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 rose above $2,640 an ounce on Monday, boosted by its appeal as a safe haven amid renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, as well as growing expectations of a U.S. interest rate cut. Rebel forces in Syria toppled President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday, ending the Assad family's 50-year rule and raising concerns about a new wave of instability in the region. Friday's U.S. jobs report also indicated that the labor market continued to ease gradually, allowing the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates later this month. The market is now pricing in an 83% chance of a 25bps cut at...
The EUR/USD pair is trading with a mild negative bias near 1.0550 on Monday during the Asian trading hours. Investors will be closely watching the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation report for November, due on Wednesday. On Thursday, the European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate decision will be in the spotlight. Investors will be looking for clues on what will happen next. Expectations for a quarter-point rate cut by the Federal Reserve (Fed) on December 18 increased last week after the employment report showed strong job creation, but not at a pace that would deter Fed officials from...
The Japanese Yen (JPY) kicks off the new week on a positive note and draws support from a combination of factors, though the upside potential seems limited. Government data released earlier today showed that Japan's economy expanded at a faster pace than initially estimated in the third quarter. Apart from this, geopolitical tensions and concerns about US President-elect Donald Trump's impending trade tariffs offer support to the safe-haven JPY. Meanwhile, the recent fall in the US Treasury bond yields contributes to the JPY's relative outperformance against its American counterpart and...
The AUD/USD pair strengthened around 0.6400 as the US Dollar (USD) weakened during the Asian session on Monday. There are no Federal Reserve (Fed) speakers this week as the media is closed. All eyes will be on the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) rate decision on Tuesday, with no rate changes expected. Data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday showed that US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) increased by 227,000 in November, compared to an upwardly revised 36,000 in October. This reading was better than the estimate of 200,000. Meanwhile, the Unemployment Rate rose to 4.2% in...
Gold prices rose on Monday after China's central bank added bullion to its reserves in November — ending a six-month hiatus in a buying binge that had provided a major pillar of support for the precious metal. Bullion prices rose as much as 0.6% to trade just below $2,650 an ounce, after the People's Bank of China said Saturday it bought 160,000 troy ounces last month. The addition was the first since April, before the central bank halted purchases for 18 months that had helped prop up prices amid strong interest from global public institutions. China led demand in the first quarter 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...