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 plunged more than 2% on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump took the first major step toward diplomacy over the war in Ukraine that he has vowed to end, a war that has supported oil prices amid concerns about global supply. Brent crude futures fell $1.82, or 2.36%, to $75.18 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell $1.95, or 2.66%, to $71.37. U.S. crude futures fell more than $2 at their session lows. The declines followed three days of gains, with Brent up 3.6% and WTI up 3.7%. U.S. President Donald Trump discussed the war in Ukraine in a phone...
The US Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the value of the US Dollar (USD) against a basket of currencies, initially rose after a higher-than-expected January Consumer Price Index (CPI) data but then reversed course. Inflation beat estimates, causing investors to reassess the Federal Reserve's (Fed) policy path. While Fed Chair Jerome Powell remained non-committal on future interest rate cuts, Treasury yields moved higher, supporting the DXY early in the American session, but later fell below 107.90. The US Dollar Index attempted to move higher but faced resistance at 108.50, struggling to...
Gold prices recovered slightly in the North American session on Wednesday (2/12). Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell said that policy needs to remain tight as inflationary pressures increase and US President Donald Trump's tariff threats escalate. XAU/USD is trading at $2,897, almost unchanged. The non-yielding metal halted its downtrend after the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed that inflation jumped above 3% in the United States, indicating that the Fed's pause in its easing cycle could be longer than expected. Last week, December federal funds rate futures showed...
The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the performance of the US Dollar (USD) against six major currencies, trades unchanged around 108.00 after Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell did not leave any clues for markets to pick up on, when facing lawmakers on Tuesday at Capitol Hill. Powell did not leave many clues about the timing for another interest rate cut by the central bank, if any. Traders are mulling what to do next, with US yields slowly but surely starting to head higher this week. The economic calendar shows the Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers for January are due on...
Gold's price (XAU/USD) is facing some profit-taking pressure and trades below $2,900 throughout this Wednesday after Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell went to Capitol Hill for his semi-annual testimony before lawmakers the previous day and before the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for January release. Powell did not say much but stated that the current level of the monetary policy rate is helping the central bank to withstand market volatility and potential inflation shocks that could take place. The comments were enough to fuel a small surge in US bond yields. Meanwhile,...