US Stocks plunged on Friday, as investors reacted to a weak July jobs report and a fresh round of tariffs announced by President Trump. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell 1.6% and 2.2%, their steepest drops since April, while the Dow lost 542 points. Payrolls rose by just 73,000 in July, far below expectations, with sharp downward revisions to prior months signaling deeper labor market weakness. Treasury yields fell and the odds of a September Fed rate cut rose above 80%. Sentiment worsened after new tariffs of 10% to 41% were imposed on imports from key partners including Canada, India, and...
The dollar flirted with a two-month peak on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stuck to his patient approach on rates in a closely watched policy decision and offered little insight on when they could be lowered. The greenback was also on track for its first monthly gain for the year, bolstered by a hawkish Fed and U.S. economic resilience, with uncertainty over tariffs beginning to ease given recent trade deals struck by Washington. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was last steady at 99.77 , not far from a two-month peak of 99.987 it hit in the previous session....
Oil steadied after closing at the highest in almost six weeks as President Donald Trump threatened to penalize India for buying Russian crude and his administration tightened a crackdown on supplies from Iran. West Texas Intermediate traded above $70 a barrel after surging more than 7% so far this week. Brent settled near $73 on Wednesday. The US president said he would impose a tariff on India's exports and a penalty for its energy purchases from Russia. He later added the two sides were still in talks. Meanwhile, the US implemented its most sweeping Iran-related sanctions in seven years....
Gold edges higher in the early Asian trade on possible position adjustments following the Fed's decision to leave rates unchanged as widely expected. However, gold's gains may be curbed after Fed Chair Powell signaled at his press conference that a rate cut in September was far from guaranteed. A cautious approach by the Fed could weigh on gold prices, Traze's Erkin Kamran says in an email. Additionally, easing trade tensions may put downward pressure on the precious metal, the CEO notes. President Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. and South Korea have struck a trade deal. Spot gold is...
Oil prices settled 1% higher on Wednesday as investors focused on developments on U.S. President Donald Trump's tighter deadline for Russia to end the war in Ukraine and his tariff threats to countries that trade its oil. The Brent crude September contract, which was set to expire on Thursday, closed 73 cents, 1.01%, higher at $73.24. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 79 cents, or 1.14%, at $70, with investors largely shrugging off mixed U.S. data on crude and fuel inventories. Both contracts had fallen nearly 1% earlier in the day. The more active Brent October contract settled...
GBP/USD sank for a fifth straight session on Wednesday, falling as the US Dollar (USD) catches a broad-market bid after the Federal Reserve (Fed) held rates steady and stuck to its stubborn wait-and-see stance, trimming hopes for a September rate cut. With odds of a rate cut on September 17 flying out the window, newfound market pressure will be on a hefty raft of economic data coming out of the United States (US) throughout the back half of the trading week. US PCE inflation, due on Thursday, is expected to accelerate slightly, with analysts anticipating an uptick to 0.3% MoM in June...