Check out the companies that made headlines during midday trading.

 

Biogen — Shares of Biogen fell more than 7% after Samsung denied a report in South Korean media that it was in talks to buy Biogen. On Wednesday, shares of the biotechnology company rose by 9.5% amid this message.

 

DiDi Global - Shares jumped 5.6%, despite the fact that the company reported a decrease in revenues in the third quarter by 1.7% and a loss of $ 4.7 billion. Investors bought into the fall in shares of a Chinese company that provides passenger transportation services, which fell by 8.2% on Wednesday. In addition, the company's shares have declined in 12 of the last 15 trading days.

 

RR Donnelley & Sons - Shares of the commercial printing house rose nearly 5% after the company received a non-binding offer to purchase $11 per share in cash. The unwanted offer came two weeks after R.R. Donnelley agreed to be bought by affiliates of Chatham Asset Management, its largest shareholder, for $10.85 per share.

 

Virgin Galactic - Shares of the space travel company rose 6% as Virgin Orbit, its satellite launch subsidiary, prepares to begin trading Thursday on the Nasdaq, following a merger with NextGen Acquisition Corp approved earlier this week.

 

Micron Technology - Shares of the semiconductor company fell 1.3% after the company warned of production delays due to the new closure of Covid production in Xi'an, China. Micron said in a blog post that additional restrictions from local authorities "may be increasingly difficult to mitigate."

 

Kanzhun — Shares of the job search company jumped 13% after Jefferies began covering stocks with a "buy" rating and a price benchmark of $44, a gain of about 38% from Wednesday's closing price.

 

ViacomCBS — Shares of the media giant rose 3.6% and were among the highest in the S&P 500 on Thursday. The growth followed a Financial Times report released Wednesday that U.S. video streams will spend $115 billion on content in 2022. Shares of Discovery rose 3%, while Netflix and Fox rose about 1%. Shares of Apple and Disney also rose slightly.

Oil prices remained broadly stable on Thursday as signs that the worst effects of the Omicron option could be more contained than previously feared were countered by new COVID-19 restrictions amid rising infections.

 

Brent crude futures rose 2.07 percent, or $1.56, at $76.85 a barrel after rising 1.8 percent in the previous session. Futures for US west Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil rose by 1.03 dollars, or 1.4%, to 73.79 dollars per barrel after rising by 2.3% in the previous session.

 

"The direction of oil movement is entirely dependent on the omicron headlines, and as long as they remain more contagious but less virulent, the oil rally is likely to continue, and intraday fluctuations are exacerbated by low liquidity," said OANDA market analyst Jeffrey Halley.

 

Both contracts are rising for the third day in a row." So far this year, Brent has grown by about 46% and WTI by 50%.

 

Wednesday's big gain was partly driven by a larger-than-expected drawdown in U.S. crude inventories last week.

 

The United States has approved Pfizer Inc.'s COVID-19 antiviral pills for people ages 12 and older, the first oral and home-based drug, as well as a new treatment against a fast-spreading variant of the Omicron virus.

 

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca said a three-dose course of the COVID-19 vaccine is effective against Omicron, citing data from a laboratory study from the University of Oxford.

 

On the other hand, governments have imposed a number of restrictions to slow the spread of Omicron.

 

The Chinese city of Xi'an on Wednesday ordered 13 million residents to stay home, Scotland imposed restrictions on the collection of the population from December 26 for up to three weeks, and two Australian states imposed a ban on wearing masks.

 

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and allies have left the door open for a review of their plan to increase supply by 400,000 barrels a day in January.

Speculative stocks including GameStop and AMC Entertainment were hit hard on Monday amid widespread market declines as investors ditched risky meme names after a dizzying year.

 

GameStop, once at the center of stock market craze, fell more than 12% during daytime trading, bringing its monthly loss to nearly 29%. AMC shares fell 17%, increasing their monthly decline by more than 32% and hitting their lowest level since June. Bed Bath & Beyond is down 6.3%

 

Other names that have been popular on the WallStreetBets Reddit chat also suffered significant losses this month amid overall lower risk and increased volatility. Clover Health and BlackBerry were down 16% and 10% in December, respectively.

