Stephen Miran, a Federal Reserve governor whose term ends at the end of January, said Thursday that he is looking for 150 basis points of interest-rate cuts this year to boost the U.S. labor market. Miran told Bloomberg Television's Surveillance program that Fed officials had room to further reduce rates given his view that underlying inflation was likely running at 2.3%. "I'm looking for about a point and a half of cuts. A lot of that is driven by my view of inflation," Miran said. "Underlying inflation is running within noise of our target, and that's a good indication of where overall...
Gold prices weakened slightly on Thursday (February 12th), as more solid US employment data reduced market confidence in an imminent Federal Reserve interest rate cut. The strong employment data prompted market participants to shift expectations of a "quick rate cut," while a stronger dollar added pressure on the precious metal. Spot gold fell 0.42% to $5,062.94/oz. Other metals also corrected after a sharp rally the previous day. Silver fell 0.99% to $83.481/oz, indicating the market is beginning to cool down from the high volatility that had occurred. Pressure was also seen on precious...
Oil prices rose on Wednesday (February 11th), supported by a combination of geopolitical risk premiums from US-Iran tensions and more solid Asian demand signals particularly from India which helped ease concerns about a market surplus. Market participants considered Middle East headlines to be "outweighing" the negative sentiment from the surge in US oil inventories. At 09:15 GMT, Brent rose 78 cents (+1.13%) to $69.77 per barrel, while WTI gained 75 cents (+1.18%) to $64.52 per barrel. This increase extended the gains of the past two days, as the market reassessed a "risk premium" on...
Gold prices strengthened on Wednesday, supported by a weaker US dollar and falling US bond yields after the latest economic data reinforced the narrative that the Federal Reserve is likely to continue its policy easing. Investors are now adopting a more defensive stance while awaiting the release of US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP), which has the potential to trigger further volatility. Based on updated spot prices, spot gold is at around $5,076.10 per ounce, up $34.20 (+0.68%). This data was recorded at 4:43 AM ET (approximately 4:43 PM WIB). In the derivatives market, US gold futures also...
Gold experienced a slight correction in the European session on Tuesday (February 10th), but remained above $5,000/oz as the market held its breath ahead of a series of US data that could alter interest rate expectations. Spot gold fell around 0.2% to $5,047.11/oz. What kept gold resilient wasn't just the data and the weakening dollar, but also the persistent geopolitical risk premium. Most notably, US-Iran tensions have once again brought the Strait of Hormuz into the spotlight. The US recently issued guidelines for US-flagged vessels passing through to stay away from Iranian territorial...
Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda stated that achieving 2% inflation is getting closer, although real inflation remains low. Ueda emphasized that the BOJ will continue to raise interest rates...
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) maintained its cash rate at 4.1% during its April meeting, holding borrowing costs unchanged after slashing 25 bps in the February meeting, aligning with market...