Stocks slip, havens rally as new COVID-19 variant spooks investors
By Tom Westbrook SYDNEY (Reuters) – Stocks fell and headed for their largest weekly drop in nearly two months on Friday, while safe haven assets such as bonds and the yen rallied as a new virus variant added to swirling concerns about future growth and higher U.S. interest rates. The variant, detected by…
More Fed officials open to speeding up bond-buying taper, rates liftoff
By Lindsay (NYSE:LNN) Dunsmuir (Reuters) -A growing number of Federal Reserve policymakers indicated they would be open to speeding up the elimination of their bond-buying program if high inflation held and move more quickly to raise interest rates, minutes of the U.S. central bank’s last policy meeting showed. The readout released on Wednesday…
Will Dollar Trot Ahead to Turkey Day?
By Kathy Lien, The U.S dollar rose to 4.5 year highs against the Japanese Yen and 16 month highs against the euro today as Treasury yields extended their gains. With Federal Reserve Chairman Powell’s renomination, investors doubled down on tightening next year. Some market participants looking for as many as three quarter point…
Dollar Soars on Fed Powell’s Renomination
By Kathy Lien, The U.S. dollar soared against all of the major currencies after President Biden officially renominated Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Chairman. Dr. Lael Brainard, the only other realistic candidate will become Vice Chairman when Richard Clarida’s term ends in January. When it comes to central bankers investors generally prefer continuity…
Dollar shines, euro suffers as COVID fears flare over Europe
By Kevin Buckland TOKYO (Reuters) – The safe-haven U.S. dollar traded close to a 16-month high to the euro on Monday on growing anxiety over the impact of surging COVID-19 infections in Europe, with Austria reimposing a full lockdown and Germany considering following suit. The greenback was near its strongest since early October…
Dollar Dominance on Strong Retail Sales – More Gains Ahead?
By Kathy Lien, Investors bought U.S. dollars after retail sales rose for the third month in a row. The increase in demand was widely anticipated but the increase in overall spending along with spending ex autos beat expectations. This means that while higher prices certainly played a role in the gains, consumers were…
Week Ahead
In the US, retail sales and industrial production numbers for October are seen pointing to an increase in domestic trade and a rebound in factory activity. In addition, housing data are likely to show a pick-up in housing starts and building permits, which fell in September to multi-month lows due to high costs…
Hot U.S. inflation drives dollar to 2021 peaks
By Tom Westbrook SYDNEY (Reuters) – The dollar stood at its highest levels of the year against sterling and the euro on Thursday, while the yen was smarting from its sharpest drubbing in a month, after the hottest U.S. inflation reading in a generation fanned bets on rate hikes. The euro was pummelled…
Currencies Tumble As Inflation Worries Grow
By Kathy Lien Risk appetite soured today as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower for the first time in nine trading days. The simultaneous decline in currencies and Treasury yields confirms our view that investors are growing concerned about high inflation. USD/JPY dropped to its lowest level in nearly a month. This…
Dollar firms as U.S. inflation poses next test
By Tom Westbrook SYDNEY (Reuters) – The dollar made a steady start to the week in Asia on Monday but stayed below Friday peaks, as currency traders seek a path between markets’ volatile rate projections and central bankers vowing a wait-and-see approach despite surging inflation. The next big test of faith in the…
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