Japanese stocks experienced a sharp decline on Wednesday, led by chip and electronics stocks, which were pressured by weakness in US technology stocks overnight. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.9% to 50,523.00. Stocks such as Kioxia Holdings fell 11%, SoftBank Group fell 9.1%, and Advantest plunged 8.1%. This decline reflects uncertainty in the Japanese market regarding the global technology sector. The Japanese yen also weakened slightly against the US dollar, with USD/JPY trading at 153.62, slightly higher than 153.55 at the Tokyo market close the previous day. Investors are now focused...
EUR/USD tried to stretch for a fourth straight day of gains, but markets are drawing into the middle ahead of Friday's key US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) print. The Euro saw a sharp rejection from the 1.0850 level on Thursday, ending Fiber's three-day win streak. EUR/USD has had a stellar week, climbing 4.6% bottom-to-top from Monday's opening bids. Forex Today: The US Nonfarm Payrolls are coming! FX markets have sharply rebalanced after rate cut expectations took a tumble this week. According to rate markets, the European Central Bank (ECB) is broadly expected to only cut interest rates one...
Gold halted its three-day rally due to investors booking profits ahead of the crucial US Nonfarm Payrolls report. The rise of US Treasury bond yields also made holding the non-yielding metal less appealing. At the time of writing, the XAU/USD trades at $2,918, virtually unchanged. The yellow metal consolidated above the $2,900 figure, capped by the earlier rise of the US 10-year Treasury bond yield to a one-week high, before paring those gains to stand at 4.286%. Uncertainty surrounds the financial markets, spurred by controversial trade policies proposed by the President of the United...
Oil was largely steady in choppy trade on Thursday with global benchmark Brent still below $70 a barrel under pressure from tariffs between the U.S., Canada, and China, and OPEC+ plans to raise output. Brent futures were up 8 cents, or 0.1%, at $69.38 a barrel by 1:40 p.m. ET (1840 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures eased 6 cents, or 0.1%, to $66.24. Brent hit $68.33 on Wednesday, its weakest since December 2021, after a larger-than-expected build in U.S. crude inventories added to the bearish news earlier in the week of OPEC+'s hike in output quotas for the first time...
The US Dollar Index (DXY) is extending its losing streak on Thursday as fresh labor market and trade data put additional pressure on the Greenback. Job cuts surged dramatically, while weekly jobless claims showed a mixed picture of the labor market. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) delivered a widely anticipated rate cut, with President Christine Lagarde emphasizing the need for heightened vigilance in uncertain economic conditions.US Dollar down after an additional round of soft labor data, ECBThe latest Challenger Job Cuts report for February revealed a sharp rise in layoffs,...
Gold prices fell about 1% on Thursday as investors booked profits after a three-day rally, with markets eyeing US jobs data for clues on the Federal Reserve's interest rate path amid rising global trade tensions. Spot gold, which was down 0.5% at $2,904.51 an ounce by 1211 GMT, has gained more than 10% this year. It hit a record high of $2,956.15 on Feb. 24. US gold futures also fell 0.5% to $2,912.10. "Gold appears to be seeing some profit-taking as investors watch tariff developments with prices trading near $2,900 ahead of the nonfarm payrolls report," said Lukman Otunuga, senior...