US Stocks plunged on Friday, as investors reacted to a weak July jobs report and a fresh round of tariffs announced by President Trump. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell 1.6% and 2.2%, their steepest drops since April, while the Dow lost 542 points. Payrolls rose by just 73,000 in July, far below expectations, with sharp downward revisions to prior months signaling deeper labor market weakness. Treasury yields fell and the odds of a September Fed rate cut rose above 80%. Sentiment worsened after new tariffs of 10% to 41% were imposed on imports from key partners including Canada, India, and...
Silver (XAG/USD) prices traded in a tight range around $29.00 in the European trading session on Friday. The white metal consolidated as investors await the US (US) core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index data for November, due at 13:30 GMT. Economists expect the US annual core PCE inflation data to rise to 2.9% from 2.8% in October. On a monthly basis, the underlying inflation data is expected to grow steadily at 0.2%. Signs of a mild slowdown in price pressures are unlikely to affect market expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will halt its policy easing at its...
The U.S. dollar eased slightly on Friday, taking a breather after a strong rally this week as traders awaited the release of the Fed's preferred inflation gauge. At 4:40 AM ET (09:40 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, was trading 0.2% lower at 107.960, after rising to a two-year high earlier this week. Dollar Set for Weekly Gain The dollar index dipped slightly on Friday, but was still headed for a weekly gain of around 1%, supported by a relatively hawkish outlook for U.S. interest rates after the Federal Reserve's final policy...
Oil prices fell on Friday on concerns about demand growth in 2025, especially in the world's biggest crude importer, China, leaving the global oil benchmark on track to end the week down nearly 3%. Brent crude futures were down 33 cents, or 0.45%, at $72.55 a barrel by 0730 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 32 cents, or 0.46%, at $69.06 a barrel. China's state-owned refiner Sinopec (OTC:SHIIY) said in its annual energy outlook released on Thursday that China's crude imports could peak as early as 2025 and the country's oil consumption would peak in 2027 as demand...
Gold prices steadied near a one-month low in Asian trade on Friday and were headed for weekly losses after the U.S. Federal Reserve's forecast of fewer than expected interest rate cuts in 2025 put investors on edge. The Fed lowered interest rates by 25 basis points as expected, but signaled it will adopt a slower rate cut path, with just two more cuts in 2025. Markets were expecting four cuts before the decision. Spot gold was slightly higher at $2,596.82 per ounce, while gold futures expiring in February ticked up 0.1% to $2,610.30 an ounce by 22:35 ET (03:35 GMT). Spot prices were down...
The Australian Dollar (AUD) retraces its recent gains from the previous session against the US Dollar (USD) following the People's Bank of China's (PBoC) monetary policy decision on Friday. China's central bank decided to keep its one- and five-year Loan Prime Rates (LPRs) unchanged at 3.10% and 3.60%, respectively, in the fourth quarterly meeting. Australia's Private Sector Credit grew by 0.5% month-over-month in November, aligning with expectations. This followed a 0.6% increase in October, which marked the fastest monthly growth in four months. On an annual basis, Private Sector Credit...