The Hang Seng Index reversed its downward trend in Hong Kong on Thursday (February 12th), weakening by around 0.9% to around 27,000 after a strong session earlier. This decline halted the momentum of the short term rally, as investors began to reduce risk in large cap stocks. Among the index's contributors, Tencent was a major drag, with its shares falling by around 2.3%, putting pressure on the technology sector, which has recently been a driving force behind market gains. Weakness in large cap companies like this typically quickly impacts sentiment due to their significant weighting in...
EUR/USD advances steadily during the North American session as the Federal Reserve (Fed) unveils its latest Meeting Minutes. At the time of writing, the pair trades at around 1.1660 and clings to minimal gains of 0.13%. Hawkish Fed Minutes caps Euro's advance; Trump presses Fed governor to resign amid fraud probe The Minutes of the Fed's August meeting showed that the majority of the board "saw inflation risk outweighing employment risk," and that several officials said, "that the current rate may not be far above neutral." This contradicts what US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued...
The Australian Dollar (AUD) extends its decline for the third consecutive day against the US Dollar (USD) on Wednesday, touching a three-week low before steadying. At the time of writing, AUD/USD is consolidating losses around 0.6432, down over 0.30% on the day, as the Aussie remains under pressure despite a softer Greenback. The US Dollar is easing back from a one-week high, weighed down by renewed political tension in Washington after President Donald Trump publicly called for the resignation of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. The move has injected fresh uncertainty into the central...
Oil prices climbed about 2% on Wednesday on a bigger-than-expected weekly drop in U.S. crude inventories as investors awaited the next steps in talks to end the Ukraine war, with sanctions on Russian crude remaining in place for now. Brent crude futures were up $1.05, or 1.6%, to settle at $66.84 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 86 cents, or 1.4%, to settle at $63.21. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said energy firms pulled 6.0 million barrels of crude from inventories during the week ended August 15. That was bigger than the draw of 1.8 million...
Gold prices are rising on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump continued to exert pressure on the Federal Reserve (Fed) as he demands Fed Governor Lisa Cook resign due to an investigation of mortgage fraud. Threats of curtailing the Fed's independence pushed XAU/USD higher, from around $3,330 toward $3,350, its daily high. At the time of writing, Gold trades at $3,342, up 0.84%. Domestic political issues in the US weighed on the US Dollar. The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the performance of a basket of six currencies against the Greenback, is down 0.05% at 98.21. A Bloomberg...
The dollar fell on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump called on Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to resign, but pared gains after minutes from the Fed's latest meeting showed that only two policymakers supported an interest rate cut last month. Trump cited allegations made by one of his political allies about mortgages Cook holds in Michigan and Georgia, intensifying his effort to gain influence over the U.S. central bank. Trump has also told aides he is considering attempting to fire Cook, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. "The market has voted with its pocketbook...