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...
Gold price (XAU/USD) attracts buyers during the Asian session on Monday as a surprise downgrade of the US government's credit rating tempers investors' appetite for riskier assets and boosts demand for traditional safe-haven assets. Furthermore, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's reaffirmation of President Donald Trump's tariff threats lends additional support to the bullion. Meanwhile, bets that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will cut interest rates further this year keep the US Dollar (USD) depressed and turn out to be another factor lending some support to the non-yielding yellow...
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) US Crude Oil prices struggle to capitalize on Friday's move higher and attract fresh sellers at the start of a new week. The commodity, however, recovers slightly from the Asian session low and currently trades around the $61.70-$61.65 region, still down nearly 0.40% for the day. The uncertainty over the outcome of Iran-US nuclear talks and rising tensions between Estonia and Russia, following the latter's detention of a Greek-owned oil tanker on Sunday, turned out to be key factors acting as a tailwind for the black liquid. In fact, US special envoy Steve...
The Japanese yen strengthened past 145 per dollar on Monday, marking its fifth consecutive session of gains, as the US dollar weakened following Moody's credit rating downgrade. On Friday, the agency lowered the US credit rating from Aaa to Aa1, citing a worsening fiscal outlook and "a lack of effective policy action" to address mounting deficits. Domestically, recent data showed that Japan's economy contracted in the first quarter of 2025, with GDP falling worse than market expectations and marking its first economic contraction in a year. Investors are now turning their attention to the...
EUR/USD recovered from previous session's losses, trading near 1.1190 during the Asian session on Monday (05/19). The pair strengthened as the US dollar came under pressure following Moody's downgrade of the US credit rating by one notch from Aaa to Aa1 on the grounds of rising debt levels and rising interest payments. Moody's follows previous downgrades by Fitch Ratings in 2023 and Standard & Poor's in 2011. Moody's now projects US federal debt to reach around 134% of GDP in 2035, up from 98% in 2023, while the federal deficit is expected to widen to nearly 9% of GDP, driven by higher...
The AUD/USD pair kicked off the new week on a subdued note and consolidated just above the 0.6400 round-figure mark during the Asian session (19/05). Moreover, the spot prices remained confined within a familiar range for the past month or so as traders await fresh catalysts before positioning for the next leg of the directional move. Meanwhile, Monday's China macro data could provide some impetus to the AUD/USD pair and allow traders to grab short-term opportunities. However, the immediate market reaction is likely to be limited as the focus remains on the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA)...