 

However, Monday's selloff hasn't had much of an impact on the memes stock soaring this year. AMC shares are still up more than 970% year-over-year, with GameStop behind it growing more than 630% in 2021. The rally pushed GameStop towards the Russell 1000 large-cap stock index versus the Russell 2000 small-cap stock index.

 

Earlier this year, a group of retail traders coordinated deals on social media and managed to create huge cuts in many strong short stocks. Short positions in these stocks fell sharply after this startling episode.

 

AMC shares fell 7% on Friday after CEO Adam Aron and CFO Sean Goodman sold significant shares. Aron sold an additional $ 9.65 million in AMC shares as part of his real estate planning, following the sale of 625,000 shares of the company for approximately $ 25 million in November. It still owns approximately 96,000 shares, excluding approximately 2.9 million that may be issued in the future, based on performance targets.

 

The sale at the end of the year could also be a sign that investors are losing patience as AMC and GameStop's restructuring plans have not materialized for many. As GameStop attempts to transform itself from a regular chain of stores into a larger e-commerce retail store, it has brought in a number of new leaders, including former Amazon executives Matthew Furlong and Mike Recupero as CEO and COO, respectively.

 

However, the new GameStop leaders have provided few details on their strategy for change and have yet to share their views.

Oil prices rose on Thursday, more than recouping the previous day's losses as investors adjusted ahead of OPEC + 's supply policy decision, but gains were capped amid concerns that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus would hurt fuel demand.

 

Brent crude futures are up $ 1.24, or 1.8%, to $ 70.11 by 0748 GMT, easing 0.5% in the previous session.

 

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures rose $ 1.13, or 1.7%, to $ 66.70 a barrel after falling 0.9% on Wednesday.

 

“Investors have boosted their positions ahead of the OPEC + decision as oil prices have declined so quickly and so strongly over the past week,” said Tsuyoshi Ueno, senior economist at the NLI Research Institute.

 

World oil prices have lost more than $ 10 a barrel since last Thursday, when Omicron news first shocked investors.

 

“The market will closely follow the decision of the producer group, as well as the comments of some key members after the meeting, to propose their future policy,” Ueno said.

 

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, collectively known as OPEC +, are likely to decide on Thursday whether to release more oil to the market, as previously planned, or restrict supplies.

 

Since August, the group has added an additional 400,000 barrels per day to global supply every month as it gradually crushes record cuts agreed in 2020.

 

The new option, however, has complicated the decision-making process, and some observers suggest that OPEC + may suspend these additions in January in an attempt to slow supply growth.

 

"Oil prices have risen as some investors expect OPEC + to decide to maintain current supply levels in January to mitigate any damage to demand from the spread of Omicron," said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities Co Ltd.

 

Concerns about the impact of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have increased since the first case was reported in the United States and Japan's central bank warned of economic trouble as countries respond with tighter containment measures.

 

US Undersecretary for Energy David Turk said the administration of President Joe Biden could adjust the timing of the planned release of strategic crude oil reserves if world energy prices fall significantly.

 

Growth in oil markets was restrained on Thursday as weekly US stocks data showed that US crude stocks fell less-than-expected last week, while gasoline and distillate stocks rose much more-than-expected as demand has weakened.

 

Crude oil inventories are down 910,000 barrels in the week to November 26, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, compared to analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll of 1.2 million barrels.

The euro fell to nearly 16-month lows on Friday after Austria became the first country in Western Europe to re-impose a full ban on trade, and Germany did not rule out doing the same.

 

The single European currency has been declining all week under pressure from growing expectations that interest rates will tighten faster in other countries, especially in the United States.

 

Against the backdrop of the euro's setbacks, the dollar rose for the fourth consecutive week against its major competitors.

 

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde doubled down on her cautious stance on Friday, saying the ECB should not tighten policy as it could undermine the economic recovery.

 

Austria also said it would require all of its citizens to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by February, and the German Minister of Health warned that restrictions could be imposed in the country.

 

"One thing is for sure, if all of Europe is locked up again, and depending on how long that lasts, we will have to rethink our growth scenarios," said Stefan Ekolo, global equity strategist at brokerage Tradition.

