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 futures slump on profit-taking and reduced safe-haven demand. Futures are down 1.8% at $3,287.20 a troy ounce. The precious metal is on track to finish the week nearly 3% lower on the sudden de-escalation in the Israel-Iran conflict, StoneX's Fawad Razaqzada says in a note. Investors have rotated funds out of safe-haven assets and instead into the racier tech sector, Razaqzada writes. Still, a pullback in gold prices might not be a bad thing. Gold's slide will allow technical overbought conditions on higher time frames to cool off, allowing the metal to shine again once macroeconomic...
Oil prices moved higher for a third day on Friday with traders seeing solid summer demand amid falling U.S. inventories even as supply is on the rise. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for August delivery was last seen up US$0.55 to US$65.79 per barrel, while August Brent crude was up US$0.52 to US$68.25. The rise comes as the market calms after the end of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran collapsed a risk premium for the commodity, sending prices down 14% from a five-month high and returning oil to the narrow range it has stuck to for most of the past two months. However Wednesday's...
Silver price slides over 2% to near $35.85 during European trading hours on Friday. The white metal faces a sharp selling pressure due to improvement in trade relations between the United States (US) and China and no signs of Israel-Iran truce violation. During the European trading session, a spokesperson from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce confirmed that Beijing has agreed to expedite exports to rare earths to the US, while Washington will revoke non-tariff barriers. On Thursday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also confirmed that China is going to "deliver rare earths to us" and...
Gold fell more than 1% to its lowest level in nearly a month on Friday due to easing geopolitical and trade tensions and as investors awaited U.S. inflation data for clues on the future trajectory of interest rates. Spot gold lost 1.3% to $3,283.56 per ounce by 0839 GMT, its lowest since late May. Prices have fallen by over 2% this week and more than $200 from a record high scaled in April. U.S. gold futures fell 1.6% to $3,295.70. The Iran-Israel ceasefire, brokered earlier this week by U.S. President Donald Trump, is holding for now. A White House official said on Thursday that the...
The U.S. dollar edged marginally higher Friday ahead of the release of key inflation data, but remained close to multi-year lows, on course for hefty weekly losses on expectations of lower interest rates and reduced geopolitical and trade tensions. At 04:45 ET (08:45 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, rose marginally to 96.770, remaining close to its lowest level since March 2022, on track for a 1.5% decline in June, its sixth straight month in the red. Dollar has further downside Signs of stabilization in the Middle East, with 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...