Market News

For those who doubted that renewed talks with Greece would move along smoothly, it came as no surprise that the first sang was hit on Friday.

There seems to be no end to how low crude oil can go. The precious metal fell another 1.5 percent on Thursday, settling at $48.48, the lowest level since March 31. Many analysts are expecting it to drop even more in the months ahead.

The Euro had edged above the $1.10 level on Thursday, as FX traders still consider abandoning ship on the US Dollar. In the past month, the US Dollar had surged nearly 5% against the Euro, but this week its positive momentum has faded, with analysts expressing some wariness that the year-long rally might be finally reaching the end of its course.

All that glitters is not gold these days as the precious metal hit its tenth straight day of losses Wednesday. Gold has had a steady decline over the last few weeks and has fallen to a new 5-year low of $1100 after a round of roller coaster rides that took it as high as $1160 an ounce and erasing half of the gains from a 12-year bull rally that ran from 1999 to a record high close of $2000 in September 2011.

Profit taking cut into the US Dollar’s recent gains, driving it to its largest drop this month. The fall came despite widespread expectations that the Federal Reserve is possibly on the brink of a rate hike.

While interest rates in the U.S. are predicted to go up any day now, rates in Australia could be moving in the opposite direction. After cutting the benchmark interest rate twice this year to a record-low of 2 percent, Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Glenn Stevens said that additional cuts may be in the forecast.

Investors’ speculation is growing once again, with expectations high that the United States Federal Reserve Bank is moving closer to hiking interest rates. James Bullard, the president of the St. Louis branch of the Fed, said yesterday that the Fed might even consider a September rate increase.

In what seems like a strange turn of events, the Greek government found the money to repay the roughly 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) it owed to the International Monetary (IMF).

Among the world’s major currencies, the New Zealand Dollar, or Kiwi as it’s called among traders, was the primary mover. That came after New Zealand’s Prime Minister said that he was concerned about the scope of the Kiwi Dollar’s recent decline.

It hasn’t been too difficult to bet on the price of gold of late with prices dropping steadily over the last few years. But Monday’s plunge took the metal lower than even the analysts had anticipated.

It looks as if this week will be quieter than recent weeks, which much less on the agenda and with a lot of industry participants beginning to leave on summer holidays. It would not be surprising if the market begins some kind of lull now as we go into August.

The deal between Greece and the Eurozone may have been signed last week, but without the official okay of the Germany parliament, no monies would be forthcoming.

It looks like Greece has come out the victor after months of hanging on a thin thread and Athens will once again be rescued by its Eurogroup partners.

There are still great doubts that the Greek government will live up to its end of the bailout bargain.

Greek lawmakers have approved the bailout agreement that will keep the country in the euro for now, but more decisive moves are still up in the air.