The US Dollar (USD) is trading higher on Monday after spending most of its time in red numbers at the start of this week. The turnaround comes on the back of a very upbeat release in the preliminary S&P Global Services Purchase Managers Index (PMI) release for December. A print of 58.5 against the previous 56.1 and the concensus 55.7 is smashing it out of the park and is providing the needed tailwind for the Greenback to get out of its disappointing performance earlier this Monday. The first move on Monday was initiated after Chinese Retail Sales came in at 3.0% for November, below...
Gold prices were steady on Tuesday as traders remained cautious ahead of interest rate decisions by major central banks, including the Federal Reserve. Bullion held steady near $2,650 an ounce, after posting modest gains in the previous session as investors digested mixed U.S. data. Activity at U.S. service providers expanded at the fastest pace since October 2021, while a gauge of New York state factory activity fell the most since May. The Fed makes its final interest rate decision of the year on Wednesday, followed by policy announcements in Japan and the U.K. this week. Swap markets...
West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the U.S. crude benchmark, traded around $70.20 on Tuesday (12/17). WTI prices were flat as traders await the Federal Reserve's (Fed) interest rate decision on Wednesday. However, concerns over sluggish global demand growth in China may cap the black gold's gains for the time being. China's Retail Sales in November came in slower than expected, raising concerns about weaker consumer spending in China. This, in turn, weighed on WTI prices as China is the world's largest oil importer. Data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics on Monday showed that...