GLOBAL FX-
The United States hopes to re-launch trade talks with China after President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping meet in Japan on Saturday, but Washington will not accept any conditions around the U.S. use of tariffs in the dispute, a senior administration official said on Tuesday.
The dollar edged up from a three-month low on Wednesday, as investors dialled back expectations for aggressive U.S. rate cuts next month but broader conviction the Federal Reserve will need to ease policy soon capped greenback gains. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Tuesday stressed the central bank’s independence from U.S. President Donald Trump, who is pushing for aggressive rate cuts. While this hosed down expectations for a half percentage point cut at the Fed’s July meeting, investors are still expecting at least a quarter percentage point reduction.
Japan will hold an election for the upper house on July 21, the government said on Wednesday, effectively kicking off campaigning for half the seats in the less powerful of parliament’s two chambers. Expectations had simmered that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would also call a snap election for the more powerful lower house, but the Japanese leader has said he was not considering such a move.
India’s gold demand could fall 10% in 2019 from a year ago to the lowest level in three years as a rally in local prices to a record high dents retail purchases during a key festive season.Lower purchases by India, the world’s second biggest consumer after China, could limit a rally in global prices that hit a 6-year high earlier this week.
The European Central Bank on Tuesday gave a substantial green light to a bill by Italy’s ruling League party which seeks to spell out that gold reserves held by the Bank of Italy belong to the state, and not the bank itself.The bill, tabled in February by the League’s economics chief Claudio Borghi, was strongly criticized by the opposition who said its aim was to allow the ruling coalition to potentially sell the gold to fix Italy’s public finance problems.
Saudi Aramco has signed 12 pacts with South Korean partners worth billions of dollars, the company said in a statement on Wednesday, as part of a long-term strategy for downstream growth and diversification.The agreements, signed with companies including Hyundai Heavy Industries, cover ship building, engine manufacturing, refining, petrochemicals, and crude supply, sales, and storage, it said.
Concerns over trade, conflict and oil will dominate a summit of the Group of 20 major economies in Japan this weekend, with attention focused on a meeting between the leaders of the United States and China, embroiled in a lengthy trade war.Donald Trump and Xi Jinping will meet for the first time in seven months to discuss deteriorating ties between the world’s two largest economies. But prospects of progress look slim, as neither side has given ground after talks broke down in May.
Gold soared to an almost six-year high on Tuesday on escalating U.S.-Iran tensions, while equity markets slid on disappointing economic data and uncertainty on whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in July as has been expected.Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said in a speech the U.S. central bank is insulated from short-term political pressures as policymakers wrestle with whether to cut rates amid slowing growth as President Donald Trump has demanded.
Oil prices rose more than 1% on Wednesday to their highest in nearly a month as industry data showed U.S. crude stockpiles fell more than expected, underpinning a market already buoyed by worries over a potential U.S.-Iran conflict.Front-month Brent crude futures, international benchmark for oil, were up 1.3% at $65.91 by 0341 GMT. They earlier touched their highest since May 31 at $66 a barrel.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $58.98 per barrel, up 1.8% from their last settlement. WTI earlier hit its strongest level since May 30 at $59.03 a barrel.