The Federal Reserve is likely to start a series of interest-rate cuts next week and keep going through the end of the year, traders bet on Wednesday after tamer-than-expected producer price inflation last month calmed worries that price pressures would hold the central bank back from policy easing. Traders stuck to bets the Fed will start with a quarter-point reduction at its meeting next week, and continue with same-sized cuts through year-end, based on pricing of futures contracts that settle to the Fed's policy rate. The producer price index increased 2.6% in August from a year earlier,...
The AUD/USD pair trades on a flat note near 0.6275 during the early Asian session on Wednesday. The markets turn cautious ahead of US President Donald Trump's announcement of reciprocal tariffs. Also, the US March ADP Employment Change will be published. Trump is set to implement tariffs on US trading partners on Wednesday, potentially adding more tariffs on Chinese goods. Trump has already placed a total of 20% tariffs on all Chinese imports since taking office in January, blaming Beijing for failing to do enough to curb the flow of chemicals used to make the deadly drug fentanyl into the...
Gold rose above $3,130 per ounce on Wednesday, climbing back toward record levels reached in the previous session, driven by risk aversion as markets braced for additional US tariffs that could escalate the global trade war. The White House did not disclose details on the tariffs' scope but said they would take effect immediately after being unveiled. President Trump also hinted the duties would impact many countries, raising concerns about broad economic fallout. Additionally, gold was supported by expectations of interest rate cuts, central bank buying, and strong demand for gold-backed...
U.S. crude oil futures were roughly unchanged from post-settlement levels Tuesday despite the American Petroleum Institute reporting a large jump in weekly domestic crude stockpiles. Crude Oil WTI Futures, the U.S. benchmark, recently traded at $71.18 a barrel following the report after settling down 0.4% at $71.20 a barrel. U.S. crude inventories increased by 6.0M barrels for the week ended Mar. 28, compared with a draw of 4.6M barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting a build of just 1.2M barrels. Gasoline stockpiles decreased by about 1.6M barrels,...
Oil edged down as uncertainty about US President Donald Trump's tariff plans muddies the economic outlook. West Texas Intermediate futures fell 0.4% to settle above $71 a barrel, after gaining 3.1% on Monday. The S&P 500 also edged lower as Trump prepared to implement reciprocal tariff plans that have raised worries about the strength of the world's largest economy. Trump has also threatened so-called "secondary tariffs" on buyers of Russian oil, potentially hurting flows from one of the world's top three producers, before later softening his tone. Elsewhere, Iran's...
Gold prices eased on Tuesday on profit-taking but remained near record highs as investors turned to the safe-haven asset ahead of President Donald Trump's planned announcement of sweeping tariffs on countries that have a trade imbalance with the U.S. Spot gold was down 0.3% at $3,113.43 per ounce as of 1:46 p.m. ET (1746 GMT), after hitting an all-time high of $3,148.88 earlier in the day. U.S. gold futures settled 0.1% lower at $3,146. It's "not surprising to see a little bit of profit taking, particularly given that the market had become rather overbought ... I don't really see much of...
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...