Oil prices fell 1% on Wednesday, ending three days of gains, as industry sources pointed to rising U.S. crude stockpiles and hawkish remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell that signalled slower rate cuts this year. Brent futures were down 67 cents or 0.87% at $76.33 a barrel by 0936 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped 75 cents or 1.02% to $72.57 a barrel. The declines come after three days of gains during which Brent climbed 3.6% and WTI rose 3.7%. "Oil prices resumed their downtrend as the macro environment weighed on sentiment, with Jerome Powell indicating that...
Gold's price (XAU/USD) is facing some profit-taking pressure and trades below $2,900 throughout this Wednesday after Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell went to Capitol Hill for his semi-annual testimony before lawmakers the previous day and before the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for January release. Powell did not say much but stated that the current level of the monetary policy rate is helping the central bank to withstand market volatility and potential inflation shocks that could take place. The comments were enough to fuel a small surge in US bond yields. Meanwhile,...
The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the performance of the US Dollar (USD) against six major currencies, trades unchanged around 108.00 after Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell did not leave any clues for markets to pick up on, when facing lawmakers on Tuesday at Capitol Hill. Powell did not leave many clues about the timing for another interest rate cut by the central bank, if any. Traders are mulling what to do next, with US yields slowly but surely starting to head higher this week. The economic calendar shows the Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers for January are due on...