Dollar swoons on fiscal worries, bitcoin extends record rally
U.S. fiscal concerns and a tepid auction of Treasury bonds slapped the dollar to a two-week low versus the yen on Thursday, while President Donald Trump tried to push his sweeping spending and tax-cut bill through Congress.
The lackluster 20-year bond sale reinforced the "Sell America" narrative, weighing on not just the dollar but Wall Street as well, with traders already jittery after Moody's cut the U.S. triple-A credit rating last week.
Bitcoin pushed to a fresh all-time high on Thursday, partly as investors sought out alternatives to U.S. assets. Gold also benefitted, reaching an almost two-week top of $3,325.79 and putting it within $175 of April's record peak.
"Despite falling equities, the U.S. dollar has not seen traditional safe-haven demand, with gold, the euro and the yen instead benefiting," said James Kniveton, a senior corporate FX dealer at Convera.
In the process of getting Trump's bill to the Senate, "fiscal restraint could emerge, but market sentiment suggests skepticism," he said.
Republicans are still divided over the details of the tax legislation. Hardliners within the party continue to argue the bill does not sufficiently cut spending, House Speaker Mike Johnson said.
The bill would add $3 trillion to $5 trillion to the country's debt, according to nonpartisan analysts.
The dollar slipped to 143.27 yen early in Asia, the weakest level since May 7.
It turned lower despite an early pop of as much as 0.5% after Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato said he did not talk about foreign-exchange levels in his discussions with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the sidelines of the Group of Seven meetings in Canada.
However, the short-lived response suggests investor suspicions run deep that the White House wants a weaker dollar versus many Asian currencies.
South Korea's currency jumped to the strongest level since November 4 on Wednesday at 1,368.90 per dollar after the Korea Economic Daily reported that Washington had demanded that Seoul come up with measures to boost the won. It was trading a touch weaker at 1,377.00 on Thursday.
The euro was last flat at $1.1330, after rising 0.4% on Wednesday for a third straight session of gains.
Sterling was steady at $1.3426.
The Swiss franc ticked up 0.1% to 0.8245 per dollar.
Bitcoin was last 1.6% higher at $110,049.82, after earlier reaching a record high of $110,636.58.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'Avoid escalation': World reacts to Israel strike on Iran
World leaders urged restraint on Friday after Israel pounded Iran, striking 100 targets including nuclear and military sites, and killing senior figures, including nuclear scientists and the armed forces chief of staff. Here is a roundup of key reactions: - 'Cannot have nuclear bomb': United States - US President Donald Trump, told Fox News he was aware Israel was going to conduct strikes on Iran before it happened and said: "Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb and we are hoping to get back to the negotiating table. We will see." Fox News also reported that "Trump noted the US is ready to defend itself and Israel if Iran retaliates." - 'Maximum restraint': UN - UN chief Antonio Guterres asked "both sides to show maximum restraint, avoiding at all costs a descent into deeper conflict, a situation that the region can hardly afford," according to a spokesperson. Guterres was "particularly concerned" by Israel's strikes on nuclear installations amid the ongoing US-Iran negotiations. - 'Deeply worried' : China - "The Chinese side... is deeply worried about the severe consequences that such actions might bring," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said, calling "on relevant parties to take actions that promote regional peace and stability and to avoid further escalation of tensions". - 'Reasonable reaction': Czech Republic - Czech Republic Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said Iran "is supporting so many players, including the Hezbollah and Hamas movements, with the intention to destroy the state of Israel, and also seeking a nuclear bomb", that "I see that this was a reasonable reaction from the state of Israel towards a possible threat of a nuclear bomb". - 'Avoid any escalation' : France - "We call on all sides to exercise restraint and avoid any escalation that could undermine regional stability," France's foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X. - 'Dangerous escalation': Hamas - "This aggression constitutes a dangerous escalation that threatens to destabilise the region," said the Iran-backed, Palestinian militant group, whose