Japanese stocks are lower following their recent surge driven by hopes for newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's economic measures. The market is also weighed by continuing U.S.-China trade tensions and new U.S. sanctions on Russian oil giants. Chip-related stocks are leading declines. Tokyo Electron Ltd. is down 3.8%, SoftBank Group is 3.2% lower and Renesas Electronics is down 3.6%. USD/JPY is at 152.13, compared with 151.80 as of Wednesday's Tokyo stock market close. Investors are closely watching any details of Takaichi's policy steps. The Nikkei Stock Average is down 1.4% at...
The US dollar traded lower against the Swiss franc for the second consecutive day on Monday (September 8). A weak payrolls report released on Friday continued to weigh on the US dollar, as investors increased their bets on a Federal Reserve interest rate cut in the coming months. US non-farm payrolls data confirmed a sharp slowdown in job creation in August, with only 22,000 new jobs added, below market expectations of 75,000. Furthermore, June's data was released at -13,000, marking the first net decline in employment since the peak of the pandemic in 2020. These figures virtually confirm...
Oil prices rose more than $1 on Monday (September 8), recovering some of last week's losses, after an OPEC+ production increase appeared to moderate and amid concerns over possible further sanctions on Russian crude. OPEC+ signaled plans to increase production further starting in October, but the amount was lower than some analysts had anticipated. Reuters reported earlier this month that members were considering another increase. "The market has reacted too quickly to this OPEC+ production increase," said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. "Today we are seeing a classic...
Gold prices rose to a record high on Monday (September 8th), breaking through the key $3,600 level after weak US employment data reinforced expectations of an interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve at its meeting next week. Spot gold prices rose 0.7% to $3,612.20 per ounce, as of 08:41 GMT. Bullion prices rose to a record high of $3,616.64 earlier in the session. Bullion prices have surged 37% so far this year, extending their 27% rise in 2024, driven by a weaker dollar, strong central bank buying, a weak monetary policy environment, and geopolitical and economic uncertainty. US gold...
The EUR/USD pair strengthened, trading near 1.1715 at the open of the European session on Monday (September 8th). The common currency received support from a weakening US dollar following Friday's poor US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report, although the likely collapse of the French government kept the eurozone optimistic. The NFP confirmed a deteriorating US labor market, with the weakest growth since 2021 and a higher unemployment rate. The data virtually confirmed market expectations for an interest rate cut at next week's Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting and re-raised the possibility of a 50...
The pound was virtually unchanged on Monday (September 8th), after posting its biggest one-day rally against the dollar in two weeks on Friday, following surprisingly weak US jobs data that had reinforced expectations of a US interest rate cut this month. The pound was last unchanged on the day at $1.3513, having strengthened 0.5% on Friday, when the dollar came under heavy pressure following the August nonfarm payrolls report showing just 22,000 jobs created last month and far fewer in previous months. Traders are fully pricing in a quarter-point interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve...