SHANGHAI, Apr 19 (SMM) — This is a roundup of global macroeconomic news last night and what is expected today.

The dollar fell to a four-week low against a basket of currencies on Friday, still smarting from a sharp drop in U.S. Treasury yields the previous session, and as investors increasingly bought into the Federal Reserve’s insistence it would keep an accommodative policy stance for a while longer.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield dipped to a one-month low of 1.528% overnight, moving further away from March’s 1.776%, its highest in more than a year, even in the face of Thursday’s stronger-than-expected retail sales and employment data. On Friday, the 10-year recovered some ground to trade at 1.5675%.

On Wall Street, U.S. stock index futures declined in overnight trading on Sunday, after the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at record highs on Friday.

Futures contracts tied to the Dow slid 95 points, or 0.28%. S&P 500 futures dipped 0.28%, while Nasdaq 100 futures were 0.22% lower.

Stocks are coming off a week of gains as earnings topped estimates and strong economic data lifted the major averages. The S&P and Dow advanced 1.38% and 1.18% last week respectively for their fourth straight week of gains, while the Nasdaq Composite posted its third positive week in a row.

Earnings season kicked off last week when the major banks reported quarterly results, and a host of companies are set to provide their updates this week. Ten Dow components will report, along with 72 S&P 500 companies.

Oil held near $67 a barrel on Friday and was heading for a weekly gain as a stronger demand outlook and signs of economic recovery in China and the United States offset rising COVID-19 infections in some other major economies.

China’s first-quarter gross domestic product jumped 18.3% year on year, official data showed on Friday. On Thursday figures showed a rise in U.S. retail sales and a drop in unemployment claims.

Gold prices hit a seven-week high on Friday and were on track for their best week since mid-December, bolstered by a softer dollar and a sharp pull back in U.S. Treasury yields in the previous session.

Spot gold was 0.8% higher at $1,778.04 per ounce by 1:53 p.m. EDT (1753 GMT), having earlier hit its highest since Feb. 25 at $1,783.55. It is up 2% so far this week.

U.S. gold futures settled 0.8% higher at $1,780.20.

On the physical front, the world’s biggest gold consumer China has given domestic and international banks permission to import large amounts of gold into the country, five sources familiar with the matter said, in a potential fillip to gold prices.

Euro zone inflation ramped up in March, Eurostat confirmed on Friday, with consumer prices across the bloc rising 0.9% month-on-month, driven primarily by services and energy.