Brent crude fluctuated around the $98 mark on Tuesday, extending its gains after receiving some reprieve from its lowest in two years. The dormant manufacturing performance in the U.S. and China has discouraged from growth in demand, not allowing Brent prices to break though. Brent for November delivery was up by 3 U.S. cents to $97.91 per barrel, while October
Many European stocks lost, sliding to their lowest in two weeks time, as investors hold off to await the results of the latest FOMC meeting. Orange SA lost 1.3% and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell back 0.3% to 342.98 early morning in London. In addition, investors are expecting the ZEW report on investor confidence. It seems that the sentiment
On Tuesday, gold increased its small gains as investors weighed in on the Federal Reserve policy meeting, yet they remained very tentative in their bets, waiting for more than speculations. If the Fed makes a move for a interest rate hike, the demand for gold as an alternative investment would only fall. Spot gold edged up 0.3% to $1,236.14 per ounce early morning, touching at
The Australian Dollar might be headed for the 85 U.S. cent mark, thus not releasing Australia from its reliance on resource industries. The currency could drop to 85 U.S. cents in the next six months. The Aussie was on the market for 90.44 U.S. cents midday, with the total decline of 3.2% this month. The RBA's benchmark interest rate of
As the Federal Reserve is gearing up for its policy meeting this week, Asian shares slid to their lowest in 10 weeks time. The MSCI index for shares outside of Japan lost 0.6% and slid to its lowest in three months. Japan's Nikkei broke its winning streak of five sessions and closed down 0.2%. The speculations on U.S. interest rate
The Australian Dollar slid its lowest level in six months time to $0.9060 on Friday, before levelling off at $0.9068, and losing 0.3% during the day. The loss came just as the U.S. Federal Reserve is getting ready for its policy meeting. If the Fed takes a hawkish stance, the Aussie is expected to edge back up to 90 cents. The Kiwi
British equities are not faring well in the light of the vote for Scottish independence which is to take place on September 18. The volatility expectations advanced to the levels of November 2008, causing The FTSE 100 Volatility Index to gain 19% in four days time, increasing twice as much as its Euro zone equivalent VStoxx Index, which added 7.4%. The jump came just as nationalists gained more support in a recent
Federal budget gap in the United States declined to $128.7 billion in August of this year, comparing with $147.9 billion a year ago. During the October-August period of the current financial year, the negative balance shrank 22%, as revenues continued to increase amid economic recovery. They added 7.7% on the annual basis, while spending rose less than 1%.
It is expected that U.S. retail sales for the month of August will have improved in comparison to July's data. The data are to be released 12:30pm GMT on Friday, hopefully alleviating the attention from the jobs report which revealed that only 142,000 jobs were added in August. Current projections show that retail sales will have increased by 0.6%. If
Gold continues its fall of seven months, sinking to the lowest since mid-January. The yellow metal has been on the decline ever since speculations about the U.S. increasing borrowing costs began; lessening gold's appeal as an investment. Bullion for delivery slid 0.7% to $1,232.33 per ounce, before settling at $1,236.53 midday in Singapore. The price for gold may decrease further if the
The Dollar added to its biggest gain against its most-traded peers since November just as the Federal Reserve is planning to meet next week. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index increased by 0.1% by midday in Tokyo causing the Yen to slide to a near six-year low versus the Dollar. The Greenback has been on the tear for the last month
The New Zealand Dollar fell to the lowest level in seven months time after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand did not change its stance on the benchmark interest rate and kept it at 3.5%. The Kiwi slid 0.6% to 81.75 U.S. cents early morning in London after probing 81.66 cents. The currency decreased against all of its 31 most-traded peers. Experts
The International Energy Agency reported that the growth in demand in the oil markets has toned down. This has lead to the agency tor reduce its predictions for the remainder of this year. The IEA stated that demand decreased to the level sub-500,000 barrel per day. In addition, the projection for the global demand growth has fallen to 900,000 million
If Scotland votes for its independence, the Royal Bank of Scotland has confirmed that it plans to relocate its headquarters to London. However, the plan excludes moving operations or jobs. The bank regards this as a more technical and legal necessity. Its seems that the bank is safe-guarding itself from negative fallout as the vote will most likely shake up
The Federal Reserve is gearing up for its most important meeting of the year in the following week to debate the issue of the interest rate guidance and the easing of the monetary policy. The exact decisions remain in the shadows; however; there is unease over the further duration of the near-zero interest rate. The rally of the U.S. economy point towards
As China released its CPI, which showed a 2% increase, Japanese shares continued their run, where as energy and consumer stocks lost. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 0.2% to 146.60 midday in Hong Kong, the Chinese Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.3% after its highest since March of last year. The Hang Seng Index diminished by 0.3%. In contrast, Topix
Employment level in Australia surged in August of this year, as companies added more than 121,000 new jobs. However, part-time job creations accounted for 88% of all. Alongside, the unemployment rate dropped to 6.1%, down from 6.4% in July, while participation rate increased to 65.2%. Partly, this dramatic change in figures is explained by rotation in survey group of statistical
The Bank of Japan will maintain its monetary course and will do everything to reach the inflation goal of 2% in the longer term. As the government of Shinzo Abe is preparing to raise the sales tax to 10%, it can negatively influence the consumer sentiment and push inflation down. Last quarter, Japan's economy crashed 7.1% on the annual basis,
Brent traded under $100 for the third day straight in London, the longest streak since April 2013, when it managed to clock in a six-day run. The low price arose amidst the predictions that an economic upturn might create a surplus of supply in the inventories. The prices are set to fall the following year as crude production in the
Many U.S. stocks lost on Tuesday as Apple's shares declined; however, bond yields peaked at the highest level this month amid Federal Reserve speculations on the interest rate increase. S&P shed 13.1 points to 1,988.44, and Dow Jones lost 97.55 points to 17,013.87. Apple's keynote regarding the new iPhones and the Apple watch caused its stock to slide 0.4% to
The Australian Dollar fell for the second day in the row; the Aussie showed a 0.9% decrease Tuesday, carrying on from the 1.0% fall on Monday; it cooled owing to the Greenback's strong climb as speculations arose that the Federal Reserve may raise the interest rate, and, furthermore, it is dampened by higher U.S. Treasury yields. The Aussie slid to
Matteo Renzi, Italy's Prime Minister, stated that Italy's growth for this year might be around zero percent. This prediction is not in accordance with the speculation of the government, which foresaw 0.8% expansion, and now Italy faces its third crisis in 10 years time. Renzi sees the outlook as uncertain, keeping in mind that the economy has shrunk in the
The governor of BoE Mark Carney has stated that if Scotland becomes independent, sharing a currency with the U.K. would be against the idea of sovereignty. In contrast, the Scottish National Party is in favour of keeping the Pound, while other political parties, such as Cameron's Conservative Party have sided with Carney. Scotland now faces quandary as it might be forced
Finance Minister of France Michel Sapin announced on Wednesday that the country will not be able to reduce the budget deficit to 3% at least until 2017, as economic growth equals to zero and overall activity stagnates. As predicted, the budget gap is going reach 4.3% of GDP the next year and will continue declining further. Moreover, GDP growth forecast