Brent oil rallied to fresh two-and-a half year highs overnight, breaching $66 a barrel for the first time since June 2015 after news of a pipeline explosion in Libya, which fuelled supply disruption concerns. But prices encountered resistance in the $66.50 area and retraced under $66 a barrel. Brent extended its corrective slide towards $65.50 and has stabilized....
Bitcoin is recouping loses from a flash-crash experienced as the price tumbled from a record high at $19,850 and stopped only below the $12,000 mark late last week. Today, the cryptocurrency is trying to regain the $15,000 handle, climbing back into positive territory. Despite the current recovery from an aggressive last week’s selloff, which was the worst week...
Euro had to interrupt its 4-day winning streak after the news that pro-independence parties secured a renewed majority in the Catalan parliament. Such election results reduce hope for mitigating the constitutional crisis in the country. As a result, EURUSD dived to lows in the 1.1816 area where it met “demand on dips” and recovered partially to the comfort zone at...
Gold showed a robust recovery from last week’s 4-month low at $1,236.49. On Thursday, the precious metal posted a 2-week high at $1,268.28 but failed to extend rally on the back of reviving USD demand. Nevertheless, considering that we now see a V-formation on the charts, there is a chance that following the current retreat, gold will not lose its momentum and...
Bitcoin was bleeding for three days in a row and has fallen almost 20% from record peaks on the approach to the $20,000 handle which was almost reached on Sunday, when CME Group launched bitcoin futures. The recent aggressive sales of the digital currency were due to another hack attack on a South Korean crypto-currency exchange Youbit which subsequently decided...
Crude oil prices continue fluctuating between small gains and losses on Tuesday. Brent is seeking to regain the key $63 handle, but so far fails to resume its recent Forties-inspired rally. Only a decisive break above this level will alleviate immediate downside pressure and open the way to the intermediate resistance at $63.80 and then to $64 a barrel. The...
Gold is trading higher on Monday despite firmer equities and a broadly risk-on mood in the global markets. The precious metal is trying to gain bullish momentum as the price is continuing last week’s recovery from a four-month low at $1,236.49. Despite the recent bullish signs, risks for the spot gold still point to the downside. The key risk for the yellow metal...
The EURUSD pair basically shrugged off the latest ECB statement which was viewed as dovish by markets. After a dip towards the support area at 1.1760, the pair has recovered part of the post-ECB slide and is probing the 1.18 handle again. The dollar didn’t receive any meaningful support from strong US retail sales data as traders are still focused on the Trump’s...
The Bank of England unanimously voted to leave interest rates unchanged at 0.50% and reiterated "further modest increases" were likely over next few years. In a knee-jerk reaction GBPUSD retreated, but held within a familiar trading range. The negative initial reaction was partly due to the regulator’s cautious rhetoric, as the market expectations got more upbeat...
The greenback gained modestly overnight, buoyed by the impressive US PPI data. Today USD is trading under a mild pressure against most of its counterparts ahead of FOMC decision which is widely expected to bring a 25 bp rate hike. But the market focus suddenly shifted to the political arena where the Thump Republicans faced another hurdle. Specifically, the...
The headline UK CPI came at 3.1% in November, which is the highest since March 2012. The GBPUSD gained initially on the release, but struggled to keep gains and met the sell interest in the 1.3380 area. The CPI reading peaked above 3.0%, which means the BoE chief will have to write an explanation letter to the finance minister. Basically, the faster inflation...
The NZD was the best performer in Asia today, propped up by the news of a new RBNZ governor appointment. The NZDUSD pair jumped nearly 1% and reached new December highs at 0.6929 in response to the news that Adrian Orr has been appointed a governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. He will begin his five-year term on March 27. The announcement gave a boost to...
Let us ask ourselves if the NFP report will have any impact on the markets. It is unlikely it will. With two weeks before Christmas, and also considering that next week the Fed and the ECB will have their meetings, the investors will not rush into aggressive USD's buying or selling. In September, the US employment data was awfully weak but that time it was a...
The Aussie is on the back foot again. The currency refreshed 6-month lows against the buck at 0.7517. This time the reason for the sale-off was the disappointing trade balance data, which showed a sharp drop to the 6-months lows. At the same time exports decreased by 3%, mainly due to a drop in sales in the mining and metallurgical sectors, while imports grew by...
EUR and USD exchanged the courtesy and disappointed the markets with weak statistics. The investors are ‘reading tea leaves’ trying to guess what will have a bigger impact on the EUR/USD: Trump's tax cut reform or the debt ceiling. The biggest central banks start thinking about the pair’s path in 2018. US ISM Manufacturing Index receded from the area of 12-years...
The Pound tried hard but was not able to sustain above the 1.35 area against the US dollar. Theresa May failed the negotiations with EU’s Junker on Monday. At least, both sides declared they did not achieve any sufficient progress. Jean-Claude Juncker mentioned that Britain’s position is a tough one, so it is not easy to negotiate with it. It is quite possible...
USD made the fur fly. We were waiting for a quiet weekend, and nothing foreboded the storm on Friday, but then suddenly the ball rolled. The Senate approved the tax bill, and Trump’s ex-advisor Flynn confession took the stage. Among these two messages, the latter one did not influence the dollar, but the former one was a great help. The passing of US tax bill gave...
USD/JPY had been growing since Tuesday before it settled above the 112.00 level. One of the reasons for the recovery, apart from the approval of the tax cut bill, was a technical correction. But today we see another decline. As usual, USD lost some points due to weaker Treasury yields. But, also, the market is now concentrated on the Fed’s monetary policy path...