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 briefly dipped below $2,900 on Friday (2/14), but are expected to end the week with a solid gain of more than 0.80% as traders booked profits ahead of the weekend. Economic data in the United States (US) was mixed, although the US dollar hit a yearly low and US Treasury yields plunged. XAU/USD was trading at $2,883, down 1.48% on the day. Retail sales in the United States fell sharply in January, weighing on the US dollar, which continued to weaken across the board. However, the precious metal benefited as traders squared off their positions amid fresh headwinds for gold, which...
The dollar index fell to 106.8 on Friday after much weaker-than-expected retail sales figures raised concerns about the strength of the consumer spending. Retail sales declined 0.9% last month, compared to forecasts of a smaller 0.1% fall and the control sales which is used to calculate GDP declined 0.8%, although consumer spending was likely hit by harsh weather and wildfires in LA. Meanwhile, both CPI and PPI exceeded forecasts, though the PPI components feeding into the PCE index, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, showed signs of cooling. The data has reinforced the Fed's cautious...
Oil rose after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration remains committed to reducing Iran's oil exports. Brent futures added as much as 1.1% in London after earlier trading little changed. Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business that the US is keen to cut Iranian oil exports to 100,000 barrels a day. He also said that if President Trump asks, he will introduce more sanctions on Russian energy. The comments injected some volatility into an otherwise quiet trading session. So far this week oil markets have been gripped by Trump's...
Silver extended its rally past the $33 per ounce mark on Friday, the highest in over three months and outperforming other bullion as its demand in electrification and manufacturing magnified the the support from a global pivot to safety. The unexpected rebound in the ISM Manufacturing PMI for January improved the outlook for US factory demand following more than two years of monthly contractions. Additionally, new data showed that China put up 357 gigawatts of solar and wind power in 2024, among the main uses of industrial silver. Also on the solar power front, India's Oil and Natural Gas...
The US dollar fell Friday, on track for a hefty weekly loss in the wake of hot inflation data and after President Donald Trump delayed imposing reciprocal tariffs on major U.S. trading partners. At 04:00 ET (09:00 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded 0.4% lower to 106.815, dropping to a three-week low and on course for a loss of around 1% this week. President Trump directed officials on Thursday to formulate plans for reciprocal tariffs on every country that imposes taxes on U.S. imports, but stopped short of immediately...
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...