Market News

The US Dollar Index earlier struck a 5-week low as investors now expect the US Federal Reserve to hold off on a rate increase until much later in this year, if at all.

Oil prices jumped more than 1 percent reaching 2016 highs on Tuesday, with U.S. crude settling above $50 a barrel the first time in almost a year, on concerns of domestic stockpile drops and worries about global supply shortfalls resulting from attacks on Nigeria's oil industry.

Perhaps the recent speech from the UK Prime Minister David Cameron helped assuage some voters’ concerns as the latest polls on the upcoming referendum show a narrow lead for those who want to remain within the EU.

It doesn’t look promising for a US interest rate hike in June, or even July. At a luncheon for the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia’s yesterday, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen more or less voiced Fed intentions of leaving rates unchanged for the time being.

With only about a week to go for Britons to vote for or against the referendum which would decide their fate as regards staying within the E.U., the Pound Sterling is being pressured by uncertainty.

The disappointing U.S. employment numbers released last week continue to move markets. Asia currencies, including the yen, were off to a head start for the week as the dollar dipped on the lower than expected numbers.

This week can be expected to be much less significant than the previous week, with Central Bank input due concerning the Australian Dollar on Tuesday and concerning the New Zealand Dollar on Thursday, with Janet Yellen of the Federal Reserve giving a speech on Monday.

Only 38,000 jobs were created in May, a drop of 4.7 percent since April, and 120,000 below the media estimate of the Labor Department estimate.

Oil ministers ended their bi-annual OPEC meeting in Vienna last night without any clear signs of any agreement for a future freeze on oil production.

With investors once again unsure if, or more precisely when, the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates, uncertainty has weighed broadly on the US Dollar which earlier struck a 2-week trough versus the Japanese Yen.

Crude-oil prices jumped Wednesday following a report by Reuters that the OPEC cartel of oil-producing nations may consider a new oil-production ceiling at its meeting on Thursday.

The Aussie Dollar edged higher after an unexpectedly upbeat Q1 GDP report buoyed the commodity-linked currency.

In what seems like an about face, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he will delay an increase in Japan’s sales tax until 2019.

The Japanese Yen is on the verge of suffering its worst month in 1½ years versus the US Dollar, largely due to growing expectations that the US central bank is getting markets ready for the another rate increase.

The dollar floated near its highest level in two months against a basket of currencies on Tuesday on mounting prospects of an imminent U.S. interest rate hike.