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...
Gold (XAU/USD) retreats slightly after touching a fresh all-time high earlier this Tuesday, though any meaningful corrective slide seems elusive amid a supportive fundamental backdrop. The US Dollar (USD) attracts some buyers for the second straight day and turns out to be a key factor undermining demand for the commodity. Apart from this, the underlying bullish sentiment contributes to capping the safe-haven bullion amid still overbought conditions on short-term charts. However, the growing acceptance that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will lower borrowing costs two more times this year...
The US Dollar Index (DXY) continued its strengthening for a second day and briefly hovered around 98.20 during the Asian session, driven by hawkish comments from Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid. He emphasized that the Fed must maintain credibility in combating inflation, stating that inflation remains too high, and assessing that current monetary policy is "properly calibrated." However, this encouragement is met with growing expectations of an interest rate cut, coupled with the ongoing US government shutdown. The CME FedWatch tool now projects a 94% chance of a 25 bps cut in...
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 at City Index and FOREX.com, in an email. "Gold's breakout above yet another round handle is simply fuelling the bullish momentum given the lack of any major selling activity," the analyst says. Gold could test next major level of $4,000/oz, with $3,900/oz broken, Razaqzada adds. Spot gold is 0.3% higher at $3,969.75/oz after earlier touching a fresh record intraday high of $3,976.18/oz, ICE...
Oil steadied after a two-day advance after OPEC+ agreed on a modest supply quota increase, with traders also parsing signals from lower-than-expected Saudi prices. West Texas Intermediate traded below $62 a barrel after a 1.3% gain on Monday, with Brent crude closing above $65. OPEC and allies including Russia decided at the weekend on a 137,000-barrel-a-day increment, while de-facto leader Saudi Arabia kept the price of its main grade to Asia unchanged in a sign of caution, surprising traders who had expected an increase. Crude posted back-to-back losses in August and September,...
USD/JPY pair edges higher to near 150.35, the highest since August 1, during the early Asian session on Tuesday. The Japanese Yen (JPY) weakens against the US Dollar (USD) on political stability concerns after Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) elected a new leader. Traders will keep an eye on the Fedspeak later on Tuesday. Japan's ruling party has elected Sanae Takaichi as its new leader on Saturday, positioning the 64-year-old to be Japan's first female Prime Minister. Her victory caused traders to reduce bets that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) will hike interest rates this month,...
WTI crude oil futures climbed 1.3% to $61.7 per barrel on Monday after OPEC+ agreed to a smaller-than-expected production increase, easing fears of a major supply surge. The group, which includes Saudi Arabia and Russia, said it would raise output by just 137K barrels per day in November matching October's increase despite earlier reports suggesting a much larger boost. The restrained move came amid diverging views within the alliance, with Moscow favoring a modest rise to protect prices and Riyadh pushing for a more aggressive expansion to reclaim market share. Prices were further...
Gold buyers appear unstoppable at the start of a fresh week, early Monday, despite the renewed US Dollar (USD) upswing and a risk-on rally on global stocks. Gold is finding demand due to increased safe-haven flows, mainly driven by the murky United States (US) economic outlook in the face of the extended government shutdown, which has entered a seventh day. There are no public signs that the Republican and Democratic lawmakers are making any efforts to end the impasse on reopening the federal government. This deadlock has raised worries over layoffs amid already weakening US labor market...
Silver climbed above $48.3 per ounce on Monday, its highest level since April 2011, as the ongoing US government shutdown and expectations of further Federal Reserve rate cuts boosted demand for safe-haven assets. Lawmakers once again failed to secure a funding deal, halting key federal programs and delaying major data releases, including September's jobs report originally scheduled for Friday. Markets are now nearly fully pricing in a quarter-point Fed rate cut this month and another in December. Investors also await remarks from Fed Governor Stephen Miran on Wednesday and Chair Jerome...
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....