The US dollar moved steadily, tending to strengthen slightly on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, after briefly touching its weakest level in about a week. The dollar index (DXY), which measures the greenback's strength against six major currencies, was in the 98-99 range, up around 0.2%. This slight gain occurred ahead of the Fed's policy decision, which will almost certainly cut the benchmark interest rate by another 25 basis points. The market has essentially priced in the Fed's rate cut today and possibly another at its December meeting. This means that investors are now focusing more on the...
Gold has eased below $3,950 an ounce after Fed Chair Powell warned a December cut is not a foregone conclusion, knocking market odds for another 25bp move and lifting the 10-year Treasury above 4%, which raises the financing cost of holding non-yielding bullion. That caution partly offsets the Fed's 25bp reduction to a 3.75–4.00% target range and its decision to end balance sheet runoff in December, both of which trim real short rates and add liquidity that normally support precious metals. Official buying by central banks and renewed ETF accumulation have tightened available metal in...
Oil edged lower as traders counted down to a summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and, beyond that, an OPEC+ meeting on supply. West Texas Intermediate fell toward $60 a barrel, rolling back Wednesday's modest gain, while Brent closed below $65. The leaders of the two largest economies are expected to finalize a trade deal at their meeting in South Korea. Trump may also use the exchange to lean on Beijing to curb purchases of Moscow's oil after his administration imposed sanctions on two Russian producers. The OPEC+ alliance, meanwhile,...