 

The euro is down more than 1% this week, dropping two-thirds of a percent on the day to below $ 1.13, close to Wednesday's low of $ 1.12630.

 

The euro weakened across the board, also hitting more than six-year lows against the Swiss franc, which most recently fell 0.5%.

 

The General Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of six major currencies, is gaining about 1% weekly gain.

 

On the day, the dollar is up 0.4% to 95.958, close to Wednesday's 16-month high of 96.266.

 

There are growing expectations that the dollar may strengthen even more next year. US retail sales surpassed expectations this week after inflation came as a surprise last week.

 

"We believe the combination of Fed timing and slowing global growth should favor the US dollar in 2022," UBS analysts said in their outlook report.

 

The Japanese yen strengthened following the announcement of Austria's closure as traders sought safe havens, and was last up 0.3% against the dollar to hit 113.93 yen.

 

Earlier, the currency weakened slightly after the Japanese government introduced a new stimulus package worth 55.7 trillion yen ($ 490 billion).

 

Sterling has lost some of its recent gains and is down 0.5% at around $ 1.34330.

 

In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin dropped below the $ 60,000 mark, and it has entered its worst week in the past six months - it last traded in the $ 57,000 area.

Check out the companies that make headlines:

 

Johnson & Johnson rose nearly 4% in premarket Friday following the announcement of plans to spin off its consumer health care business from its pharmaceutical and medical operations.

 

Rivian Automotive - Shares of the newly opened electric vehicle maker continued to rally in Friday preliminary trading, after surging more than 22% in Thursday's session. This follows its market debut on Wednesday when the stock rallied 29%. The company, backed by Amazon and Ford, has already surpassed Ford and General Motors in market capitalization, reaching a valuation of $ 104.9 billion.

 

Lordstown Motors - Shares in the auto startup fell 10% in preliminary trading on Friday after the company reported another quarter without earnings. Lordstown said it plans to manufacture and deliver its Endurance truck in the third quarter of 2022. According to Refinitiv, the company's last quarter loss per share was less than expected. BTIG also downgraded Lordstown Motors to Neutral from Buy.

 

WM Technology - Software company WM Technology fell 13% in preliminary trading on Friday after its quarterly results fell short of expectations. WM Technology's fourth-quarter outlook was also below expectations.

 

Nvidia - Shares in the chipmaker dropped slightly in Friday's preliminary bid after Wedbush downgraded Nvidia to Neutral from Optimistic on a valuation basis. It is difficult for a Wedbush analyst to argue that Nvidia is trading 55x the company's 2024 performance.

 

Hewlett Packard Enterprise - Hewlett Packard Enterprise declined in preliminary trading on Friday after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to Sell from Neutral, citing easing IT spending in late 2021 and early 2022. The Wall Street firm lowered its price target to $ 14 per share from $ 16 per share.

 

Blink Charging - Shares in the electric vehicle charging company rose 5% in preliminary trading on Friday as investors were encouraged by strong third-quarter earnings. According to Refinitiv, the company generated revenues of $ 6.4 million, well above analysts' expectations of $ 4.7 million.

 

Caesars Entertainment - Casino shares rose in pre-market trading on Friday after B Riley Securities initiated a buy-rated Caesars Entertainment coverage with a $ 191 price target.

 

Warby Parker - Shares in the eyewear company fell in preliminary trading on Friday after the company reported higher-than-expected losses as direct listing costs offset a 32% rise in sales. Warby's net loss for the three-month period ended September 30 increased to $ 91.1 million, or $ 1.45 per share, from a loss of $ 41.6 million, or 78 cents per share, a year earlier.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday after US crude inventories rose more-than-expected last week, even as gasoline inventories hit a four-year low in the world's largest consumer of oil.

 

Brent crude futures fell $ 2.41, or 2.8%, to $ 82.33 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures fell $ 2.74, or 3.3%, to $ 81.17 a barrel.

 

Crude oil inventories are up more than 3.3 million barrels in the last week, more than expected, but gasoline inventories have fallen to their lowest level since November 2017. US oil supply declined, and inventories in Cushing, Oklahoma, hit their lowest level in three years.

 

Traders also expect the US Federal Reserve to act to curb inflation, which could undermine some speculative purchases of risky assets, including oil.

