Silver displayed a bullish trend on Monday, topping the $17.25 mark to hover around $17.27, while further volatility is anticipated later next week, in the wake of US inflation, industrial production and Federal Reserve minutes data releases. The intraday high was at $17.31, whereas the lowest daily level lied at $17.01.
The Aussie gained value against the US Dollar on Monday, surging 0.5% to trade around $0.73, despite the Chinese industrial sector slowing down from 6.8% in March to 6.0% in April, and retail sales dropping from 10.5% to 10.1% in April. Further volatility is anticipated for the pair on Tuesday, amid the RBA minute release.
The Australian Dollar trimmed its previous losses that originated in the RBA rate cut as well as the weak inflationary environment. The Aussie gained 0.5% and traded at 1.0781 New Zealand dollars at 2 PM GMT, awaiting the release of the minutes from the RBA monetary policy meeting. The minutes will potentially provide insights into whether further easing should be
USD/JPY pair was bullish and on track to the 109 level on Monday. The Yen lost its appeal on rumours that Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, might put-off a hike in sales tax. In the meantime, Yoshihide Suga, Chief Cabinet Secretary, announced that reports are false and tax increase will go ahead. According to Suga, only a Lehman Brothers
The Euro traded steadily against the Dollar, hovering around the $1.13 level, while the economic calendar showed no potential drivers for the currencies. The index for Empire State Manufacturing is the only release on the daily agenda, as the single important data announcement on the US this week is scheduled for Tuesday.
Gold surpassed its $1,279.20 resistance level and traded at $1,282.80 by 7:30 GMT on Monday. Surpass of this resistance indicates, that Gold could move towards $1,285 and afterwards $1,300 levels. This week markets will watch the Federal Reserve minutes, CPI and industrial production releases, as this data will influence the Buck and subsequently gold.
Markets in Europe started the session lower on Monday, resulting from the lack of economic indicator data releases, and kept the volumes low as the German market was closed for trading. The UK FTSE 100 index fell 0.5% and showed 6 110.23 points, along with the French CAC 40 which dropped 0.7% to trade at 4 290.71 points. The European
Most Asian stocks closed trading session on Monday with growth, as Japanese exporters utilized a falling yen and Chinese investors analysed newest economic data. In Japan Nikkei 225 index ended day's trading 0.3% higher at 16,466.40 points and Topix surged 0.1% to 1,321.65 points and in China Shanghai Composite added 0.5% to 2,840.61, Shenzhen Composite gained 1.2% to 1.805.07.
Crude oil prices increased on Monday, as markets waited for production output decrease in Venezuela and Nigeria. WTI futures jumped 1.4% to $46.84 per barrel and Brent surged 1.3% to $48.46 per barrel. In Nigeria oil companies stopped exports after acts of sabotage and outputs from Venezuela fell due to lack of investment in the industry.
The largest European stock markets closed Friday's trading session on a positive note, helped by better-than-expected data from the United States. The pan-European Euro Stoxx 600 Index added 0.5%, finishing at 334.68 points, whereas Germany's DAX Index posted a 0.9% gain, closing at 9,952.90, and France's CAC 40 Index grew 0.6%, finishing at 4,319.99 points.
The Australian Dollar traded lower against its US counterpart, touching its two-month low on Friday. The Aussie dropped 0.72%, trading at $0.7272 by 16:00 GMT on the New York Stock Exchange, whereas the US Dollar Index hit its two-week hight at 94.84 points, after US data releases showed better-than-expected results.
The US dollar hit its intra-day high against the Euro on Friday, helped by the better-than-expected US retail sales figures reported earlier and the Michigan Consumer Confidence Index, which improved from March's 89.0 to 95.8 points in May. Thus, the Euro traded lower against the Greenback at $1.1320 by 15:30 GMT on the New York Stock Exchange.
The University of Michigan's preliminary Consumer Confidence Index jumped to 95.8 in May, following April's 89.0 points and registering the highest result since last year. Until today, analysts expected the Index to improve to 90.0 points. Meanwhile, the survey's index of actual economic conditions increased from 108.6 to 106.7, whereas its consumer expectations' index grew from 77.6 to 87.5
US business stockpiles rose by 0.4% in March, which includes retailers, wholesale merchants and manufacturers. The reading is the highest since August 2015 and came well above the 0.2% estimate. Data on growth of inventories in February remained unrevised and stayed at 0.1%.
Wall Street started trading slightly lower on Friday, as Apple drove down markets on Thursday. Investors cheered for the strong increase of US April retail sales. Standard & Poor's 500 decreased 0.1% to 2,061.61 points and Dow Jones also lost 0.1% to 17,703.00 points, while NASDAQ joined them and slid down 0.1% to 4,732.00.
April came with a resurrection of consumer spending shown in just released US retail sales numbers. Total retail sales on monthly basis increased 1.3%, which is the sharpest jump in 13 months, and it surpassed forecast of 0.8% by analysts. Retail sales were boosted by auto dealers and gasoline stations, which saw a second surge in gas prices.
After sanctions on Iran were lifted, this crude oil producer ramped up production to regain their market share and now reached pre-sanction levels of November 2011. International Energy Agency reports, that Iranian oil output in April was 3.56 million barrels per day. 2 million of those were exports.
The Australian Dollar encountered the deepest plunge since March 2 on Friday, following speculation on further rate cuts by the RBA. The Aussie traded 0.7% cheaper against the US Dollar and showed $0.7278 at 7:30 GMT. The currency has already plummeted by 6% over the last month, prompted by the aggravated inflation outlook.
Investors prepared for negative trading session in New York on Friday, as most expect fall in US retail sales in April. Futures of equity in New York fell before weekend. Standard & Poor's 500 index decreased 0.4% and moved to 2,050.40 points before market opening. Asian stocks finished days trading lower and European markets moved in the same direction.
Growth in Euro Zone in 2016 first quarter was better than previous quarter, but still lower than estimated previously. On a quarter-to-quarter basis the European economy strengthened by 0.5% and 1.5% compared on a year-to-year basis to same period in 2015. Annual growth was also a 0.1% less than expected.
On Thursday, the Sterling appreciated against the Greenback and rallied above the 1.45 dollar level, but fell soon afterwards around 100 pips on Friday. The UK currency lost 0.3% against the Buck and was trading at 1.4413 dollars by 8:45 GMT. Important US data on retail sales, producers' prices and consumer sentiment is due to be released on Friday that
Italian Gross Domestic Product data for last quarter was published on Friday, and the report shows another quarter of steady and slow growth. Last quarter GDP growth was 0.3%, as predicted by analysts, but previous quarter data has been revised and set to 0.2% instead of 0.1% published initially. Italy had 0.3% growth to no growth for past two years.
Treasury prices reached a one-month high, as foreigners enhanced their 10-year bond investments, pushing the yields down by 3.5 bps to show 1.729%. Accepted bid amounts were topped 2.68 times, which lined up with the latest trends. However, extraordinarily high activity in the treasury market was made up by foreign investors.
Stocks in Asia traded lower, because Japanese exchanges were affected by a rising yen. In the meantime, commodities dragged down Australian markets. Nikkei 225 index ended trading 1.4% down at 16,412.21 and Topix fell 1.3% at 1,320.19 on close of trading. Main movers were Pioneer and Tokuyama, which fell by 12% and 31% of their value, respectively.