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...
The US dollar eased slightly on Thursday, but remained near a two-year high after the Federal Reserve signaled a slower pace of interest rate cuts in 2025, while sterling strengthened ahead of the Bank of England's latest policy meeting. US dollar eases from two-year highs The dollar strengthened on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut its outlook for interest rate cuts in the coming year, after delivering on expectations for a rate cut. The US central bank's policymakers now see only 50 basis points of additional easing in 2025, instead of the 100 basis points indicated in their...
Gold (XAU/USD) price extended its goodish intraday recovery from one-month lows and climbed to a fresh intraday high, around $2,622 region during the early European session on Thursday. The global risk sentiment soured in reaction to the Federal Reserve's (Fed) hawkish interest rate cut on Wednesday. This, along with geopolitical risks and trade war fears, turned out to be the key factors driving safe-haven inflows towards the precious metal. Meanwhile, the US Dollar (USD) was seen consolidating the previous day's post-FOMC gains to a two-year high and did little to provide any impetus to...
Silver (XAG/USD) prices extended their decline for the sixth straight session, trading around $29.50 per troy ounce during Asian trading hours on Thursday (12/19). The grey metal depreciated more than 3% following the release of the Federal Reserve's (Fed) interest rate decision on Wednesday. The Federal Reserve (Fed) delivered a 25 basis point (bps) interest rate cut at its December meeting, bringing its benchmark lending rate to a range of 4.25%-4.50%, the lowest level in two years. Additionally, during the Press Conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell made it clear that the Fed would be...
Oil prices fell in Asian trade on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled it would slow the pace of interest rate cuts in 2025, which could slow economic growth and reduce fuel demand. Brent crude futures were down 47 cents, or 0.6%, at $72.92 a barrel by 0515 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 39 cents, or 0.6%, at $70.19. The declines reversed most of the benchmark contracts' gains from Wednesday, when prices settled higher as U.S. crude stockpiles fell and the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points as expected. Prices weakened after U.S....
Gold (XAU/USD) prices staged a goodish intraday recovery from a one-month low, around $2,584-$2,610 region touched during the Asian session on Thursday (19/12), albeit without any follow-through buying. The Federal Reserve (Fed) signaled on Wednesday that it would slow the pace of interest rate cuts. This comes on top of persistent geopolitical risks and trade war fears, which in turn, dampened investors' appetite for riskier assets and drove some haven flows towards the precious metal. Meanwhile, the Fed's more hawkish view on the 2025 outlook remained supportive of a further uptick in the...