Weekly Economic Reports

Financial markets ended the trading week with cautious optimism following apparent uncertainty and concerns about the US central bank’s next moves regarding interest rate hikes and the Fed’s monetary policy. Oil prices rose more than 2% on Friday and posted weekly gains of over 8%, as Russia announced plans to …

Major US stock indexes closed lower on Friday after surprisingly strong jobs data raised concerns about the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hikes, while investors received a mixed batch of earnings reports from major companies.The data published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed on Friday that Nonfarm Payrolls …

The US Dollar Index began the trading week down around the 102 mark, hovering close to levels not seen since May 2022, as concerns about a US recession and prospects of a less aggressive Fed startled investors away from the American currency which closed the week at 101.9.Oil Price ActionOn …

New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has said she is resigning, in an unexpected announcement that came as she confirmed a national election for October. At the party’s first caucus meeting of the year on Thursday, Ardern said she “no longer had enough in the tank” to do the job. …

This weekly recap is tracing key developments across most financial assets during the previous trading week that witnessed the release of the CPI data in the United States and improved risk appetite benefiting some assets while impacting others:US DollarThe dollar was slightly lower against most of its G10 counterparts to …

Wall Street’s major indices closed higher on Friday, supported by reports that although jobs increased in the United States more than expected, wage increases slowed and services activity contracted, easing concerns about the path of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The data published by Automatic Data Processing (ADP) …

The dollar fell against most currencies in volatile and weak trading on Friday after data indicated a slight slowdown in inflation in the United States, which boosted expectations of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates at lower rates and improved investors’ appetite for risk. The personal consumption expenditures price index …

Financial markets’ sentiment was still negative for most of the previous trading week amid accelerating recession-linked fears. This development, for sure, reinforced US Treasury bond yields but the US stock futures and equities in the Asia-Pacific region maintained mostly dull performance ahead of the final batch of data from the …

The dollar rose against the euro on Friday after US producer price data for November came in slightly higher than expected, casting doubt on whether the Federal Reserve will slow down the pace of interest rate hikes at its meeting next week. The data showed US producer prices rose 0.3 …

The weaker US dollar and risk aversion were in news headlines most of the time during Friday’s US trading session. The positive employment report on the United States suggested the Fed might need to keep hiking rates to ease a contracted labour market, though it failed to reinforce the US …