European shares closed flat on Wednesday, surrendering early session gains, as healthcare stocks felt the pinch from U.S. President Donald Trump's latest threat to impose higher tariffs on pharmaceutical imports. The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed 0.06% lower, breaking its two-day winning streak despite starting the session on a positive note. Healthcare stocks bore the brunt of the selling pressure. The sector index plunged 2.8% to its lowest level in more than three months after Trump unveiled a graduated tariff plan targeting pharmaceutical imports that could see levies on the...
Gold held above $2,640 an ounce on Wednesday as markets continued to assess the political and monetary outlook, while closely monitoring key economic data releases. A recent report showed that U.S. job openings were higher than expected, indicating continued resilience in the labor market. Investors now look ahead to Friday's anticipated nonfarm payrolls report, along with additional speeches from several Fed officials to gauge the central bank's potential policy moves this month. The odds for a 25bps rate cut in the federal funds rate currently stand at 73%, which benefits gold by...
The Australian dollar (AUD) moved lower in response to weak domestic Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth figures. Given that headline inflation in Australia has eased to the central bank's target range of 2%-3%, slower growth could put pressure on the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to respond with lower interest rates. Furthermore, fresh US export curbs on China, concerns about China's fragile economic recovery, and tariffs to be imposed by US President-elect Donald Trump turned out to be other factors weighing on the China-proxy Australian currency. On the other hand, the US dollar (USD)...
The Japanese Yen (JPY) traded in the negative territory on Wednesday. Upbeat US Manufacturing PMI data and this week's jobs data indicated that the US economy remains strong, which boosted the greenback. However, traders are increasingly convinced that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will raise interest rates this month. This, in turn, could support the JPY in the near term. Further, ongoing political uncertainty in France, political tensions in South Korea, and rising geopolitical risks in the Middle East could boost safe-haven flows, benefiting the JPY against the USD. Investors will be keeping...
Oil prices rose more than 2% on Tuesday as Israel threatened to attack the Lebanese state if its truce with Hezbollah collapses, and as investors positioned for OPEC+ to announce an extension of supply cuts this week. Brent crude futures posted their biggest gains in two weeks, rising by $1.79, or 2.5%, to settle at $73.62 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures also rose the most since Nov. 18, gaining $1.84, or 2.7%, to close at $69.94 per barrel. Israeli forces have continued strikes against what they say are Hezbollah fighters ignoring last week's truce agreement in...
Gold moved higher mid-afternoon on Tuesday as the dollar weakened. Gold for February delivery was last seen up US$8.50 to US$2,667.00 per ounce. The precious metal has been mostly rangebound since correcting from a record high of US$2,800.80 on Oct.30, as the dollar surged following the U.S. election and inflation remains stuck above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. However the dollar eased early on Tuesday, with the ICE dollar index last seen down 0.35 points to 106.1. Treasury yields were mixed. The U.S. two-year note was last seen paying 4.159%, down 3.3 basis points, while the yield...