Oil prices stabilized on Thursday (February 12th), as the market reassigned a risk premium to US-Iran tensions despite US inventory data showing swelling domestic supplies. This movement confirms one thing: geopolitical headlines are still more "noise" than signals of a short-term surplus. As of 3:50 PM WIB, Brent was at $69.60/barrel (+0.29%) and WTI was at $64.83/barrel (+0.31%). The gains were moderate, but enough to keep prices near the psychological $70 level for Brent. From a geopolitical perspective, market focus is on the potential for escalation in the Middle East. Recent reports...
Producer inflation in the United States, as measured by the change in the Producer Price Index (PPI), fell to 2.6% annually in August from 3.3% in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Wednesday. This figure was lower than market expectations of 3.3%. The United States will release its August Producer Price Index (PPI) on Wednesday. The report, compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), will be released one day before the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the same month, scheduled for Thursday. Both indexes measure inflation, with the CPI focusing on the total...
Poland shot down a drone in its airspace on Wednesday with the support of military aircraft from its NATO allies. This is the first time a member of the Western military alliance is known to have fired during Russia's war in Ukraine. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told parliament that this was "the closest open conflict we have faced since World War II," although he also said he had "no reason to believe we are on the brink of war." Moscow denied responsibility for the incident. European leaders, who have recently been trying to persuade US President Donald Trump to join them in...
U.S. President Donald Trump has urged European Union officials to levy tariffs of up to 100% on China and India as part of a strategy to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing a U.S. official and an EU diplomat. Trump made the request during a conference call with EU sanctions envoy David O'Sullivan and other officials, according to the report. Washington signaled it would impose similar duties if Brussels joined the effort, the report said. Both China and India are major buyers of Russian crude and remain key to keeping Moscow's economy afloat as...
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Tuesday that the preliminary estimate of the Current Employment Statistics (CES) national benchmark revision to total Nonfarm employment for March 2025 is -911,000, or -0.6%. The United States (US) Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will publish the 2025 preliminary benchmark revision to the Establishment Survey Data on Tuesday, September 9. The preliminary revision will cover the 12-month period through March 2025 before the final benchmark revision is reported within the employment report of February 2026. "Official establishment survey...
The United States government has already collected tens of billions of dollars from President Donald Trump's "reciprocal tariffs." But that money and a lot more could end up being refunded if the Supreme Court agrees with lower courts that many of the levies on imports from other countries are illegal. Anywhere between $750 billion to a whopping $1 trillion, warned Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a declaration filed with the Supreme Court last week. That eye-popping total could include the more than $72 billion in tariff revenue collected so far by U.S. Border and Customs enforcement...
Russian forces attacked a thermal power plant in the Kyiv region as part of an overnight attack, Ukraine's Energy Ministry said on Monday, triggering local power outages and gas outages. The attack came a day after Moscow's largest airstrike in Ukraine's three-and-a-half-year war. "The goal is clear: to cause even more hardship to the peaceful Ukrainian population, leaving Ukrainian homes, hospitals, kindergartens, and schools without light and heating," the ministry wrote on the Telegram messaging app. It added that rescue teams and technicians were working at the site on Monday. The...
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday thousands of foreign troops could be deployed to his country under post-war security guarantees, but Russian leader Vladimir Putin said Moscow would regard them as legitimate targets to attack. Their comments underlined the gulf between Kyiv and Moscow as Western pessimism mounts over prospects for ending Russia's war in Ukraine quickly, with U.S. President Donald Trump expressing growing frustration with Moscow by saying Russia appeared "lost" to "deepest, darkest China." French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that 26...
The U.S. economy added fewer jobs than anticipated in August, possibly bolstering the case for the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates at its next policy meeting later this month. Data from the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that nonfarm payrolls came in at 22,000 last month, down from an upwardly-revised level of 79,000 in July. Economists had estimated that the figure would stand at 75,000. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate edged higher to 4.3%, up from 4.2% in the prior month and in line with forecasts. Source : Investing.com
Gold rises in the early Asian trade. There's a broad commodities uptrend, driven by macro uncertainty, a weaker dollar, and persistent demand for "hard" assets, says Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst...
Oil extended declines after OPEC+ agreed to a bigger-than-expected production increase next month, raising concerns about oversupply just as US tariffs fan fears about the demand outlook.
Brent...
The Japanese Yen (JPY) weakened against its US counterpart and reversed part of Friday's recovery from the lowest level since July 23 following Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda's remarks....