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...
The Trump administration began sending termination notices Thursday to about 500,000 foreign nationals who had received temporary stays to live and work in the United States under a special humanitarian exception. The so-called CHNV program was open to applicants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela from 2023 until it was terminated by President Donald Trump earlier this year. Recipients of the notices from the Department of Homeland Security are encouraged to "self-deport immediately." The move came two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that DHS can order CHNV participants to...
President Donald trump ramped up his attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday, calling him a "numbskull" and demanding steep rate cuts to ease the $600 billion annual interest bill on U.S. debt. Now, with inflation cooling faster than expected, rate cuts could be on the Fed's monetary policy table as soon as September, according to Citi economists. "We continue to pencil in 125bp of consecutive rate cuts from the Fed starting in September," Citi economists wrote, pointing to a rapid slowdown in core inflation as the key catalyst for policy easing. Trump's latest broadside...
U.S. President Donald Trump continues to press Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, as inflation data remains subdued despite his aggressive tariff policy. While Trump continues to press for lower rates, he said he won't fire Powell. "We're going to spend $600 billion a year because of one numbskull that sits here," Trump said. "Cut your rates now, there's no inflation." Trump suggested the Fed cut interest rates by two full percentage points, which could save the U.S. up to $900 billion. This is larger than his past ask for a one percentage point cut from the Fed....
The Federal Reserve's path to interest rate cuts starting in September appeared to widen on Thursday, after a pair of government reports pointed to cooler inflation and signs of potential weakening in the labor market. U.S. producer prices advanced 2.6% in May from a year earlier, after rising 2.5% in April, the Labor Department reported. Taken together with tamer-than-expected increases in the Consumer Price Index in May, economists estimated that inflation by the Fed's preferred gauge of underlying price pressures, the core Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, likely rose in...
A tentative agreement between the United States and China may be a step back from the worst-case scenario of a complete collapse of trade between the world's two largest economies, but it creates more problems than it solves. President Donald Trump has hailed the deal, which is still awaiting final approval from both sides, as a "great deal" that will benefit both countries. While not all the details are known, what has been revealed suggests a deal that will likely hurt both economies and fail to address some pressing issues, such as China's dominance of the rare earths supply chain. The...
US citizens filing new applications for unemployment insurance rose to 248K for the week ending May 31, the US Department of Labor (DOL) reported on Thursday. This was higher than the initial estimate and in line with the previous week's revised count. The report also highlighted the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate at 1.3%, while the four-week moving average rose by 5K to 240.250K from the previous week's revised average. Additionally, Continuing Jobless Claims increased by 54K to 1.956M for the week ending May 24. (alg) Source: FXstreet
US producer prices edged up 0.1% month-over-month in May 2025, following an upwardly revised 0.2% decline in April and compared with a 0.2% increase expected. Goods prices rose 0.2%, with tobacco costs rising 0.9%. Prices for gasoline, processed poultry, roasted coffee, household natural gas, and oilseeds also rose. In contrast, jet fuel prices fell 8.2%. In addition, service costs edged up 0.1%, with the margin for wholesale sales of machinery and vehicles jumping 2.9%. Costs for traveler accommodation services; retail sales of clothing, footwear, and accessories; retail sales of alcohol;...
The UK economy shrank in April following declines in both the services and production sectors, in a month marked by volatile US tariff announcements and higher local taxes. Britain's monthly gross domestic product fell 0.3% in April after rising 0.2% in March, according to data from the Office for National Statistics published Thursday. The latest figure is worse than the expected 0.1% decline, signaling the worst monthly drop in the UK GDP since October 2023. Annually, the British economy grew 0.9%, slowing from the previous 1.1% expansion. In the quarter to April, UK GDP increased 0.7%...
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....