Both gold and silver traded lower on Thursday during the North American trading session. Thus, the bullion dropped 2.09%, trading at $1,247.80 per troy ounce, whereas silver declined 4.27%, trading at $16.40 per ounce by 14:00 GMT on the New York Stock Exchange.
Crude oil futures traded lower during the first hour of the North American trading session, despite lower-than-expected initial jobless claims reported earlier on Thursday. Thus, West Texas Intermediate dropped 2.0%, trading at $47.22, whereas Brent declined 2.1%, trading at $47.90 by 14:00 GMT on the New York Stock Exchange.
Wall Street started Thursday's trading with falling stock prices, as latest Federal Reserve's minutes pressured investors with looming interest rate hike in June. Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 0.4% to 2,040.00 points and Dow Jones lost 0.3% at start of trading and traded at 17,471.50 points. In the meantime, NASDAQ decreased 0.5% to 4,716.70 points.
India's Gross Domestic Product is expected do grow at pace close to 2.5% in 2016 and in 2017, according to the latest forecast from Moody's rating agency. In the meantime, Moody's report highlighted that the country's GDP showed strong growth so far, but total private investment remained low.
The US Dollar traded at its fresh intra-day highs against the Euro, as initial claims for state unemployment benefits in the United States dropped to 278,000 from 294,000, the Department of Labour said on Thursday. The common currency declined 0.3%, trading at $1.1180 by 13:00 GMT on the London Stock Exchange.
Stock exchanges in Europe fell, as latest Federal Reserve's minutes pressured investors with looming interest rate increase in June. German DAX 30 dropped 0.5% to 9,895.35 points, FTSE 100 index decreased 1% to 6,104.40 points and French CAC 40 lost 0.1% to 4,313.35. In the meantime, Euro Stoxx 50 decreased 0.3% to trade at 2,947.50 points.
The Pound traded higher upon the positive UK retail sales data announcement, also being affected by a lower Brexit probability. The cable recovered on Thursday's trading session after losing value on Wednesday, when the Greenback was pushed up by the release of the FOMC minutes which suggested a possible rate hike in June.
Labour market in US improved over past week after initial jobless claims peaked previous week and reached 294,000 claims. Newest data released on Thursday indicated 278,000 new claims this week, although it was still more than expected by analysts, as they forecasted 275,000 claims. It is a big relief, since this unemployment indicator rose for past three weeks.
Wall-Mart Stores reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday. Analysts estimated profit of $0.88 per share, but Wall-Mart chain announced $0.98 of net income per share. $115.9 billion quarterly revenue was posted instead of expected $113.22 billion. Shares of the shopping chain surged more than 8% pre-market by 11:30 GMT.
US futures for equity decreased on Thursday, as investors worldwide continued the sell-off after latest the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes, which hinted at a rate increase in June. If the US economic data continues to show consistent growth towards the targeted 2%, probability of a rate hike by the Fed will increase further. In the meantime, reacting to the news
The USD/JPY pair traded higher on Thursday after markets perceived the FOMC minutes as an indicator of a potential rate hike in June. The pair hovered under the 110 yen mark over the London session, with volatility expected later during the US session when data on US jobless claims is announced.
Retail sales rose by 1.3% for April in the UK on a monthly basis, topping analyst expectations of a 0.7% surge. The advance mostly originated from the low price levels, and the only downward pressure came from a dip in clothing and shoe sales cause by the cold weather. Retail sales are anticipated to remain steady during the rest of
Despite the lack of growth in job openings, the Australian jobless rate remained lowest since 2014 at 5.7% in April. The gauge beat analyst expectations which lied at 5.8%, however, the number of added jobs failed to meet analyst forecasts with 10 800 new jobs. Meanwhile, an unanticipated fall in the participation rate cut the supply of available workers.
Stock exchanges in Europe opened in the red on Thursday, as investors were in fear that the Federal Reserve will hike rates in June. German DAX 30 index decreased by 0.9% to 9,857.81 points, UK's FTSE 100 fell 0.8% to 6,116.34 points. In the meantime, French CAC 40 lost 0.5% to 4,297.74 and Euro Stoxx 50 index lost 0.4% to
Bullion broke support at $1,256, as it is its moving average of 200-days in a four hour frame, and might move lower than $1,230. Gold decreased 1.5% on Wednesday, as the Greenback gained strength after the Fed committee's minutes gave a big boost for the Buck. The Federal Reserve returned to hawkish rhetoric, which increased rate hike possibility in June.
Crude oil futures continued losses on Thursday, as rising US inventories, expectations of Iranian output increase and the Federal Reserve meeting minutes weighed upon the price. WTI futures fell 1.2% to $47.63 per barrel and Brent futures dropped 1.4% to $48.23 per barrel. Both had hit 2016 highs before after announcements of prospective shortages in Canada, Nigeria and Venezuela.
Monthly unemployment rate published on Thursday decreased to 9.9% from 10% in mainland France. However, the average metropolitan French and overseas unemployment rate remained unchanged at 10.2%. Analysts predicted such figures and they came in as no surprise. In the meantime, youth unemployment increased to 24.2% in Q1 of 2016.
Markets in Asia were mainly lower, as traders reacted to latest Federal Reserve minutes, which increased chances for a rate hike in June. In Japan Nikkei 225 index ended day's trading unchanged at 16,646.66 points and Topix went down 0.1% to 1,336.68 points. In Chine was a similliar picture, as Shanghai Composite increased 0.1% to 2,810.70 points, Shenzen Composite added
Major European equity indices finished higher on Wednesday amid solid UK labour market data, whereas the annual inflation rate turned negative in the EU in April. Britain's FTSE 100 Index closed flat at 6,167.00, whereas Germany's DAX 30 Index added 0.5%, finishing at 9,939.50 points. Meanwhile, France's CAC 40 Index jumped 0.6%, closing at 4,324.80, and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 Index grew
According to the US Energy Information Administration's weekly report released on Wednesday, gasoline inventories dropped more-than-expected in the week ended May 13. Thus, gasoline inventories declined 2.5 million barrels, following the 1.2 million drop seen in the previous week and surpassing analysts' expectations for the 0.9 million fall.
On Wednesday, the Energy Information Administration's weekly report revealed that crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 1.3 million barrels in the period ended May 13, following the 3.4 million drop seen in the previous seven days and surpassing analysts' forecasts for the 3.1 million decline.
The Euro traded lower against the British Pound on Wednesday, reaching its lowest level since March 10. Thus, the common currency dropped 1.18% against the Sterling, trading around 0.7728 pounds by 13:35 GMT on the London Stock Exchange and following Britain's promising data released earlier today.
Markets in US opened in the red zone on Wednesday, as investors monitored appearances of several speakers from the Fed, who discussed the Federal Reserve's June's meeting. In the meantime, Standard & Poor's index opened slightly lower by 0.2% at 2,043.48 points, Dow Jones lost 0.1% to 17,507.31 points and NASDAQ fell 0.2% to 4,705.84 points.
The Australian Dollar traded lower against its US counterpart on the NYSE, in view of the minutes from the FOMC meeting last month. The Aussie dropped 0.86%, trading at $0.7261 by the start of the North American trading hours on Wednesday and erasing all its gains from yesterday, when it traded above the $0.7300 level.