U.S. Dollar is Up

U.S. Dollar were up to a one-week high against a basket of currencies on Thursday. The U.S. dollar index were able to hit 96.235, its highest since March 16. The U.S. currency was on the front foot after St. Louis Fed President James Bullard added his support to the possibility of more U.S. interest rate hikes this year.

U.S. Dollar was up 0.4% at 112.795 yen. The euro eased to $1.1171 EUR=, leaving it well off last week's top of $1.1342. Sterling GBP also slid to $1.4096 GBP= on concerns the attacks in Brussels would aid the campaign to leave the European Union in June's "Brexit" vote. The common currency has lost 0.8% so far this week.

Gold Prices Ended Lower Ahead of ECB Meeting

Gold prices ended lower on Wednesday, as investors worries about this week’s European Central Bank monetary-policy meeting.  It is possible  that the European Central Bank might surprise markets by giving more stimulus than is expected, since expectations are unduly low.

Gold for April delivery closed down 0.4% at $1,257.40 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Most market watchers expect the central bank to ramp up its bond-buying program and push interest rates deeper into negative territory at the conclusion of their monetary policy meeting on Thursday.

China Shares Down Due to Weak Metals Prices, Steel Plant Concerns

Shanghai Composite Index six-straight sessions of gains halted as China shares went down Wednesday amid concerns on metals prices and the consolidation of steel plants.

The Shanghai Composite Index loss about 1.4%, that ended their six-session winning streak, dragged by losses in basic materials and energy shares. The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index ended 2.1% down. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was dragged to a 0.1% loss.   

South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.35%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1%. In Japan, the Nikkei sold off for the second straight day, giving back 0.8% as a stronger yen weighed on major exporters again.

In China, shares of steel producers plunged after the official news agency Xinhua reported that the governor of Hebei, a northern province near Beijing, said the province aims to close 60% of its steel factories by 2020. That report sparked selling of steel-related stocks. Shanghai Hualian Mining was down 8.2%, and Shandong Jinling Mining lost 8%.

Forbes Richest Man in the World 2016: Bill Gates

Bill Gates retains the record of being the richest person in the world for the 3rd year in the row according to Forbes Billionaires list. The Microsoft co-founder bag the top spot as the world's wealthiest businessman by Forbes in their 2016 list of top billionaires. Gates tops with $75bn. It's now his 17 times being on the top spot in 22 years.

This year's list featured 1,810 billionaires across the world. Combined, they have a net worth of nearly $6.5 trillion.

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also reached the top ten for the first time. Zuckerberg is this years biggest gainer, it's his best year earning over $11bn.

Here are the rest of the business moguls rounding the top 10:

    1. Bill Gates, US, $75bn
    2. Amancio Ortega, Spain, $67bn
    3. Warren Buffett, US, $60.8bn
    4. Carlos Slim Helu, Mexico, $50bn
    5. Jeff Bezos, US, $45.2bn
    6. Mark Zuckerberg, US, $44.6bn
    7. Larry Ellison, US, $43.6bn
    8. Michael Bloomberg, US, $40bn
    9. Charles Koch, US, $39.6bn
    10. David Koch, US, $39.6bn

McDonald’s Franchisees Doubts all-day breakfast menu will be Successful

McDonald’s are doing everything they could to bring back lost customers, their recent trick is the all-day breakfast menu. Franchisees doubt that it will be successful based on their internal annual survey of franchisees. Only 14% of U.S. franchisees agreed or strongly agreed that the company’s turnaround agenda was working. And only 35% said they felt confident about McDonald’s success over the long term, down from 46% the previous year, according to survey results provided to The Associated Press.

Only 48% said they had a clear understanding of the company’s vision of becoming a “modern progressive burger and breakfast company.” Franchisees that say they were “proud to be a McDonald’s Owner/Operator” also fell to 77% down from 84% in 2014.

McDonald’s Corp. is working to refresh its image and combat slumping sales, with the chain facing changing eating preferences and intense competition. Lisa McComb, a McDonald’s representative, said in a statement that the results of the franchisee survey were “hardly surprising” since it was conducted between September 18 and October 4, ahead of the October 6 launch of all-day breakfast and “before McDonald’s ended the year with momentum.”

She said the company was starting 2016 “in a better place than where we were 12 months ago.”

However, according to a Business Insider report McDonald's all-day breakfast menu is crushing its competitors and sales at McDonald's US locations open for at least one year rose for the first time in two years in the fourth quarter thanks to the company's new all-day breakfast offering.

Jack in the Box sales in the last part of the quarter were lower than we anticipated as several competitors began promoting aggressive value offers.

Howard Penney, an analyst at Hedgeye Risk Management, tweeted that "the market is saying that [Dunkin Donuts] & [Bojangles] are the other companies impacted by the mighty @McDonaldsCorp all-day breakfast."

US Dollar Down Near 3-1/2-month as Yellen eyed for direction

The dollar weakens near 3-1/2-month low against a basket of major currencies on Wednesday, as traders awaits the announcement of U.S. interest rate guidance from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. It was also affected by fears of a global economic slowdown amid the recent falls in oil prices and growing concerns about the health of European banks.

Experts said that because of those difficulties, the U.S. Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates in the near future. Traders are also looking to Fed Chair Janet Yellen's congressional testimony later in the day for clues on the outlook for policy.

Against a basket of currencies the dollar was flat at 96.056 .DXY, having touched 95.663 on Tuesday, its weakest since October.

The low represented a 4.8% decline from its 12-1/2-year peak touched in early December when the consensus was for the Fed to keep raising rates this year, stoking a global capital rush of funds to higher-yielding dollar assets.

The dollar's fall has been most notable against the yen, which had been depressed at low levels over a long period because of the Bank of Japan's aggressive monetary easing since 2013.

The dollar fell 0.7% to 114.37 yen , not far from its 15-month low of 114.205 yen hit on Tuesday.

A fall in Japan's benchmark Nikkei share average <.n225> to its lowest levels since October 2014 helped spur demand for the safe-haven yen, analysts said.

Such weakness in Japanese equities could dampen Japanese investors' risk appetite and weigh on the dollar versus the yen in coming months, said Masashi Murata, currency strategist for Brown Brothers Harriman in Tokyo.

The euro were steadfast at $1.1295, they've hit a 3-1/2 month high of $1.13385 on Tuesday.

Asia stocks Trades Lower Amid U.S. jobs data, US dollar is down

- Nikkei extends losses for fifth day, down 5.9% for the week

Asian markets were on the downside on Friday, closing mixed despite a positive finish on Wall Street overnight, as a newly weaker dollar brought fresh concerns ahead of the closely watched U.S. jobs report. The U.S. dollar basket has lost 3.2% since the close on Friday and 2.3% in just two days, with Wednesday being the worst single day in DXY in seven years.

The dollar index, where the dollar is weighted against a basket of currencies, was at 96.58.

Shanghai stocks, was slightly up by 0.2% while Australian shares dipped by 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei under performed, dropping 1.4% and headed for its fourth straight day of losses.

The biggest concern for the Japanese market now is whether the dollar will weaken against the yen further. You don't know how U.S. stocks will perform after the jobs data release, so most investors are nervous.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng bounce by 0.8% while other gainers included Malaysian and Singapore shares.

The euro were down 0.2% to $1.1188, trimming some of the gains from Thursday's surge. The common currency was headed for a 3.3% gain on the week, its biggest in more than four years.

The markets will look to the U.S. jobs data for direction, with the employment report expected to show employers adding 190,000 jobs in January.