Asian shares and the dollar made a cautious start to the new month on Monday as U.S. lawmakers struggled to hammer out a new stimulus plan and a global surge of new coronavirus cases showed no sign of abating.
On Friday, Fitch Ratings cut the outlook on the United States' triple-A rating to negative from stable, citing eroding credit strength and a ballooning deficit. "Together with concerns about labour market and virus developments, this clouds the outlook and could be exacerbated if U.S. fiscal support is not renewed in time."
The 10-year real rate has broken below -1per cent for the first time amid a marked flattening of the yield curve as investors wager on yet more accommodation from the Federal Reserve. The dollar was a shade lower on the Japanese yen at 105.80 after hitting a 4-1/2-month low last week at 104.17. The metal made a fresh peak early Monday at US$1,984 an ounce and seemed on track to take out US$2,000 soon.