Reuters

By Brigid Riley

TOKYO (Reuters) - The dollar was licking wounds against peer currencies on Friday after a downward revision to U.S. GDP for the first quarter suggested room for rate cuts this year, while investors braced for inflation data.

Official data showed overnight that the U.S. economy grew at an 1.3% annualised rate from January through March, down from the advance estimate of 1.6% after downward revisions to consumer spending.

By Idrees Ali

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet with his Chinese counterpart on Friday for the first time since 2022 to discuss contentious issues such as Taiwan and the South China Sea, but also the importance of communicating, Pentagon officials said.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping have sought to manage tensions, and in November the two leaders agreed to resume direct military... (continue reading...)

By Miguel Lo Bianco

USS WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Argentina naval forces and a U.S. fleet including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington carried out naval exercises on Thursday in waters off the South American nation, a show of closer ties under new President Javier Milei.

The joint exercise, called "Gringo-Gaucho" in a tongue-in-cheek reference to slang terms for Americans and Argentines, is the first such operation... (continue reading...)

By Tetsushi Kajimoto

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will release closely watched data on Friday that shows how much it spent intervening in the foreign exchange market to prop up the yen in May, in moves that kept the currency from testing new lows but are unlikely to reverse longer-term declines.

Tokyo is suspected to have spent around a combined 9 trillion yen ($57.11 billion) on April 29 and May 2 to arrest the yen's sharp fall to a 34-year... (continue reading...)

By Georgina McCartney

(Reuters) - Oil prices fell early on Friday as investors responded to comments from U.S. Fed officials who said it was too soon to start considering rate cuts, and following a surprise build in U.S. gasoline stocks that weighed on the market.

Brent futures lost 12 cents, or 0.15%, to trade at $81.74 a barrel by 0008 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 17 cents, or 0.22%, at $77.74.