The US dollar index fell slightly to around 100.7 on Monday, following a surprise downgrade of the US government's credit rating. Moody's Ratings announced late Friday that it had stripped the US of its top credit rating, lowering it to Aa1, due to concerns about the nation's growing $36 trillion debt, in a move that could complicate President Trump's efforts to cut taxes. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed the cut's significance on Sunday, saying the administration would spur economic growth that would outpace the national debt. He also warned trade partners that they would face the...
Gold prices climbed on Monday as a softer dollar and renewed trade concerns, following U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's reaffirmation of President Donald Trump's tariff threats, fuelled safe-haven demand. Spot gold was up 0.8% at $3,228.47 an ounce, as of 0632 GMT. U.S. gold futures gained 1.4% to $3,232.10. Gold shed more than 2% on Friday and posted its worst week since last November, as increased risk appetite from the U.S.-China trade agreement weighed. The dollar (.DXY), opens new tab slipped 0.5% on Monday, making greenback-priced gold cheaper for overseas currency...
Oil slipped on Monday, weighed down by Moody's downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating and official data that showed slowing growth in China's industrial output and retail sales. Both developments raised concerns over the outlook for the world's two biggest economies and oil consumers a week after Beijing and Washington's agreement to roll back most tariffs on each other's goods pushed oil prices higher. "The timing is damaging," John Evans of oil broker PVM said of the U.S. rating cut. "The change may see limited impact and its effect might be a creep of monetary disease rather than...