Oil pared losses on Monday as a tight physical oil market offset the impact of OPEC+ hiking oil output more than expected in August as well as concern about the potential impact of U.S. tariffs on economic growth and oil demand. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, a group known as OPEC+, agreed on Saturday to raise production by 548,000 barrels per day in August, more than the 411,000 bpd hikes they made for the earlier three months. Brent crude futures fell as low as $67.22 a barrel and by 0815 GMT were down 22 cents, or 0.3%, to $68.08. U.S. West Texas...
The US Dollar and the Swiss Franc are the best performers among major currencies on Monday, as investors rush for safety, anxious that Trump's tariffs will cause a significant disruption in global trade. Between them, however, the Dollar is showing a mild advantage. The USD/CHF advances to levels right above 0.7970, yet still below the 0.8000 psychological level and less than 100 pips above the 14-year low, at 0.7875, hit last week. The US president announced over the weekend that he will send letters to some countries specifying the tariffs that will be applied to their products, but did...
Gold (XAU/USD) is currently under pressure as markets await more news of trade deals ahead of Wednesday's tariff deadline. In the European session, Gold is trading around $3,300 at the time of writing. Liquidity and trade volumes are increasing on Monday as the US returns to financial markets following Friday's Independence Day holiday. US yields have also firmed after Thursday's Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report revealed a resilient labour market. This reduced the prospects that the Federal Reserve (Fed) would lower interest rates in July. The positive economic data has eased fears of a...