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US dollar buoyed by safe-haven bids, rate jitters
The dollar was on the front foot on Monday in cautious trade as tensions in the Middle East escalated, while investors awaited a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell later this week for further clues on the U.S. central bank's rate outlook. The Israeli shekel fell to more than an eight-year low of 3.9900 per dollar in early Asia trade, after the country's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to "demolish Hamas" as his troops prepared to move into the Gaza Strip in pursuit of Hamas militants. Carry trades funded by the yen could be the biggest casualty of further escalation in the war, analysts ... (full story)