With the focus on the forthcoming employment data and the struggling banking sector, U.S. equities are expected to begin neutral Friday, recovering following the previous session’s selloff. At 12:00 GMT, the Dow Futures contract was down 100 points or 0.3%, the S&P 500 Futures contract was down 4 points or …
Read More »Oil prices are heading for a weekly decline of 5% amid fears of a US interest rate hike
Oil fell for the fourth session on Friday, heading to record its largest weekly loss in five weeks, due to fears of further US interest rate hikes, which would hurt fuel demand. By 0852 GMT, Brent crude futures were down 41 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $81.18 a barrel. West …
Read More »European stocks sharply lower; banking sector hit hard
European stock markets traded sharply lower Friday as nervousness ahead of the widely-watched U.S. jobs report and weakness in the banking sector overshadowed better-than-expected U.K. growth data. At 08:40 GMT, the DAX index in Germany traded 1.7% lower, the CAC 40 in France dipped 1.9% and the FTSE 100 in …
Read More »UK Manufacturing Production declines 0.4% MoM in January
The latest UK industrial and manufacturing production figures issued by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Friday revealed a drop in industrial sector activity in January. Manufacturing production was -0.4% MoM in January, compared to -0.1% expected and 0% in December, while total industrial output was -0.3% MoM, compared …
Read More »Turkish lira recorded a record low against the dollar
The Turkish lira, which is prone to sharp fluctuations before normal trading time, stabilized early on Friday after tumbling 4.25 percent to a record low of 19.80 against the dollar on Thursday evening. By 0439 GMT, the lira had settled at 18.9575 against the dollar, the same closing level on …
Read More »Nikkei suffers the largest loss in 3 months
On Friday, the Japanese Nikkei index suffered the largest loss in nearly three months, ending a series of gains that lasted for five sessions, under the weight of the decline in financial institutions shares, after a decision by the central bank to continue stimulus measures, which affected the expectations of …
Read More »Gold rose before the US jobs data
Gold prices rose on Friday as investors awaited the US non-farm payrolls data, which is expected to be released on Friday, to assess the possible path of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve (US central bank). By 0716 GMT, spot gold rose 0.1% to $1832.24 an ounce, and US …
Read More »US Nonfarm Payrolls Preview: the possibility of a surprise
After Fed Chair Powell’s remarks on Capitol Hill last Tuesday, there is a great deal of anticipation around the impending NFP statistics. Powell effectively stated that if economic data came in far above forecasts, the Fed would raise interest rates by 50 basis points at its next meeting. He emphasised …
Read More »US: Weekly Initial Jobless Claims rise to 211K
The US Department of Labor (DOL) reported 211,000 initial unemployment claims in the week ending March 4, according to weekly statistics released on Thursday. This print follows the previous week’s print of 190,000 and was lower than the market forecast of 195,000. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was …
Read More »UK says financial reforms will be within same ‘orbit’ as EU, US
To minimise disruption to global corporations, Britain’s updated financial market laws will be broadly aligned with US and European Union standards, according to financial services minister Andrew Griffith on Thursday. Britain exited the EU in 2020 and has subsequently suggested the “Edinburgh Reforms” in response to efforts to strengthen the …
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