Oil prices fell from their peak levels of over $120 per barrel for WTI in June 2022 to around $70 by now. Expectations by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) highlight concerns over global demand. At the same time, rising production of non-OPEC countries, mainly in North…
The FOMC relieved the markets by cutting rates by 50 bp, the first rate cut since the pandemic. The markets were mostly content with the dovish policy decision even though they were not initially too happy with the economic outlook, as FOMC committee members project only an additional 50 bp cut this year…
The FOMC is expected to cut rates for the first time since the 2020 Covid-induced recession. This news has already been priced into the financial markets. The two main issues remain unclear and worth following: First, how much they will cut? Since the Fed has acted slowly in the past, the likely scenario…
The recent NFP report came short of expectations, with 142k jobs added (expectations were for 164k). However, unemployment did not rise (at 4.2%), and wage growth ticked up to 0.4% — putting more stress on inflationary pressures. In short, this recent report isn’t what markets wanted to see. It shows some weakness, not enough to…
When Bank of Japan’s Governor Kazuo Ueda announced a rate hike of 25 basis points last week, it is hard to believe he expected things would turn out the way they did: The Japanese yen appreciated by nearly 5% against the US dollar, and the Nikkei 225 had its worse day since 1987…