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Crude falls ahead of Fed meeting

ecPulse

2013-06-18 07:44AM UTC

Crude oil fell from the highest in four months as the U.S. Federal Reserve begins a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday which might give clues on when the central bank could start tapering monetary stimulus as the strong data lately improved the outlook for recovery. However, the rising tensions in the Middle East and the possible decline in U.S. crude oil stockpiles are preventing prices from falling further. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned Europe that it will “pay the price” for arming rebels trying to oust him. - Crude oil is trading as of this writing around $97.62 a barrel after falling $0.15. - Brent is trading around $105.54 a barrel after rising $0.07. Tomorrow’s U.S. Energy Information Administration report might show crude supplies fell 500,000 barrels last week; yet gasoline inventories probably climbed 500,000 barrels despite the start of the driving season, while distillates probably gained 925,000 barrels. Also on Tuesday, markets will focus on the report by the American Petroleum Institute, ECB’s Draghi’s speech in Jerusalem, UK’s inflation data, Germany’s confidence data as well as the U.S. consumer prices and housing starts. - Natural gas is trading at $3.895 per cubic feet after rising 0.52%. - Gasoline is trading at $2.8624 a gallon after rising 0.22%. - Heating oil is trading at $2.9485 a gallon after falling 0.27%.

Japanese yen on downward track

Fx News Today

2013-06-18 07:08AM UTC

Japanese yen fell against dollar and major currencies amid the recent attempts to back to the downward trend since the beginning of the week amid the recent instability in money markets.

Japanese yen still notice narrowed trades during today’s session which added to signs that Japanese yen will get into a downward trend again, where current instability refers to the awaited meeting minutes for the Fed’s bank concerning its easing plans.

Fed’s Bank started today its two-day board meeting as currencies markets shows hesitated moves ahead of the meeting without determining a specific trends.

USD/JPY pair inclined today for the second straight day to 94.94 after hitting its low at 94.52 to be traded now near 94.78. EUR/JPY pair inclined to 126.84 after starting today’s session at 126.36.

Australian dollar fell for the third straight day against its counterpart American dollar, where the AUD/USD pair recorded low of 0.9498 from high of 0.9572, where RBA affirmed that Australian dollar still overvalued.

Gold slips on weak demand, Fed’s policy meeting eyed

Fx News Today

2013-06-18 06:37AM UTC

Gold extended losses into a second straight session on Tuesday, amid weaker physical demand along with fears over expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve may taper its bond purchases during the two-day meeting starting today. As of (09:47 GMT+3), gold for immediate delivery fell 0.30% or 4.24 points on Tuesday to trade at $ 1,379.60 an ounce after opening at $1,383.78 , having earlier hit a high of $1,385.85, and a low of $1,377.54. Gold prices have been pressured since April as investors anticipated a steadying U.S. economy would persuade the Federal Reserve to end its stimulus program sooner than planned. The central bank`s bond-buying programs have been a key support for metals prices in recent years, as investors bought the assets as a hedge against inflation. Among other metals: - Silver fell 0.22% to trade around $ 21.80 - Platinum lost 0.65% to $ 1,429.35 - Palladium inched 1.19% down to $ 708.30 Physical Demand Demand from the world’s top gold buyers, India and China, is seen slowing from peak levels witnesses in April after prices plunged to their lowest in years. Demand from India and China has been a big factor in holding up gold prices. India`s gold imports have fallen in May, after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extended imports restriction by a third and curbed gold financing by on banks early June in an effort to cut its current account deficit. Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust , the world`s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, remained unchanged at 1,003.17 tones on Monday, their lowest in four years. Fed Concerns Eyes will focus on the two-day policy meeting held by the Fed on June 18-19, followed by a press conference by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to discuss reasons behind the Fed’s monetary decision. Markets are waiting for the Fed’s rate decision to see whether the FOMC members think that current economic conditions are good enough to stop the ongoing easing or not. Any signs that the Fed will maintain quantitative easing is seen as positive for gold on the long-term – a hedge against inflation and currency weakness. However, if the Fed decided an earlier-than-expected end to the asset-buying program, gold would suffer as a result. The U.S. dollar index edged higher on Tuesday, extending gains set in the previous session. The USDIX is currently trading around 80.98 after opening at 80.82, having so far hit a high of 80.98 and a low of 80.82.

Industrial production and Capacity Utilization in Japan

Fx News Today

2013-06-18 04:46AM UTC

Japanese economy released its final Industrial Production index reading for the month of April, where the reading came at 0.9% compared with a previous reading of 1.7%.

At the same time, annualized Industrial Production reading came at -3.4% in April, compared with a previous reading of -2.3% a year earlier.

Meanwhile, Capacity utilization index reading in Japan came at 1.6% in April’s final reading, compared with a previous reading of -0.8%.