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By Rocky Swift TOKYO (Reuters) -The dollar remained on the back foot on Friday as global trade frictions and signs of weakness in the U.S. economy supported the case for more rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. The dollar index is set for its biggest weekly drop in almost three months as an extended shutdown of the U.S. government blocked the publication of key economic data. The yen held on to gains after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda spoke about factors that could lead to a rate increase this month. Compounding concerns about trade, Fed independence and the U.S. shutdown are making the greenback vulnerable to the debasement trade, where investors seek assets that can't easily be devalued, said Pepperstone research strategist Dilin Wu. "It's really hard to find a bullish scenario for the dollar index," said Wu. "Instead of betting on any currency by a single sovereign credit, people are rushing into gold, cryptocurrency, and other assets as a risk hedge." The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was little changed at 98.23 and remained on course for a 0.6% slide this week – the biggest five-day retreat since late July. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.2% to 150.12. BOJ Governor Ueda said in Washington on Thursday that the central bank remains ready to increase its key policy rate if the likelihood of its growth and price forecasts materializing increases. BOJ Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida is due to speak later on Friday. The euro added 0.1% at $1.1701, while sterling also tacked on 0.1% to $1.3446. Fed Governor Christopher Waller said he is on board with another interest rate cut at the U.S. central bank's meeting later this month because of the mixed readings on the state of the job market. Stephen Miran, the Fed's newest governor and an economic advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, reiterated support for more aggressive rate cuts at upcoming meetings than the one favored by some of his colleagues.  Miran's seat expires at the end of January, while Fed Governor Lisa Cook remains in place as the case over Trump's attempt to fire her winds through the courts. The Fed's Beige Book offered little support to U.S. rates, pointing to emerging signs of economic weakness, including rising layoffs and reduced spending among middle and lower-income households. Trade frictions between Beijing and Washington heated up overnight, with China accusing the U.S. of stoking panic over its rare earth controls, rejecting a White House call to roll back the curbs. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin gained 0.6% to $108,534.66, and ether rose 1.8% to $3,919.71. (Reporting by Rocky SwiftEditing by Shri Navaratnam)

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By Nicole Jao (Reuters) -Oil prices edged lower in early trade on Friday, heading for a weekly loss, with uncertainty over global energy supplies after U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to meet in Hungary to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Brent crude futures fell 8 cents, or 0.13%, lower at $60.98 a barrel at 0030 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were down 9 cents, or 0.16%, at $57.37.  On a weekly basis, both benchmarks were down nearly 3%, partly due to the International Energy Agency's outlook for a growing supply glut in 2026. Trump and Putin agreed on Thursday to another summit on the war in Ukraine, a surprise move that came as Moscow feared fresh U.S. military support for Kyiv. The meeting may be held within the next two weeks in Budapest. The development came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was headed to the White House on Friday to push for more military support, including U.S.-made long-range Tomahawk missiles, while Washington pressured India and China to stop buying Russian oil. "Concerns of tighter supplies were eased after it was announced that Trump would be meeting with Putin to discuss ending the war in Ukraine," Daniel Hynes, an analyst at ANZ, said in a note. Also weighing on prices, the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday U.S. crude inventories increased by 3.5 million barrels to 423.8 million barrels last week, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 288,000-barrel rise. The bigger-than-expected build in crude inventory was largely due to lower refining utilization as refineries go into fall turnarounds. [EIA/S] The data also showed a rise in U.S. production to 13.636 million barrels per day, the highest on record. In the previous session, Brent settled 1.37% lower and U.S. WTI closed down 1.39%, their lowest since May 5. (Reporting by Nicole Jao in New York; Editing by Sonali Paul)

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By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits fell last week, economists at JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs estimated on Thursday, but lackluster hiring has left many on unemployment rolls.    Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped to a seasonally adjusted 217,000 for the week ending October 11 from 235,000 the prior week, they calculated. A U.S. government shutdown, now in its third week due to a political standoff between Republicans and Democrats in Washington, has halted the collection, processing and publishing of official economic data. States have, however, continued to collect the claims data and submit it to the Labor Department's database, which remains accessible. Economists have been using the unadjusted claims data to make estimates using seasonal adjustment factors that the government published earlier this year. Claims data was unavailable for Arizona, Massachusetts, Nevada and Tennessee.  "Our estimates assume that initial claims for Tennessee, Massachusetts, Arizona and Nevada – which didn't appear in today's DOL data – were in line with the latest published numbers," Goldman Sachs said in a note. "We obtain a range between 211,000 and 225,000 using the lowest and highest levels for claims in these states this year." The Labor Department follows a similar practice to make estimates for states that are unable to provide data on time. "The latest jobless claims look quite decent, and suggest layoffs remain low with movement in the unemployment rate," said Abiel Reinhart, an economist at JPMorgan.  