 

“Markets are already under pressure,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. “We fell due to profit taking from today's Fed meeting.”

 

President Joe Biden, speaking at the climate summit in Glasgow, blamed the rise in oil and gas prices on OPEC's refusal to pump more oil. The average retail price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States was $ 3.40 recently, according to AAA, about 20 cents more than a month ago.

 

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a group known as OPEC +, meet on Thursday and are expected to reaffirm plans to keep monthly supply growth stable despite calls for an increase.

 

In a sign that high prices are encouraging increased supplies, BP said on Tuesday that it will increase investment in US onshore shale oil and gas to $ 1.5 billion in 2022 from $ 1 billion this year. Overall, production in the United States increased to 11.5 million barrels per day, which is the highest production in the United States this year.

Asia Pacific stocks were mixed on Friday as investors tracked stocks in Apple suppliers after the tech giant lost revenue.

 

Mainland Chinese stocks closed higher, with Shanghai up 0.82% to 3547.34 and Shenzhen up 1.45% to 14 451.38.

 

The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index is down 0.8% in the last hour of trading.

 

According to a statement from the exchange, trading in Razer shares, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, was suspended on Friday "pending the release of an announcement regarding inside information of the Company and in accordance with the Hong Kong Code of Mergers and Acquisitions."

 

Japan's Nikkei 225 recovered from previous losses and rose 0.25% on the day to 28,892.69, while the Topix rose about 0.1% to close at 2001.18. South Korea's Kospi fell 1.29% to end the day at 2,970.68.

 

Australia stocks also fell as the S & P / ASX 200 closed 1.44% below 7,323.70. Retail sales in Australia rose 1.3% mom in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to data released Friday by the country's Bureau of Statistics. According to Reuters, this is above forecasts for retail sales growth of 0.2%.

 

MSCI, the broadest Asia Pacific stock index outside Japan, fell 0.63%.

 

Investors watched stocks in regional Apple suppliers move after the company's sales fell short of Wall Street's expectations in the fourth fiscal quarter. CEO Tim Cook said supply restrictions on iPhones, iPads and Macs were more severe than expected.

 

Alps Alpine shares in Japan fell 6.41% on Friday, while Murata Manufacturing rose 0.87% and Taiyo Yuden rose 1.23%.

 

In Taiwan, Hon Hai Precision Industry shares fell 1.38%, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shares fell 0.84%.

 

In mainland China, Luxshare shares fell 0.617%, while GoerTek shares jumped 4.663%.

 

The US Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of peers, stood at 93.494, after an earlier low of 93.322.

 

The Japanese yen traded at 113.58 per dollar, up from 114 against the dollar earlier this week. The Aussie changed hands at $ 0.7538, mostly holding up after rising from below $ 0.75 earlier in the week.

 

Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of trading in Asia, with Brent crude on the world market rising 0.26% to $ 84.54 a barrel. US oil futures rose 0.14% to $ 82.93 a barrel.

The former president of electric vehicle giant Tesla said Thursday he would not bet against the company, noting that it is becoming a "formidable competitor" for automakers around the world after the company beat third-quarter earnings expectations.

 

Currently, John McNeil, who is not a Tesla investor, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" that the stock is now "priced to perfection," and he confirmed he still drives a Tesla. McNeil, also a former Lyft chief operating officer, highlighted the company's high gross margins.

 

"Gross margin is approaching 30%, just to put it in perspective, it's three times GM's gross margin level and about six times Ford's gross margin level," McNeill said.

 

Despite supply chain issues, Tesla's car sales have risen to record highs, even as other automakers struggle to cope with their own demand.

 

"We're up more than 70% year-on-year compared to GM and Ford, which have a decline of about 30% year-on-year," McNeill said, listing a host of reasons why he wouldn't bet against Tesla. "They now have $16 billion in cash."

 

Drivers ordering cars from Tesla often have to wait several months before receiving the goods, which indicates demand for electric vehicles, but also raises investor concerns about production.

 

With a new plant in Shanghai and two more plants to be opened in Texas and Berlin, the company "has proven that it can open more than one plant and produce in large volumes," McNeill said, noting that Tesla's Shanghai plant produces so many products that it exports it back to North America. "So I think it's necessary to monitor their ability to increase production capacity to meet demand," he added.

