The Australian Dollar (AUD) remains under pressure against the US Dollar (USD) on Friday, giving back most of its earlier gains despite broad weakness in the Greenback following a disappointing Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) data. The AUD/USD initially surged nearly 70 pips after US jobs data surprised to the downside, but the momentum quickly faded as markets shifted focus to rising expectations of an interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) at its upcoming meeting on August 12. The dovish outlook is keeping the Aussie pinned near multi-week lows. At the time of writing, the...
Oil prices slumped in early Asian trading on Monday (August 4th), after OPEC+ agreed to another large production increase in September. Brent crude fell 43 cents, or 0.62%, to $69.24 a barrel at 22:18 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $66.94 a barrel, down 39 cents, or 0.58%, after both contracts closed about $2 a barrel lower on Friday. OPEC+ agreed on Sunday to increase oil production by 547,000 barrels per day for September, the latest in a series of accelerated production increases to regain market share amid growing concerns over potential supply disruptions linked...
Gold edged lower early in the Asian session on a technical correction after gold futures closed nearly 1.7% higher last Friday. However, gold's decline may have been limited by rising expectations of a Fed rate cut, which has strengthened the appeal of the non-yielding precious metal. Friday's employment data "was clearly a warning," said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com, in an email. "The Fed's dual mandate includes employment, and this data shows weakness. Fed pessimists are circling," the analyst added. Spot gold fell 0.1% to $3,356.81/oz. (alg) Source: Dow...