NEW FED CHIEF

On top of the near-term inflation readings, investors are looking at whom U.S. President Donald Trump will nominate as successor to Fed Chair Janet Yellen, whose term expires next February. 

 

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said on Thursday that Trump was “some time away” from making a decision, while another official said Trump had met with Stanford University economist John Taylor -- of economics text book Taylor-rule fame -- to discuss the job. 

Meanwhile, the euro was flat but still set for its biggest weekly rise in a month.

European Central Bank policymakers broadly agreed to extend asset purchases at a lower volume at their October policy meeting with views converging on a nine-month extension, sources at the central bank told Reuters. 

Britain’s pound rose to a 10-day high, boosted by a report in Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper that the European Union could offer Britain a two-year transitional Brexit deal.

The most eye-catching move, however, was from digital currency Bitcoin as it soared by as much as 7.4 percent after Thursday’s 13 percent gain, to hit a record high of $5,846. It is up more than 450 percent this year. 

The chief financial officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co said the firm was open-minded about the future potential use of digital currencies, appearing to dial back comments last month from his boss, Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, who said bitcoin was a “fraud”. 

Among commodities, copper prices held firm after hitting a one-month high on Thursday as optimism over the demand outlook from major consumer China fuelled buying. London copper futures were at $6,898.50 a tonne, up 0.2 percent on the day.

Oil prices also climbed after data showed both U.S. crude production and inventories had declined. Crude was set for its sixth weekly rise in the last seven weeks. U.S. crude jumped 2 percent to $51.59 a barrel. Brent crude rose 2.2 percent to $57.50 a barrel.