Market News - Gold, Oil & Forex

EUR/USD was trading at 1.1613 on Friday. As the week draws to a close, the US dollar remains on track to post gains, supported by ongoing uncertainty in the Middle East and continued demand for safe-haven assets. US President Donald Trump stated that negotiations aimed at resolving the conflict are approaching their final stage and […] The post EUR/USD: All Eyes on Non-Farm Payrolls appeared first on ActionForex.

Indian energy companies are interested in expanding into Venezuelan oil, New Delhi’s top energy official Hardeep Singh Puri said today at a meeting with Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez in India, as quoted by Reuters. The report follows earlier media coverage of the meeting, citing Indian officials as saying that Venezuela’s government sees the country as a preferred partner in energy matters. “We are working with a government that is friendly, that wants a partnership with India,”...

Japan's government is making long-term plans for replacing up to a dozen nuclear reactors by 2050, to secure its electricity supply, with two to five of these to be rebuilt by the 2040s, the country's economy ministry said today. This is the latest step in a policy reversal for Tokyo, which, following the 2011 Fukushima disaster, closed all of its nuclear reactors and tried to switch to other forms of electricity generation. The Strait of Hormuz crisis, as well as LNG price volatility, has...

Media reports about a blast disrupting oil loadings at Oman’s main terminal pushed benchmark prices higher earlier today, in the latest sign that any hopes about an end to Persian Gulf hostilities is probably premature. At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $95.37 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate was changing hands for $93.04 per barrel on the futures market, modestly up on Thursday, when prices dropped on reports about a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Later news...

Gold traders have spent the past week waiting. After falling steadily from 4,889.24, the precious metal has settled into a tense standoff between 4,400 support and 4,600. Neither bulls nor bears have been willing to commit before today’s US Non-Farm Payrolls report. The reason is simple. The jobs data may not decide the Fed’s next […] The post NFP Is a Gatekeeper for Fed Policy and Gold’s Next Move appeared first on ActionForex.

Japan’s wage story continues to move in the direction the Bank of Japan has long hoped for. Nominal wages rose 3.5% yoy in April, accelerating from 3.1% yoy and beating market expectations of 3.2% yoy. The increase marked the third straight month with wage growth above 3%, something not seen in more than three decades. […] The post Japan Wage Growth Surges to 34-Year High Streak, Consumption Still Lags appeared first on ActionForex.

Key insights from the week that was. In Australia, GDP rose 0.3% (2.5%yr) in Q1, in line with our expectations. Our analysis suggests the data centre build-out was responsible for all of the growth in the quarter. This manifested as the largest jump in new business investment since the early 2010s mining investment boom – […] The post Cliff Notes: Downside Risks to Persist appeared first on ActionForex.

North Dakota’s elected officials are pushing hard to deploy Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technologies to boost oil production in the Bakken before Donald Trump's tenure as president expires. The Trump administration has significantly opened up federal lands and offshore waters for oil and gas drilling, rolling back Biden-era conservation rules to mandate more quarterly lease sales. And proposals have been advanced to expand offshore drilling to areas previously restricted, including the federal...

South America has raised its oil exports more than the U.S. has done so far this year as key producers in the region boosted production and shipments to a world scrambling for crude that’s not dependent on the Strait of Hormuz. Over the past five years, South America’s biggest producer and exporter, Brazil, has started production at several new offshore platforms in the Santos pre-salt fields. Guyana has continuously increased overseas shipments as the Exxon-led consortium starts up...

The possibility of Iran developing a nuclear weapon is now higher than it was before the United States and Israel first attacked the country in February, the International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded in a report. The conclusion suggests the war has so far resulted in the opposite of what President Trump set out to do, namely, prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Bloomberg cited the report, which has restricted access, saying that in it, the IAEA had warned its member states...