady at a $120 billion monthly pace. But there are signs Fed members are growing comfortable with the idea of introducing the topic of bond purchase tapering at upcoming meetings should the economy continue to show improvement.
China must lift sanctions to save EU investment pact, EU parliament to say
China must remove its sanctions on European Union politicians and diplomats if Beijing wants a new investment accord with
Brussels to be approved, EU lawmakers are set to say on Thursday according to a draft document seen by Reuters. Beijing's
punitive measures, blocking travel to China and business with its companies, were imposed in March in response to Western
sanctions against Chinese officials accused of the mass detentions of Muslim Uyghurs in northwestern China. EU lawmakers say the
Chinese sanctions are not based on international law, while the bloc's measures tackle abuses of human rights upheld in United
Nations treaties. Beijing denies any wrongdoing.
ECB's de Guindos says credit still cheap, cautious on stimulus withdrawal
Euro zone borrowers can still finance themselves cheaply despite a recent rise in bond yields, but the European Central Bank should
be cautious in removing support for the debt market, ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Wednesday. With infections falling
and the euro zone's economy slowly reopening, investors have begun to factor in a reduction in the pace of ECB bond purchases,
causing borrowing costs on financial markets to rise in recent weeks. De Guindos said the present level of bond yields was still
conducive to "favourable" financing conditions - ECB-speak for a level of borrowing costs it is comfortable with. But he repeated his
call for erring on the side of caution when it comes to withdrawing monetary stimulus. The ECB's Governing Council will decide on
June 10.
Dollar bounces after Fed minutes revives tapering discussion
The 10-year government bond yield (interpolated) on the previous trading day was 1.82, +5.00 bps. The benchmark government
bond yield (LB31DA, 10.5 years) was 1.84, +5.50 bps. LB31DA could be between 1.83-1.87. Meantime, the latest closed US 10-year
bond yields was 1.68%, +4.00bps. USDTHB on the previous trading day closed around 31.46 Moving in a range from 31.36-31.43
this morning. USDTHB could be closed between 31.32-31.40 today. Meantime, The dollar bounced off three-month lows against
European currencies on Thursday after minutes from the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting revealed there was more talk of
tapering their bond purchase than investors had thought.
Sources : Bloomberg, CNBC, Investing, CEIC
