US stocks rebounded from early losses to close mostly higher on Friday amid hopes that Congress members were making progress toward ending the government shutdown. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones closed 0.3% higher, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed near the flatline as AI giants remained under pressure. Senate Republicans rejected Democrats' offer to scale down shutdown demands, but lingering hopes of an incoming agreement improved risk sentiment before the closing bell. The suspension of operations and government data were evidenced by the deteriorating consumer confidence measured by...
The Pound Sterling (GBP) faces selling pressure against its peers on Friday after the release of weak United Kingdom (UK) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and factory data for May. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that the UK economy declined by 0.1% on month, against expectations of a 0.1% expansion. In April, the UK GDP contracted by 0.3%, extending the decline in economic activity for a second straight month. The poor performance of the industrial sector was one of the reasons behind the economic contraction, data from the ONS showed.. Month-on-month Industrial Production...
The EUR/USD pair is trading lower for the third consecutive day on Friday, with risk appetite subdued after the US President Donald Trump announced that the European Union (EU) will be included in the next batch of tariff letters and raised blanket levies for all other countries to 15% or 20% from the previous 10%. The Euro (EUR) extended its decline against a stronger US Dollar (USD) in a risk-off Asian session and trades at 1.1680 at the time of writing, having hit intra-day lows at 1.1665. The broader picture shows the pair in a corrective pullback from the long-term highs reached on...
The Australian Dollar is showing an exceptional bullish tone on Friday's European morning session. The pair has reversed previous losses and trades practically flat on the day, at a short distance to the year-to-date high, at 0.6595. The pair is on track for its third consecutive positive week, still buoyed by the Reserve Bank of Australia´s decision to maintain its benchmark interest rate at 3.85% earlier this week against a widely expected 25 bps rate. Beyond that, market speculation about a new round of economic stimulus in China, Australia's major trading partner, is providing...
Gold held a two-day advance as traders focused on tariff threats from President Donald Trump and the outlook for US monetary policy. Bullion traded above $3,330 an ounce, after posting modest gains on Wednesday and Thursday that pared a weekly drop. Rising trade tensions underscored gold's haven appeal after the president proposed a slew of tariffs this week, including moves against Canada and Brazil. In addition, he announced a substantial levy on imports of copper which will come into effect on Aug. 1 alongside other country-specific duties. Elsewhere, investors...
Silver (XAG/USD) trades with a positive bias for the second straight day and tests the top end of a multi-week-old range during the Asian session on Friday. The white metal currently trades around the $37.20 region, up 0.40% for the day. From a technical perspective, the daily Relative Strength Index (RSI, 14) remains above 50, while the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) histogram and the signal line are yet to confirm bullish bias. This makes it prudent to wait for some follow-through buying beyond the $37.30-$37.35 region, or the highest since February 2012 touched last month,...