 

According to McNeil, other automakers introducing their hybrid or electric cars are simply "opening more eyes to electric vehicles." "Tesla has a dominant share in the U.S., with a market share of 65% in the U.S., 21% worldwide, but I think that's in the context of Tesla having only a 1% share of the global car market and EVs only 4%."

 

McNeill, who is currently CEO of DVx Ventures, predicts that the EV industry is at the beginning of a "decade-long history of growth" for electric vehicles around the world.

 

Tesla shares, which are up more than 20% in 2021 and 100% over the past 12 months, fell nearly 1.5% in the pre-market on Thursday.

The Bank of England's deputy governor for financial stability, John C uncliffe, has warned that cryptocurrencies could trigger a global financial crisis if strict rules are not put in place.

 

In his speech on Wednesday, Cunliffe compared the growth rate of the crypto asset market from $16 billion five years ago to $2.3 trillion today to the $1.2 trillion subprime mortgage market in 2008.

 

"When something in the financial system grows very fast and grows mostly in an unregulated space, financial stability authorities should sit down and pay attention to it," he said.

 

Cunliffe acknowledged that governments and regulators should be careful not to overreact or classify new approaches as "dangerous" simply because they are different, and noted that crypto technologies offer the prospect of "radical improvements" in financial services.

 

However, in his opinion, the risks of financial stability remain limited, the current use of crypto assets raises concerns about financial stability, since most of them "have no intrinsic value and are vulnerable to serious price corrections."

 

Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two largest cryptocurrencies, fell in value by more than 30% earlier this year before recovering, and have proven to be extremely volatile since their inception. Prices are subject to a variety of external factors, from comments by Tesla CEO Elon Musk to regulatory repressive measures by the Chinese government.

 

"The crypto world is starting to connect to the traditional financial system, and we are seeing the emergence of players with leverage. And, crucially, it happens mostly in unregulated space," Culliffe said.

 

His comments echo 200 from Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey in May, who warned that cryptocurrency investors should be prepared to lose all their money due to the lack of "intrinsic value" of assets.

 

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has also warned of the risky nature of cryptocurrency investments.

 

Callyff said the risk to financial stability could rise rapidly if the market continues to expand at this rate, but the scale of those risks will be determined by the speed of response from regulators and governments.

 

He noted that over the past five years, the price of bitcoin has fallen by 10% in one day almost 30 times, the largest of which was a drop of almost 40% after a cyber incident on the Seychelles exchange of bitcoins and cryptocurrencies BitMEX.

 

"The next question is what could happen as a result of such events if these crypto assets continue to grow at scale, if they continue to become increasingly integrated into the traditional financial sector, and if investment strategies continue to become more complex?" said Cunliffe.

 

Conliffe argued that crucial to whether the system could absorb major price adjustments, burdening some investors with painful losses but avoiding a blow to the real economy, depended primarily on interconnectedness and leverage.

 

Both were present in the subprime mortgage market until 2008, leading to side effects that eventually brought the global economy to its knees, and both are becoming increasingly prominent in the crypto space, Cunliffe suggested. He said it was up to the authorities to manage this growing risk and ensure that the system was resilient to major fixes.

 

"While cryptocurrency finance works in a new way, well-designed standards and regulations can and should allow risk management in the cryptocurrency world in the same way that they are managed in the world of traditional finance," Cunliffe said.

 

Many regulators around the world have begun work to create a public policy framework through which to manage the exponential growth of crypto assets, but Cunliffe said this needs to be done urgently.

 

"Technology and innovation have contributed to the improvement of finance throughout history. Crypto technologies open up great opportunities. As [Ralph Waldo] Emerson said, "If you build a better mousetrap, the world will pave the way for your door," he said.

 

"But it has to be a really better mousetrap, not one that just works to lower standards – or no standards at all."

The asylum dollar held close to a 14-month high against the euro on Thursday as rising energy prices heightened fears that inflation could limit economic growth as well as prompt the Federal Reserve to act faster to normalize policy.

 

The U.S. currency remained stable at $1.1558 per euro after strengthening to $1.1529 on Wednesday, the first time since July last year.

