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...
The AUD/USD pair lost most of its intraday gains after facing selling pressure above 0.6230 during the European session on Friday (31/1), but is still up nearly 0.2% at the time of writing. The Australian currency pair weakened as the US Dollar (USD) strengthened amid rising global trade war risks, with US President Donald Trump threatening to impose high tariffs on BRICS, and other North American countries. The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, hit a fresh weekly high near 108.35. Market participants expect higher tariffs to lead...
Gold prices (XAU/USD) are flat and just a few steps away from a new record high, currently at $2,800.93, with some profit-taking taking place. On the geopolitical front, markets were shaken by comments from US President Donald Trump confirming 25% tariffs will be imposed on Canada and Mexico, two of the US's largest trading partners, starting Saturday, and threatening to impose 100% tariffs on BRICS countries if they try to replace the US Dollar with a new currency in international trade. This should be a headwind for Bullion as it could lead to trade wars and inflation fears with prices...
Crude oil prices were steady on Friday but set for weekly declines as markets waited to see if U.S. President Donald Trump would follow through on his threat to impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada later this week. Brent crude for March, which expires on Friday, was up 8 cents at $76.95 a barrel by 0900 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 21 cents at $72.94. For the week, benchmarks Brent and WTI are set to fall 2% and 2.3%, respectively. "Crude oil prices have fallen this week on growing concerns about Trump's tariffs, which are expected to hamper global economic growth,"...
The euro (EUR) is trading under pressure amid broadly stronger US dollar (USD) on tariff threats. Yesterday at the last GC meeting, the ECB cut its policy rate for the fifth consecutive meeting by 25bp. The currency pair was last at 1.0370, noted FX analysts Frances Cheung and Christopher Wong of OCBC. "The deposit rate is now at 2.75%. The decision was unanimous and the Council did not discuss the possibility of a larger cut. Lagarde said that interest rates are still in restrictive territory, and it is too early to discuss when the ECB should stop cutting rates. According to a Reuters...
Silver (XAG/USD) prices recovered most of their intraday losses and rebounded near $30.50 during the European session on Friday (1/31). The white metal bounced back strongly as its outlook remained strong amid concerns that US President Donald Trump will impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico on Saturday for allowing illegal immigrants and the deadly opioid fentanyl into their economies. Such a scenario could lead to a trade war, increasing geopolitical uncertainty, which is beneficial for precious metals, such as Silver. Donald Trump has also threatened to impose 100% tariffs on the BRICS...
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...