The Federal Reserve is expected to deliver its first interest-rate cut this year at its September 16-17 meeting, as it moves to counter a cooling labor market even as inflation remains above target. The anticipated quarter-point reduction may not satisfy President Donald Trump, who wants a bigger cut and has named his White House economic advisor, Stephen Miran, in time to be on the Fed Board at the September meeting, pending Senate confirmation. Here is a look at Fed officials' comments since their last policy meeting, sorting them under the labels "dove" and "hawk" as shorthand for their...
Oil inched lower on Monday, weighed down by Moody's downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating and official data that showed slowing growth in China's industrial output and retail sales. Both developments raised concerns over the outlook for the world's two biggest economies and oil consumers a week after Beijing and Washington's agreement to roll back most tariffs on each other's goods pushed oil prices higher. "The weaker than expected Chinese data is not helping crude oil, although I would describe the setback as modest," said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo. Brent crude futures lost...
Gold (XAU/USD) price pops over 1% on Monday and hits $3,243 at the time of writing, with three main themes at play on Monday. Tensions are brewing in the Middle East with Israel embarking on another massive ground offensive. The military action comes just days after United States (US) President Donald Trump visited the Middle East, though he didn't visit Israel. The second main driver is the bond market, where several pension funds and Fixed Income (Bonds) investors will need to reshuffle their holdings after rating agency Moody's downgraded the US's sovereign debt credit rating after the...
The dollar index fell by about 0.7% to 100.1 on Monday, retreating further from the one-month highs reached last week, as growing concerns over the US fiscal outlook triggered a shift away from dollar-denominated assets. On Friday, Moody's downgraded the US credit rating from Aaa to Aa1, citing rising government debt and a widening budget deficit. Fiscal concerns were further exacerbated by the approval of President Trump's tax-cut legislation by a key congressional committee on Sunday. The bill includes hundreds of billions of dollars in new tax cuts without corresponding spending...
The Pound Sterling (GBP) trades higher against its major peers, except the Euro (EUR), at the start of the week. The British currency moves higher ahead of the European Union (EU)-United Kingdom (UK) trade summit in London on Monday. Investors will pay close attention to a potential trade deal as it will strengthen economic ties between the economies since the announcement of Brexit. According to comments from the Head of Trade Policy at the British Chamber of Commerce, William Bain, in a Jefferies-hosted session over the weekend, the potential deal between the UK and the EU would benefit...
Oil slipped on Monday, weighed down by Moody's downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating and official data that showed slowing growth in China's industrial output and retail sales. Both developments raised concerns over the outlook for the world's two biggest economies and oil consumers a week after Beijing and Washington's agreement to roll back most tariffs on each other's goods pushed oil prices higher. "The timing is damaging," John Evans of oil broker PVM said of the U.S. rating cut. "The change may see limited impact and its effect might be a creep of monetary disease rather than...
President Donald Trump said he would fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors if she does not resign her post over mortgage-fraud accusations from a top...
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) maintained its cash rate at 4.1% during its April meeting, holding borrowing costs unchanged after slashing 25 bps in the February meeting, aligning with market...