 

The dollar index, which measures the dollar against a basket of six competitors, has changed little since Wednesday to 94.188, after nearly 0.5% growth over the past two sessions. Last week, the index hit an annual high of 94.504.

 

The Japanese yen, another safe haven, has largely remained at 111.375 per dollar, roughly halfway through its range over the past week and a half.

 

Overnight, crude oil rose to a seven-year high before catching its breath from the recent booming growth, while natural gas jumped to a record peak in Europe and coal prices from major exporters also hit all-time highs.

 

"All the talk on (market) platforms, on social media and in broad markets was around Nat Gas, and it was deafening," wrote Chris Weston, head of research at pepperstone broker in Melbourne. a client note called "OMGas".

 

"Traders feared that the risks of stagflation were mounting and wondered how central banks were coping with the stagflation caused by the supply shock?"

 

Investors also remained on the strain over negotiations over the U.S. debt ceiling, even as the top Republican in the U.S. Senate, Mitch McConnell, said his party would extend the debt ceiling until December, averting a historic default with dire economic consequences.

 

The Federal Reserve, which has so far largely argued that inflationary pressures will prove temporary, said it would likely begin to cut its monthly bond purchases as early as November before interest rate hikes followed.

 

Economists expect further improvement in the labor market, with the consensus forecast suggesting that 473,000 jobs were created in September, a Reuters poll showed.

 

The number of U.S. private sector jobs rose more than expected in September as Covid-19 infections began to weaken, allowing Americans to travel, visit restaurants and re-engage in other activities that require more contact, the ADP National Employment Report showed Wednesday.

 

Meanwhile, Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market value, hovered around the nearly five-month high of $55,800 reached on Wednesday and last traded around $54,881.

The U.S. dollar rose for the second straight session on Monday, boosted by rising Treasury yields ahead of a number of Federal Reserve speakers this week, which could confirm expectations that asset purchases will begin to decline before the end of the year.

 

The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries hit a three-month high of $1.516% on Monday.

 

On Monday, Fed officials, including one influential board member, linked the reduction in the Fed's monthly bond purchases to continued job growth, with the September jobs report now a potential trigger for the central bank's bond "winding down."

 

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who joins Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, will address Congress on Tuesday.

 

The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six major peers, rose 0.1 percent to 93.37.

 

The dollar also continued to rise after data showed that new orders and shipments of major U.S. capital goods rose strongly in August, rising 0.5 percent in August on strong demand for computers and electronic goods.

 

But the market was more focused on the U.S. Treasury bond market.

 

U.S. yields rose to their highest levels since late June in anticipation of a tightening of monetary policy after the Fed announced last week that it could begin winding down stimulus as early as November and noted that an interest-rate hike could come sooner than expected. 

 

"The winding-down process itself is not a surprise, but an earlier end to the program will reinforce the perception that downside risks to the U.S. dollar have diminished," Mazen Issa, senior currency strategist at TD Securities, wrote in a research note.

 

TD expects the Fed to end its quantitative easing program by June 2022.

 

"If the last cycle of winding down the program was any indication, about half of the cyclical rise in the U.S. dollar was seen three months after winding down the program," he added.

 

The euro was down 0.1 percent against the dollar to $1.1698, largely ignoring developments in Germany's weekend election, where the Social Democrats are projected to defeat the conservative CDU/CSU bloc.

 

The dollar rose 0.3 percent against the yen to 110.99 yen, after earlier rising to a nearly three-month high. It rose 0.2 percent against the Swiss franc to 0.9259 franc.

 

"The buck has no real reason to decline from where it is, so we'll be looking to see what can make a difference as we hear news this week from different sides: from the new German leadership, the new head of Japan and the U.S. Congress," said Juan Perez, a currency strategist and trader at Tempus Inc. in Washington.

 

The risk-sensitive Australian dollar rose 0.4 percent to US$0.7289 as worries about widespread market contagion from debt-laden China Evergrande Group eased.

 

Fears that Evergrande, China's second-largest real estate developer, could default on $305 billion in debt have marred trading in recent weeks, but some of those concerns are receding.

 

The People's Bank of China injected a net 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion) into the financial system Monday, adding to last week's net 320 billion yuan, the most since January.