Market Update

Gold futures for July delivery rose on Thursday, amid a deterioration in the risk appetite among investors after data showed a surge in jobless claims in the U.S., promoting more concerns about the recovery from the pandemic. The yellow metal’s gains also come amid fluctuations by the U.S. Dollar (USD) …

The U.S. Dollar (USD) rose on Thursday after data showed an increase in jobless claims in the United States. Last week’s data showed that the labor market is yet to recover and restore its pre-pandemic strength, which reflected negatively on investors’ risk appetite. The Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the …

The Chinese government has on Thursday rejected the World Health Organization’s (WHO) plan for the second phase of an investigation into the origins of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that caused a global pandemic. The plan reportedly includes inspecting the hypothesis that the virus could have escaped from a Chinese laboratory, …

Natural gas inventories in the United States increased by 49 billion cubic feet for the week ending July 16, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Thursday. Total natural gas stockpiles reached 2.678 trillion cubic feet, down by 532 billion cubic feet compared with the same time last year. …

After dropping for four consecutive months, US home sales rebounded modestly in June, with prices continuing to rise and inventories low. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that existing home sales rose 1.4% in June after declining 1.2% in May. It rose 22.9 percent year on year in June. …

Earlier today, a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Johnson had urged the European Union to seriously consider proposals related to the Northern Ireland Protocol during his discussion with EU Commission chief von der Leyen. “Our position remains that we are looking forward to significant changes in …

The US major stock indices opened mixed, close to Wednesday’s closing levels. Looking at the major indices, the S&P 500 is down 0.1% today, almost unchanged at 4,354, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down slightly by 0.33% at 34,683, and the Nasdaq Composite opened slightly higher by 0.25% at …

The European Central Bank’s meeting today, Thursday, July 22, was quiet but announced new monetary policy targets that suggest extending support for a longer time to the eurozone economy while boosting inflation, which has been low for nearly a decade from its 2% target. The bank said it expects interest …

Data released by the US Labor Department on Thursday showed that there were 419k initial claims for unemployment benefits in the US during the week ending July 17. The previous month’s reading was 368k and market expectations were optimistic at 350k. The advance figure for the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate …

The European Central Bank decided to keep its monetary policy unchanged as widely expected in today’s meeting. The ECB left the interest rates on the main refinancing operations, the marginal lending facility, and the deposit facility unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25%, and -0.50%. EUR/USD remained close to the 1.1800 handle, unaffected …