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...
Silver (XA/USD) is seen extending its retracement slide from the highest level since February 2012 touched earlier this week and weakened for the third straight day on Friday (6/20). The downward trajectory dragged the white metal to its lowest level in over one week, around the $35.65 area during the Asian session. From a technical perspective, XAG/USD's failure to extend this week's up-move beyond the $37.00 mark and a subsequent decline below the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level of the May-June rally favors bearish traders. Moreover, oscillators on the 4-hourly chart have been gaining...
Gold prices fell on Friday and were on track for a weekly decline, as an overall stronger dollar and prospects for fewer U.S. interest rate cuts offset support from rising geopolitical risks in the Middle East. Spot gold was down 0.5% at $3,355.49 an ounce, by 0245 GMT, and down 2.2% so far this week. U.S. gold futures were down 1% at $3,371.80. "There's a lot of uncertainty in the Middle East right now that's keeping traders from taking aggressive positions on either the long or short side of the spectrum," said Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst, Asia Pacific at OANDA. Middle East...
The USD/CHF pair lost momentum to around 1.3690, ending three consecutive days of gains during Asian trading hours on Friday (6/20). Concerns about the US involvement in the Middle East conflict fueled demand for the Swiss Franc (CHF), a safe-haven currency. The US Philly Fed Manufacturing Index will be published later on Friday. The conflict between Israel and Iran has entered its seventh day. The White House said that US President Donald Trump will make a decision in the next two weeks on whether to join Israel in the war. Uncertainty about the war raging in the Middle East and fears that...
EUR/USD extends its winning streak for the third straight day, trading around 1.1520 during Asian hours on Friday (6/20). The currency pair strengthened as the US dollar (USD) weakened, possibly on technical pullback. The US dollar could recover on increased safe-haven demand, driven by growing concerns over potential US involvement in an Israel-Iran air war. Iran has not yet decided whether to build a nuclear weapon, despite having developed a large stockpile of enriched uranium needed to make a bomb, according to a senior US intelligence official quoted by The New York Times. Meanwhile,...
The US Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the US Dollar (USD) against a basket of six major currencies, extended its decline for the second straight day and traded lower around 98.70 at the time of writing. Traders are likely to gauge the Fed Monetary Policy Report, which is scheduled to be released on Friday. The Federal Reserve Board will submit a report to Congress containing a discussion of "the conduct of monetary policy and economic developments and prospects for the future." The US dollar may have strengthened again due to rising safe-haven demand, driven by growing concerns over...