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...
EUR/USD moved higher and tried to stay above 1.0500 during European trading hours on Thursday. The major currency pair edged higher as investors tried to recover from the collapse of Michel Barnier's three-month-old government after it lost a no-confidence motion brought by a coalition of the right and left. The collapse of the French government has plunged the economy into a deeper crisis by limiting its ability to tame a growing fiscal deficit. Left and right-wing lawmakers backed the no-confidence motion against Barnier after claiming his government's budget was "flawed and detrimental"...
Silver (XAG/USD) prices moved lower to around $31.20, snapping a two-day winning streak during the early European session on Thursday. The Federal Reserve's (Fed) cautious stance on rate cuts weighed on the white metal. Federal Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the strength of the US economy means the US central bank can afford to be "a little more cautious" about its decisions on interest rate moves. Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US, noted that he does not expect further rate cuts after the December meeting until March 2025 at the earliest. Increasing bets of a less...
Gold price (XAU/USD) drifts lower during the Asian session on Thursday, albeit it remains confined in a familiar range held over the past week or so amid mixed fundamental cues. The overnight hawkish remarks by FOMC members, including Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell, reaffirmed expectations that the US central bank will take a cautious stance on cutting rates. This assists the US Treasury bond yields to rebound slightly from their lowest closing levels in more than a month and turns out to be a key factor undermining the non-yielding yellow metal. Apart from this, the prevalent...
The dollar index held steady around 106.3 on Thursday after experiencing increased volatility in the previous session as investors continued to assess the outlook for Federal Reserve monetary policy. On Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated that the central bank was in no rush to cut interest rates, citing stronger-than-expected growth, a strong labor market and persistent inflation pressures. Meanwhile, data showed that U.S. service sector growth slowed more than anticipated in November. The probability of a 25 basis point rate cut in December increased to about 79%, up from 66.5%...
The Japanese Yen (JPY) edged higher against its US counterpart during the Asian session on Thursday, pulling away from a weekly low hit the previous day. Signs that underlying inflation in Japan is picking up continued to fuel expectations that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will raise interest rates again in December. Moreover, persistent geopolitical risks, trade war fears and an overnight decline in US Treasury yields further benefitted the low-yielding JPY. That said, Wednesday's aggressive remarks by a number of influential FOMC members, including Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome...