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...
EUR/USD recovered from previous session's losses, trading near 1.1190 during the Asian session on Monday (05/19). The pair strengthened as the US dollar came under pressure following Moody's downgrade of the US credit rating by one notch from Aaa to Aa1 on the grounds of rising debt levels and rising interest payments. Moody's follows previous downgrades by Fitch Ratings in 2023 and Standard & Poor's in 2011. Moody's now projects US federal debt to reach around 134% of GDP in 2035, up from 98% in 2023, while the federal deficit is expected to widen to nearly 9% of GDP, driven by higher...
The AUD/USD pair kicked off the new week on a subdued note and consolidated just above the 0.6400 round-figure mark during the Asian session (19/05). Moreover, the spot prices remained confined within a familiar range for the past month or so as traders await fresh catalysts before positioning for the next leg of the directional move. Meanwhile, Monday's China macro data could provide some impetus to the AUD/USD pair and allow traders to grab short-term opportunities. However, the immediate market reaction is likely to be limited as the focus remains on the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA)...
Gold rallied after its biggest weekly drop in six months, with safe-haven demand boosted by growing concerns about the US economic outlook and budget deficit. Bullion rose as much as 1.3% to around $3,245 an ounce in early Asian trade. That came after Moody's Ratings announced late Friday that it had downgraded the US government's main credit rating to Aa1 from Aaa. The agency blamed the inability of successive administrations to cut budget deficits. "While we acknowledge the significant strength of the US economy and finances, we believe this no longer fully offsets the deterioration in...
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is trading around $62 on Friday ahead of the weekend, staging a modest rebound after snapping a two-day losing streak. The US Oil found renewed buying interest following a retest of the $55 support zone, where a potential double-bottom structure has formed on the daily chart. While the short-term technical picture has improved, macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds, especially surrounding rising Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) output and the potential return of Iranian barrels, continue to weigh on sentiment. OPEC+ supply...
The dollar rose on Friday after the latest round of economic data showed a jump in import prices while consumer sentiment remained subdued, putting it on pace for a fourth straight weekly advance. The Labor Department said import prices gained 0.1% last month after dropping 0.4% in March as a jump in the cost of capital goods outweighed cheaper energy prices. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast import prices, which exclude tariffs, would decrease 0.4%. The dollar began to strengthen after a separate reading from the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers showed its Consumer...
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...