Renewed tensions between the United States and Russia have resurfaced following an incident involving an oil tanker, sparking market concerns about potential disruptions to global energy supplies. Washington's move, associated with tightening oversight and enforcement of sanctions on Russian oil shipments, is viewed by Moscow as provocative and could worsen relations between the two countries. Russia views these actions as an attempt by the United States to suppress Russian energy exports and strengthen its dominance in the global oil market. Meanwhile, Washington argues that these measures...
The pound (GBP) recovered all its intraday losses and rose above 1.2500 against the US dollar (USD) in the North American session on Monday (1/27). The GBP/USD pair bounced back as the US dollar weakened after investors digested concerns over US President Donald Trump imposing 25% tariffs on Colombia overnight. Over the weekend, President Trump threatened to impose tariffs on its South American trading partner for not allowing military flights carrying illegal immigrants into their territory. Trump later delayed the proposed tariffs after Colombia accepted his terms. The US Dollar Index...
The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the performance of the US Dollar against a basket of six major currencies, weakened slightly and traded around 107.30 at the time of writing on Monday (27/1) despite some safe-haven inflows earlier during the Asian session. Markets were spooked after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose 50% tariffs on Colombian imports after the country refused to accept immigrants deported from the US over the weekend. Traders are now reassessing their earlier dovish stance on tariffs as it seems clear that tariffs will be used more as a leverage tool. On...
Gold (XAU/USD) prices fell below $2,770 at the time of writing on Monday (1/27) after a weekend full of headlines and a busy week of central bank interest rate decisions coming up. Over the weekend, markets understood why US President Donald Trump has been loosening up on the use of tariffs as a tool. It appears that tariffs will be used as leverage, for example, for countries that refuse to accept deported US immigrants who are being taken back to their home countries. Colombia felt the impact on Sunday when President Trump ordered emergency tariffs of 25%, and increased to 50% within a...
WTI crude futures were fluctuating around $74.8 a barrel on Monday as markets reacted to the Trump administration's trade policy shift. The U.S. initially threatened tariffs on Colombia over a migrant dispute but stopped short of doing so after Bogotá agreed to President Trump's terms. The move follows a series of global trade actions targeting China, Canada, Mexico and the EU, alongside calls for OPEC to lower oil prices. Trump has argued that lower oil prices could hurt Russia's revenues and curb its actions in Ukraine. Meanwhile, signs of slowing economic activity in China, the world's...
USD/JPY edged lower, tracking lower UST yields while the BoJ MPC (last Friday) signaled continued policy normalization. The currency pair was last seen at 154.05, OCBC FX analysts Frances Cheung and Christopher Wong noted. "Japanese economic data supports BoJ policy normalization. Wage growth pressures remain intact, along with broadening services inflation. Tokyo core CPI, PPI, wages rose while labor market reports also showed upward wage pressure with the unemployment rate easing, while unions called for another 5-6% wage hike in the shunto wage negotiations for 2025." "We still expect...
Asian stock markets fell in unison on Thursday, following Wall Street's decline. A brief rally in tech stocks led by Nvidia quickly faded, prompting investors to turn away from riskier assets like...
European stock indices closed marginally lower on Wednesday as equities took a breather from their recent strong momentum, while investors continued to assess the outlook for the ECB's policy this...
The upcoming Supreme Court ruling on the legality of President Donald Trump's massive tariffs, which rocked markets in April, is one of the next major tests for US stocks and bonds.
Equity markets...