Claims data have become a key for Federal Reserve officials trying to assess the health of the labor market ahead of their October 28-29 policy meeting. BOTH LAYOFFS AND HIRING REMAIN LOW Fed Chair Jerome Powell said this week "available evidence suggests that both layoffs and hiring remain low, and that both households' perceptions of job availability and firms' perceptions of hiring difficulty continue their downward trajectories." Unemployment claims have remained within their pre-government shutdown range. They have not shown large spikes, despite the shutdown pushing thousands of federal contractors out of work.  Federal workers, hundreds of thousands of whom have been furloughed, file for claims under a separate program. Data for the program was not immediately available.  The labor market remains stuck in a "no hire" and "no fire" state, economists say. The U.S. central bank's Beige Book report on Wednesday described demand for labor as "generally muted" in recent weeks.     A Bank of America Institute survey on Thursday found signs of a slowdown in the small business labor market. Its alternative hiring indicator based on Bank of America small business payments data decreased in September. It also noted business applications with planned wages, viewed as a signal of real job creation, have dropped below pre-pandemic norms.   Small businesses have been the main driver of job growth. Economists say President Donald Trump's trade and immigration policies, and the growing popularity of artificial intelligence have cut demand for workers and labor supply. The number of people receiving unemployment benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, was unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 1.927 million during the week ending October 4, JPMorgan estimated. Goldman Sachs put its estimate of these so-called continuing claims at 1.917 million.  The unemployment rate increased to nearly a four-year high of 4.3% in August, and the elevated continuing claims suggest no improvement. (Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Jamie Freed)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A group representing major automakers warned late on Thursday that a chip disruption stemming from a dispute between China and the Dutch government could quickly impact U.S. auto production. Carmakers and their suppliers received notice from chipmaker Nexperia last week that it could no longer guarantee delivery of its chips, said ACEA, the European Union's auto association, which also said manufacturing could be significantly disrupted. In the United States, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Volkswagen, Hyundai, and nearly all other major automakers, urged a quick resolution. "If the shipment of automotive chips doesn’t resume – quickly – it’s going to disrupt auto production in the U.S. and many other countries and have a spillover effect in other industries," said the group's CEO John Bozzella. "It’s that significant." Some automakers told Reuters that U.S. auto plants could be affected as soon as next month. They declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. The chips made by Nexperia are crucial to production of U.S. parts and vehicles. The Dutch government announced on Sunday that it had as of September 30 taken control of Chinese-owned computer chipmaker Nexperia, citing worries about the possible transfer of technology to Nexperia's Chinese parent company, Wingtech. Court documents showed the Dutch government's move came after months of rising U.S. pressure on the company. Nexperia was at risk of being impacted by a new U.S. rule that extends export control restrictions to companies at least 50% owned by one or more entities on the U.S. entity list. Washington put Wingtech, which has 100% ownership of Nexperia, on the U.S. list in late December. The Chinese commerce ministry issued on October 4 an export control notice prohibiting Nexperia China and its subcontractors from exporting specific finished components and sub-assemblies manufactured in China, according to a statement Nexperia published on Tuesday. Volkswagen and BMW both said production in Europe had not yet been impacted by the issues but that they were working to identify potential supply risks. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sonali Paul)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A group representing major automakers warned late on Thursday that a chip disruption stemming from a dispute between China and the Dutch government could quickly impact U.S. auto production. Carmakers and their suppliers received notice from chipmaker Nexperia last week that it could no longer guarantee delivery of its chips, said ACEA, the European Union's auto association, which also said manufacturing could be significantly disrupted. In the United States, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Volkswagen, Hyundai, and nearly all other major automakers, urged a quick resolution. "If the shipment of automotive chips doesn’t resume – quickly – it’s going to disrupt auto production in the U.S. and many other countries and have a spillover effect in other industries," said the group's CEO John Bozzella. "It’s that significant." Some automakers told Reuters that U.S. auto plants could be affected as soon as next month. They declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue. The chips made by Nexperia are crucial to production of U.S. parts and vehicles. The Dutch government announced on Sunday that it had as of September 30 taken control of Chinese-owned computer chipmaker Nexperia, citing worries about the possible transfer of technology to Nexperia's Chinese parent company, Wingtech. Court documents showed the Dutch government's move came after months of rising U.S. pressure on the company. Nexperia was at risk of being impacted by a new U.S. rule that extends export control restrictions to companies at least 50% owned by one or more entities on the U.S. entity list. Washington put Wingtech, which has 100% ownership of Nexperia, on the U.S. list in late December. The Chinese commerce ministry issued on October 4 an export control notice prohibiting Nexperia China and its subcontractors from exporting specific finished components and sub-assemblies manufactured in China, according to a statement Nexperia published on Tuesday. Volkswagen and BMW both said production in Europe had not yet been impacted by the issues but that they were working to identify potential supply risks. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sonali Paul)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)