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,...
GBP/USD extends its gains for the second straight day, trading around 1.2400 during Asian hours on Friday (1/24). The pair's gains could be attributed to remarks by US President Donald Trump on Thursday night. President Trump said that he wants the US Federal Reserve (Fed) to cut interest rates soon. "With oil prices going down, I'm going to demand that interest rates go down soon, and interest rates go down around the world," Trump said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Traders expect the Federal Reserve (Fed) to keep its benchmark interest rate steady at 4.25%-4.50% at...
The Australian dollar (AUD) continued its upward momentum against the US dollar (USD) for the third straight session on Friday (1/24). The AUD/USD pair gained traction after the People's Bank of China (PBOC) conducted a medium-term lending operation. The Chinese central bank kept interest rates at 2.00% and injected 200 billion yuan ($27.46 billion) through a one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) to certain financial institutions, according to Reuters. Traders are likely to keep an eye on the release of the preliminary US S&P Global Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) and the...
The US dollar index fell below 108 on Friday (1/24), set to drop more than 1% for the week. The decline came as President Donald Trump refrained from imposing aggressive tariffs after his inauguration, contrary to market expectations. In his speech at the World Economic Forum, Trump also called for immediate interest rate cuts and reiterated his commitment to lower taxes on US-based manufacturers, while promising tariffs on companies that produce overseas. Despite Trump's comments, the Federal Reserve is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting next week. Market...
The yen was the currency market's leading currency on Friday(24/1) ahead of a Bank of Japan policy decision that will almost certainly raise interest rates, while the dollar headed for its worst week in two months. The BOJ ends its two-day policy meeting later in the day and markets have widely priced in a 25 basis point rate hike, with recent comments from BOJ officials also hinting at such a move. Ahead of the decision, the yen was little changed at 156.11 per dollar, near a one-week low hit in the previous session. The Japanese currency surged last week on rising expectations for a...
Oil headed for the first weekly decline this year after Donald Trump raised the prospect of trade wars and said he will ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to lower prices in his first few days as the new US president. West Texas Intermediate fell toward $74 a barrel, and is down almost 5% this week, while Brent closed near $78. Trump's first week in the White House began with tariff threats on Canada, Mexico and China, followed by a pledge that he would ask the producer group to "bring down the cost of oil." That's helped put futures on track for the biggest weekly loss since...
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...