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 continued to explore the bearish side of the chart on Monday (14/1), dropping to the 1.0200 level for the first time since late 2022, carving a fresh 26-month low before staging a half-hearted recovery later in the day. European economic data remained sluggish throughout the trading week. The European Central Bank (ECB) is set to continue lowering interest rates, further widening the euro's interest rate differential against the US dollar. Final pan-EUR and German inflation figures due mid-week are not expected to deviate significantly from the preliminary figures. The US Producer...
Gold prices fell during the North American session as traders seeking safety bought the greenback as US Treasury yields rose to their highest level since November 2023. At the time of writing, XAU/USD was trading at $2,657 after failing to break through $2,700, down 1.20%. A thin economic data on Monday left investors digesting the latest US Nonfarm Payrolls figures for December. While the economy performed better than expected, with the figure rising by 256K beating estimates of 160K and 212K in November, traders are eyeing the release of US inflation data. On Wednesday, the Consumer...
Gold prices dipped on Monday as the U.S. dollar soared to an over two-year high after a robust jobs report last week cemented expectations the Federal Reserve will proceed with caution with cutting interest rates this year. Spot gold fell 1% to $2,661.76 per ounce as of 03:57 p.m. ET (2057 GMT). Prices hit their highest in a month on Friday. U.S. gold futures settled 1.3% lower at $2,678.60. The dollar index (.DXY), rose to its highest since November 2022 after the U.S. jobs report underscored the strength of the economy and muddied the Fed outlook. A higher dollar makes bullion more...
Oil prices climbed about 2% to a four-month high on Monday on expectations that wider U.S. sanctions on Russian oil would force buyers in India and China to seek other suppliers. Brent futures rose $1.25, or 1.6%, to settle at $81.01 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $2.25, or 2.9%, to settle at $78.82. That put Brent on track for its highest close since Aug. 26 and WTI on track for its highest close since Aug. 12, and kept both benchmarks in technically overbought territory for a second day in a row. Moreover, with Brent and WTI front-month prices rising over...
The dollar index topped 110 on Monday, the highest level since October 2022, and extending a 0.6% gain in the first week of the year, as traders scaled back expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts this year, driven by a stronger-than-expected jobs report on Friday. Concerns over inflationary policies under President-elect Donald Trump also added to the cautious outlook. Traders now anticipate only 27 basis points of rate cuts in 2024, a sharp reduction from the 50 basis points forecast earlier this month, with the expected single quarter-point cut likely postponed to the second half of...
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...