The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7% and the S&P 500 gained 0.3% on Friday, led by a 10.8% surge in Amazon shares after the company said cloud revenue climbed 20% in the third quarter and beat estimates, lifting tech names broadly. The Dow traded up 60 points. Palantir and Oracle added 3% and 2.8%, repsectively, on AI optimism and Nvidia also traded higher. Elsewhere, Netflix rallied 2.9% on an announced 10 for 1 stock split and Tesla jumped 3.1%. Energy names diverged as Chevron rose 1.9% on stronger earnings and Exxon Mobil slipped 1.5% after a profit decline. On the other hand, Meta fell...
Oil prices held near one-week highs on Wednesday on concerns about supply disruptions in Russia and the U.S., as markets awaited clarity on sanctions as Washington tries to broker a deal to end the war in Ukraine. Brent crude futures rose 20 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $76.04 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 40 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $72.25. That was the highest close for both crude benchmarks since Feb. 11. "The market is trying to determine the three drivers that are bullish: Russia, Iran and OPEC," said BNP Paribas (OTC:BNPQY) commodity strategist...
Gold prices fell on Wednesday (2/19) during the North American session after the latest Federal Reserve (Fed) monetary policy minutes showed that all policymakers voted to keep interest rates unchanged at their January meeting. XAU/USD was trading around $2,925, down 0.31%. The minutes showed that Fed officials assessed the risks of a dual mandate as roughly balanced, while "some participants cited potential changes in trade and immigration policies as potentially hindering the disinflation process." Participants noted that some measures of inflation expectations "have risen...
The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the performance of the US Dollar (USD) against six major currencies, is slowly moving higher and recovers above the 107.00 level on Wednesday, with traders seeing the DXY well positioned amidst all tariff and geopolitical headlines. Overnight, United States (US) President Donald Trump said that car tariffs will be around 25%, and that pharmaceutical and semiconductor imports will be added to the same scheme by April. President Trump tried to deflect the rather unsuccessful first day of negotiations between Russia and the US officials on a peace deal...
Oil prices edged higher in European trading on Wednesday, as traders weighed supply disruption concerns in Russia and the U.S.. Yet gains were limited by the prospect of easing sanctions of Russia -- and a subsequent return of supplies from the major oil-producing country -- in the event of a peace deal to halt the war in Ukraine. Brent crude futures rose 0.5% to $76.26 a barrel by 06:13 ET, while West Texas Intermediate crude futures had increased by 0.6% to $72.29 per barrel.Prices rose in the prior session after Ukrainian drone strikes targeted a key Russian crude-pumping station,...
The Pound Sterling weakens against its major peers even though the United Kingdom (UK) Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for January showed that inflationary pressures accelerated at a faster-than-expected pace. In the 12 months to January, the headline CPI rose by 3%, faster than estimates of 2.8% and the December reading of 2.5%. In the same period, the core CPI – which excludes volatile components of food, energy, alcohol, and tobacco – grew by 3.7%, as expected, faster than the former reading of 3.2%. Month-on-month headline CPI inflation deflated at a slower-than-projected pace of...