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 struggled to recover on Thursday (February 5th), despite signs of weakness emerging from US jobs data. The primary reason: the US dollar continued to strengthen (or at least held strong), thus unabated pressure on the precious metal. The initial trigger came from the sharp decline in JOLTS Job Openings data. The December 2025 release showed job openings at 6.542 million, well below the estimated 7.200 million. Normally, such a weak figure provides room for gold to strengthen as the market begins to anticipate lower interest rates. However, this time the effect was restrained because...
Oil prices fell again on Thursday (February 5th) after Iran confirmed it would open negotiations with the United States. This assurance of dialogue eased market concerns over the risk of a direct military strike against Iran, a major producer in OPEC, leading to some risk premiums being released. Brent oil weakened by around 2% to around $67 per barrel, after rallying nearly 5% in the previous two sessions. Meanwhile, WTI fell further, around 2.5% to around $63 per barrel. Abbas Araghchi confirmed the schedule for talks in Oman on Friday, helping to ease short-term geopolitical...
Gold is maintaining its strength after a sharp fall from its record high. After "buy the dip" buyers stepped in during the price drop, selling pressure began to ease and gold's movement stabilized. In early trading, gold bullion was around $4,950 per ounce after surging more than 6% in the previous session. The boost came from a return to risk on market sentiment and a weakening US dollar. Silver also tended to be subdued. Despite this, gold remains about 12% below its record high set on January 29, but is still up nearly 15% year to date. This signals that the rally may have been...
Oil prices rose for the second consecutive day after US-Iran tensions resurfaced. The trigger: the US reportedly shot down an Iranian drone near an American aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea an event that immediately put the market on alert. The West Texas Intermediate contract moved closer to $64 per barrel, after surging 1.7% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Brent Crude closed above $67, indicating market sentiment is shifting toward a risk-on scenario. Despite the initial "shock" to the market, the tensions have not yet escalated into a major escalation. Donald Trump emphasized that diplomacy...
Gold (XAU/USD) began attracting buyers on Tuesday after a sharp two-day fall that briefly touched the $4,400 area its lowest level since January 6. This recovery was aided by a slight weakening of the US dollar, moving away from its more than one-week peak reached on Monday. However, the dollar's strength is likely to persist. Donald Trump's appointment of Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve Chair coupled with solid US manufacturing data is seen as encouraging the Fed to remain cautious about lowering interest rates. This combination tends to act as a drag on gold's momentum. On the...
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...