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...
Gold fell and the dollar strengthened as traders assessed U.S. data on consumer spending, import flows and fresh trade tensions between the U.S. and China. Consumers stepped back in April while imports plunged sharply as companies adjusted to higher tariffs. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve's preferred price gauge remained tame, reinforcing bets that the U.S. central bank won't need to lower borrowing costs until later this year. That scenario would be negative for bullion as it typically benefits from lower interest rates. On the trade front, U.S. President Donald Trump said China was not...
The dollar strengthened amid uncertainty over U.S. tariffs and after mixed economic data. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%, paring an earlier 0.3% gain from a weaker-than-expected Chicago PMI; fell 0.6% in May and is set for the longest monthly decline since August 2020 U.S. personal income data beats forecasts, but personal spending falls in April; Consumer sentiment rebounds in May US Consumers Hit Brakes as Goods Imports Fall Sharply US Consumer Sentiment Improves in Latest Michigan Survey in May Proposed tax measures in the US tax and spending bill that could raise tax...
Oil prices fell on Friday and headed for a second straight weekly decline, as investors weighed the potential for a bigger OPEC+ output hike in July and uncertainty spread over U.S. tariff policy after the latest changes on the floor. Brent crude futures were down 21 cents, or 0.33%, at $63.94 a barrel by 1451 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 34 cents, or 0.56%, at $60.60 a barrel. Brent futures for July expire on Friday. The more liquid August contract was trading 43 cents lower, or 0.71%, at $59.77 a barrel. At that level, the benchmark front-month contract was...
Gold price (XAU/USD) recovers some of its initial losses and rebounds to near $3,305 during Nortyh American trading hours on Friday. Still, the precious metal is down almost 0.4%. The yellow metal bounces back as trade tensions between the United States (US) and China have renewed after President Donald Trump signaled in a post on Truth.Social that Beijing has violated trade agreement. "The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US," Trump wrote. Renewed trade tensions between the world's largest economies have increased demand of...
OPEC+ may discuss an increase in oil output for July at its meeting on Saturday larger than the 411,000 barrels per day (bpd) increases it made for May and June, sources familiar with OPEC+ talks told Reuters. Eight OPEC+ countries have been raising output more rapidly than earlier planned, even though the extra supply has weighed on prices. The strategy of group leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia is partly to punish over-producing allies and to win back market share, Reuters has reported. On Saturday, the eight members may decide to increase output by 411,000 bpd for July, OPEC+ sources have...