October 2023 attack on Israel sparked the Gaza war. - No 'battleground': Jordan - "Jordan has not and will not allow any violation of its airspace, reaffirming that the Kingdom will not be a battleground for any conflict," a government spokesperson told AFP after Jordan closed its airspace. - 'Dangerous approach' : Oman - Nuclear talks mediator Oman said "calls on the international community to adopt a clear and firm position to put an end to this dangerous approach, which threatens to rule out diplomatic solutions and jeopardise the security and stability of the region". - 'Strong condemnation': Qatar - Gaza mediator Qatar expressed "its strong condemnation and denunciation of the Israeli attack," the Gulf state's foreign ministry said, adding that the "dangerous escalation threatens security and stability of the region and hinders efforts to de-escalate and reach diplomatic solutions". - 'Aggressive actions': Turkey - "Israel must put an immediate end to its aggressive actions that could lead to further conflicts," Turkey's foreign ministry said in a statement. - 'Reduce tensions urgently': UK - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement: "The reports of these strikes are concerning and we urge all parties to step back and reduce tensions urgently. Escalation serves no one in the region." - 'Legitimate right to defend itself': Yemen's Huthi rebels - Tehran-backed Huthi rebels said on Telegram they backed "Iran's full and legitimate right to... develop its nuclear programme" and that "we strongly condemn the brutal Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran and affirm its full and legitimate right to respond by all possible means". burs-djt/yad
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Chart: Hundreds of gigawatts of clean energy at risk with GOP bill
See more from Canary Media's "Chart of the week' column. Amid rising power bills and surging energy demand, Republicans in Congress are set to undermine the country's primary source of new electricity — clean energy. The 'Big Beautiful Bill' passed in May by House Republicans and now being considered by the Senate would rapidly phase out key clean-energy tax credits, casting uncertainty over more than 600 gigawatts' worth of solar, battery, and wind projects slated to come online in 2028 or later, according to new analysis from research firm Cleanview. To be fair, the 600-GW figure is based on what's currently in the interconnection queue, and a good number of those projects won't get built regardless of the fate of the tax credits. (Projects often drop out of the queue for all kinds of reasons.) But if the bill kneecaps even a fraction of what's anticipated, it will have serious consequences for the U.S. energy system. For context, the entirety of the U.S. had a generating capacity of around 1,200 gigawatts at the end of 2023. The current version of the legislation would rapidly phase out federal tax credits that encourage clean energy development. As it stands, developers would be eligible for the tax credit only if their projects begin construction within 60 days of the bill's passage and if they come online before the end of 2028. That puts the 318 GW worth of projects planned to be completed in 2029 and later at explicit risk of losing their tax-credit eligibility. It also jeopardizes 2028 projects that either can't break ground with just two months' notice or which might hit snags that push their completion into 2029. That doesn't necessarily mean those projects would be cancelled, but it would scramble their economics, which were calculated under an entirely different set of policy assumptions. It's near certain that some would fall through. Many more would be delayed as developers hash out new financial terms — read: higher power prices that will be passed onto consumers. A slowdown in clean energy construction is the exact opposite of what the moment demands. These days, when a new energy project is built in the U.S., more than nine times out of 10 it is a solar, battery, or wind installation. That's not an exaggeration. In 2024, solar, batteries, and wind made up 93% of new energy resources. The year before that, it was 94%. Meanwhile, construction of new large-scale fossil-gas power plants is constrained by turbine shortages that are unlikely to ease in the near term. At the same time, electricity demand is surging and expected to climb even higher in coming years as the development of AI sets off a race to construct power-hungry data centers. If congressional Republicans pass a bill that stifles solar, batteries, and wind, study after study predicts the same outcome: higher energy bills — and more planet-warming emissions.
