Gold futures edged lower on Thursday, with prices on track to post their first loss in five sessions, after a rise in the US producer price index reading for December came in below market expectations.It could be argued that the bullish case for gold is its reputation as an inflation …
Read More »Waller: Fed Balance Sheet Start Shrinking By Summer
Federal Reserve’s Christopher Waller said three hikes in 2022 are still a good baseline but he said if inflation stays high there could be four or even five hikes.Additional QuotesCould also allow the balance sheet to run off earlier.Doesn’t favour 50bps Fed hike in March.Could start shrinking Fed balance sheet …
Read More »Crude Oil Edges Lower On Profit-Taking, Rate Hike Concerns
Crude oil prices edged lower on Thursday as investors took profits after two days of gains amid fears of aggressive US interest rate hikes.Losses were cushioned by expectations of a strong economic recovery that will boost demand in a tightly supplied market. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled down …
Read More »Is OPEC+ Near Pumping Its Full Quota?
The coming oil surplus could be much smaller than expected and could exert much less downward pressure on oil prices this year.Demand remains strong as signaled in the six-month futures spread in Brent which has more than doubled since hitting a low point in December.At the start of 2022, Omicron’s …
Read More »EUR/USD Rallies As Traders Test US Dollar’s Long-Squeeze
The EUR/USD pair buying hit overdrive on Wednesday, but the pace of gains has been more measured on Thursday. The pair is now consolidating in the 1.1450 area as traders assess whether the recent dollar long-squeeze is over.While the pair continues to trade with modest gains of about 0.1% on …
Read More »Outgoing Clarida: Policy Normalization In 2022 Consistent With Fed’s AIT Framework
Outgoing Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida, who will resign from his position on Friday, two weeks before the end of his term, said on Thursday that commencing policy normalization in 2022 would be entirely consistent with the Fed’s new flexible average inflation targeting framework. The US economy is well above …
Read More »Fed’s Evans expects four rate hikes in 2022 if inflation doesn’t abate
Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans said on Thursday that three rate hikes in 2022 would be a good “opening bid”, though it could be four if inflation doesn’t improve fast enough.Evans added that he is reluctant to declare that the US has reached full employment, but that inflation is …
Read More »Do US Wholesale Prices Signal Easing Hot Inflation?
Wholesale inflation still shows lots of upward pressure on prices in the economy. The numbers: Wholesale prices rose just 0.2% in December to mark the smallest increase in 13 months, perhaps a sign that high inflation is finally starting to ease after the biggest run-up in nearly 40 years.The increase …
Read More »Brainard: Fed actions will bring inflation down
Fed Vice Chair nominee Lael Brainard, speaking at a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, said that the Fed’s actions will bring inflation down whilst also allowing the US labour market to make a full recovery. So far in the hearing, Brainard has not been questioned extensively on …
Read More »Gold Falls as US Bond Yields Rise
Gold prices fell somewhat on Thursday, with the US Treasury bond yields rising, which compensated some of its previous losses, but the precious metal remained close to its one-week highs recorded in the previous session, as the dollar continued its decline. The price of gold futures in the United States …
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