Three major US indexes closed at new record highs after a lower-than-expected inflation report raised the possibility of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut later this year and prompted investors to shift to riskier assets. The S&P 500 rose 0.8%, the Nasdaq rose 1%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 470 points. Technology stocks led the rally, with AMD and IBM surging 7.5% and 8.77%, respectively, after IBM said it had successfully implemented a key quantum error correction algorithm on AMD chips, boosting sentiment across the sector. Intel rose 1.6% after returning to...
Oil prices climbed about 2% on Wednesday on a bigger-than-expected weekly drop in U.S. crude inventories as investors awaited the next steps in talks to end the Ukraine war, with sanctions on Russian crude remaining in place for now. Brent crude futures were up $1.05, or 1.6%, to settle at $66.84 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 86 cents, or 1.4%, to settle at $63.21. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said energy firms pulled 6.0 million barrels of crude from inventories during the week ended August 15. That was bigger than the draw of 1.8 million...
Gold prices are rising on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump continued to exert pressure on the Federal Reserve (Fed) as he demands Fed Governor Lisa Cook resign due to an investigation of mortgage fraud. Threats of curtailing the Fed's independence pushed XAU/USD higher, from around $3,330 toward $3,350, its daily high. At the time of writing, Gold trades at $3,342, up 0.84%. Domestic political issues in the US weighed on the US Dollar. The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the performance of a basket of six currencies against the Greenback, is down 0.05% at 98.21. A Bloomberg...
The dollar fell on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump called on Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to resign, but pared gains after minutes from the Fed's latest meeting showed that only two policymakers supported an interest rate cut last month. Trump cited allegations made by one of his political allies about mortgages Cook holds in Michigan and Georgia, intensifying his effort to gain influence over the U.S. central bank. Trump has also told aides he is considering attempting to fire Cook, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. "The market has voted with its pocketbook...
Silver (XAG/USD) stages a sharp recovery on Wednesday, snapping a four-day losing streak after sliding to its lowest level in over two weeks, since August 4. The rebound comes as the US Dollar (USD) lost ground following renewed political pressure on the Federal Reserve (Fed), with US President Donald Trump publicly calling for the resignation of Fed Governor Lisa Cook. The safe-haven appeal of Silver re-emerged, helping the metal bounce from session lows. At the time of writing, Silver is trading around $37.80, up nearly 1.0% on the day, having rebounded strongly from an intraday low of...
Oil prices rose about 1% on Wednesday (August 20th) on a larger-than-expected weekly decline in US crude inventories, as investors awaited the next steps in negotiations to end the Ukraine war, with sanctions on Russian crude remaining in place for now. Brent crude rose 56 cents, or 0.9%, to $66.35 a barrel at 10:48 a.m. EDT (14:48 GMT), while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 66 cents, or 1.1%, to $63.01. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said energy companies withdrew 6.0 million barrels of crude oil from their inventories during the week ending August 15th. The...