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ohio anti-hunger advocates urge U.S. Senators to reject SNAP changes
The Mid-Ohio Food Collective. (Photo by Nick Evans, Ohio Capital Journal.) Ohioans on the front-line fighting hunger are urging the state's U.S. Senators to change the budget reconciliation package passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill makes dramatic changes to the food stamps program, known as SNAP, placing a substantial new burden on states. It comes at a moment when food banks and pantries say they're stretched to the breaking point. 'We're the richest nation on earth,' Grace Church pastor and Mid-Ohio Food Collective Board Member Michael Young said Thursday. 'This issue of feeding people should not be this difficult or this hard,' he continued, '(There) should not be many decisions to make when we're talking about putting food on people's table — it is a moral obligation.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The congressional Republican spending plan — President Trump's 'big beautiful bill' — would make significant changes to how we pay for the country's primary food assistance program. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has always been fully funded by the federal government, with states pitching in to cover half of administrative costs. Ohio participants received $3.55 billion in benefits during the 2023 federal fiscal year. Now, Republicans in Congress want to shift some of that cost to states for the first time in the program's history. In the U.S. House, lawmakers proposed states pick up 15%-25% of the total. The U.S. Senate walked that back, but still wants many states to pitch in, tying it to how accurately a state determines eligibility and benefit amounts, called error rates. Under the U.S. Senate plan, those with error rates below 6% would pay nothing, while states with error rates above 10% would pay for 15% of their food assistance benefits. Ohio food banks are serving more people than ever, budget would maintain funding at 2019 levels According to the Food Research and Access Center, Ohio's 2023 error rate would put it in the bucket of states paying for 5% of their SNAP benefits. Back of the envelope math, that would put Ohio on the hook for about $178 million. In addition to covering a portion of benefits, the proposal asks states to cover three quarters of administrative costs and imposes more stringent work requirements. If the current state budget process offers any indication those figures are a nonstarter. During the last budget cycle Ohio lawmakers gave food banks an extra $7.5 million on top of the $24.5 million base appropriation they've received since 2019. But this year, lawmakers zeroed out that supplemental funding, arguing it was always meant to be a one-time thing. Food banks argued they're getting more traffic than ever, and argued at the very least, lawmakers should give them a $5 million increase to account for inflation. Lawmakers didn't budge. In Grove City on Thursday, representatives from Ohio's food assistance network warned the state simply can't absorb the SNAP reductions Congress is considering. Standing in front of wall of glass wall looking out on their warehouse, Mid-Ohio Food Collective President and CEO Matt Habash, bragged they have 'three football fields of storage' and serve people in need 'from Marysville clear to the Ohio River.' 'But as impressive as Mid-Ohio Food Bank is,' he said, 'It's never been our community's best our biggest weapon against hunger. That, my friends, is SNAP.' Habash argued the program is the 'first line of defense' against hunger and a 'lifeline' to low-income seniors, children, and people with disabilities. He warned pushing benefit costs onto states would 'end SNAP as we know it.' 'This cost shift would force impossible decisions by our state leaders to raise taxes or cut essential services all while hunger increases,' he said. 'These cuts will do the most harm to the most vulnerable neighbors.' 'The meals that go missing,' he added, 'will be far more than our hunger relief network could ever possibly provide.' Habash urged Ohioans to contact the state's Republican U.S. Sens. Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted. The Ohio Capital Journal contacted both senator's offices for comment about the SNAP plan. Neither responded. Jamie Trout, executive director of Eastside Community Ministry in Zanesville, heads up the biggest food pantry in Muskingum County. Over the last three years, she explained, they've seen visitors triple, while the cost of groceries has spiked. 'To try to wrap my mind around the amount of people that will be coming for our services if the SNAP benefits are cut,' she said, 'I just don't see how we would sustain that.' Ohio Association of Foodbanks Executive Director Joree Novotny added that SNAP benefits wind up helping the local economy as well as hungry families. Food assistance dollars get spent at local grocery stores and farmers markets. In economic downturns, that cash influx provides a backstop for some businesses. 'The state of Ohio cannot absorb hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending,' she said of the cost sharing plan. '(Ohio) would either have to increase taxes to raise revenue, cut other essential services, or risk losing billions of dollars every year in economic activity that supports Ohio retailers, agribusinesses and neighbors.' She called the plan 'unsustainable' and 'unrealistic,' and urged Ohio's congressional delegation to reject those provisions. 'A hungry child cannot learn, a hungry worker cannot earn, and a hungry senior is not healthy,' she said. Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
