The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the Greenback against a basket of major currencies, is trading just under 101.00 on Thursday after key US economic data releases offered little upside momentum. Retail Sales rose a modest 0.1% in April, while the Producer Price Index softened to 2.4% annually, below expectations. Weekly jobless claims held steady at 229K. Speaking at the Thomas Laubach Research Conference, Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell reiterated the need to revisit the Fed's strategic language around inflation and employment. The market reaction was muted, with traders...
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Oil remains under pressure on Thursday, trading near $61.20 during the American session after declining for a second straight day. The commodity briefly fell over 3% earlier in the day before finding near-term support at the $60.00 psychological level. The latest leg down is driven by a combination of bearish supply-side fundamentals and technical rejection near key resistance. Renewed optimism surrounding a potential US-Iran nuclear agreement has revived expectations of increased Iranian oil hitting global markets, should sanctions be eased. This has triggered...
Gold price rallied sharply on Thursday after hitting a weekly low of $3,120, posting solid gains of over 1.40%, boosted by broad US Dollar weakness due to a nifty Producer Price Index (PPI) report in the United States (US). This, along with falling US bond yields, keeps XAU/USD trading at $3,228 at the time of writing. The yellow metal began to rise in anticipation of US PPI data, which in April came surprisingly below estimates and March's data. At the same time, Retail Sales for the same period slowed as households front-loaded motor vehicle purchases, and job data revealed by the US...