China Evergrande, an insolvent real estate developer reported by local media that he had managed to raise the funds at last-minute to pay interest on the dollar bond. This was just before China Evergrande fell into formal default. It wasn’t clear how the money was raised and there is still no sign of a comprehensive restructuring of its $300 billion in liabilities, however.

The dollar’s decline this week has come despite a steady rise in bond yields, which normally tend to support it. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note has risen by 10 basis points in the course of the week to 1.67%, on fears that this year’s spike in inflation is likely to last longer than first thought.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is due to speak at 11 AM ET (1500 GMT).

The euro was up 0.1% at $1.1638, on course for a 0.3% rise for the week, while sterling was flat at $1.3790 after the Bank of England’s new chief economist, Huw Pill, was quoted as saying that the Bank would have a “live” debate over interest rates at its meeting in November, but adding that the debate was likely to be “finely balanced”. That was a little less conclusive than market expectations, which have now factored in a rise in the Bank’s key rate at that meeting.

Data showing another drop in retail sales for September was also an indicator of sterling’s decline, marking the fifth consecutive month of falls. The declines seen in the past have been interpreted as a shifting of spending from goods to services, but the recent data also showed a decrease in consumer sentiment after the government discontinued its labor market supports schemes. Also, fuel shortages were widespread due to the dearth of truck drivers.

The day’s main data releases in Europe will be purchasing managers indices from consultancy IHSMarkit, while EU leaders continue their summit meeting in Brussels, having failed to make meaningful progress on resolving their short-term energy market problems on the first day of the meeting.

The Turkish lira dropped another 1.2%, to a record low. This was in response to what markets saw as another politicized rate reduction by a central banking that had lost its independence. With its early and substantial monetary tightening in the past year, Russia’s Central Bank has decided to hike its key rate to 7.25%. After hitting an earlier week’s 17-month high, the ruble held steady.