Trending: Oil | Gold | BITCOIN | EUR/USD | GBP/USD

Dollar remains slightly strong after Bernanke`s speech

ecPulse

2013-05-22 20:04PM UTC

So far throughout the US session and close to the closure of the U.S local stock market we watch the dollar remaining faintly strong and still rising against most major peers as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said that the central bank may taper monthly bond purchases at its next few meetings if it’s confident of sustained gains in the economy.

As a result the euro fell against the dollar and remains on plunging slightly to the downside on the four and one-hour charts as a result of the current technical movements and strengthened dollar sending in fact the EUR/USD pair to trade around $1.2856 while recording the highest level of $1.2996 and lowest level of $1.2832, knowing that the pair may start to rise as shown on the four-hour momentum indicators.

As for the British Pound, it is also declining on correctional movements and pulled by a stronger Benjamin driving the GBP/USD pair to trade around $1.5041 while recording the highest level of $1.5172 and lowest of $1.5018 and is most probably going to stay at this low level as witnessed at several time scale within the stochastic oscialltor.

Finally the USD/JPY pair is pulled to the downside around ¥102.91 while recording the highest level of ¥103.72 and lowest levels of ¥102.34 but is highly projected to show a strong drop to the downside according to the one-hour stochastic oscillator.

Crude oil falls after stockpiles data, Bernanke`s testimony

Fx News Today

2013-05-22 16:58PM UTC

Crude-oil futures slipped Wednesday after government data showed rising gasoline stockpiles and a smaller-than-anticipated decline in oil stocks. Light sweet crude oil future for July delivery dropped to $94.66 per barrel, from an opening of $95.93, having earlier hit a high of $96.17 and a low of $94.36 per barrel. As of 12:52 New York Time U.S. gasoline stockpiles rose by 3 million barrels last week, surprising analysts who had forecast a 100,000-barrel decline, as fuel imports surged ahead of the Memorial Day weekend. In addition, oil stockpiles fell 300,000 barrels. Analysts had called for a 600,000-barrel drop. Oil futures dropped on the report, reversing direction after testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke nearly pushed prices into positive territory earlier in the session. It was down around $1 ahead of Bernanke’s testimony, pared its losses after the Fed chief’s comments, then fell right back down again in the wake of the supply data. On Tuesday, the June contract fell before it expired at the close of trade. In testimony to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress on Wednesday morning, Bernanke said a premature move to tighten monetary policy could strangle the recovery. His comments, at first, dampened any thought that the central bank will ease back on its easy monetary policy, which has been beneficial to dollar-denominated commodities. But in an answer to a question from a congressional committee, he said the Fed’s slowing of asset purchases could come in the next few meetings. He cautioned, however, that it all depends on data. Afterwards, the dollar pulled back and climbed higher. The Dollar index rose to 84.42, after earlier hitting a low of 83.52.

Gold consolidates in New York

Fx News Today

2013-05-22 17:01PM UTC

Gold prices narrowed in New York after the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the bank could begin to cut the pace of bond purchases in the next few meetings, if it can be confident of sustained gains in the economy. “If we see continued improvement, and we have confidence that is going to be sustained, we could in the next few meetings take a step down in our pace of purchases," Bernanke said in his testimony in Washington on Wednesday before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress “A premature tightening of monetary policy could lead interest rates to rise temporarily but would also carry a substantial risk of slowing or ending the economic recovery and causing inflation to fall further,” the chairman added. Accordingly, mixed sentiments were spread throughout the gold and overall commodities market to watch the yellow precious metal so far trade around $1377.35 an ounce recording a high of $1414.60 an ounce and a low of $1367.20 an ounce.

European stocks hit record highs after Bernanke`s testimony

Fx News Today

2013-05-22 16:15PM UTC

European stocks rose to a new five-year high on Wednesday, backed up by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s statement that the Fed would retain its monetary stimulus until the economic improves.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added around 0.2 percent to 310.59 today. The equity benchmark closed at the highest level since June 2008 yesterday. The gauge has rallied 96 percent since March 2009 as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi pledged to preserve the euro and the Fed embarked on three rounds of stimulus.

STOXX 600 ended higher today by 0.19% at 310.59; STOXX 50 ended also in green, higher by 0.47% at 2835.01.

CAC 40 Index

The French benchmark index ended in the green today to settle at 4051.11, higher by 14.93 points or 0.37%. The index opened at 4035.43 recording a high of 4058.73 and a low of 4009.26. Within the index, 19 shares ended higher and 19 declined and two remained unchanged.

The best performers in terms of added value to the index were led by Carrefour SA which rose 4.70% to settle at €24.42. Following was Gemalto NV which surged 2.58% to settle at €64.31, while coming in third was Schneider Electric SA which rose 2.21% to close at €62.81.

DAX Index

German equities advanced today where the benchmark index DAX 30 ended higher by 58.69 points or 0.69% to close at 8530.89. The index opened at 8467.56 recording a high of 8557.86 and a low of 8434.83. Within the index, 24 ended higher and 5 ended lower while one share remained unchanged.

Driving the index higher by contributing the most to the index today were led by Merck KgaA that gained 3.43% to €123.50; following was by ThyssenKrupp AG as it added 2.59% to €15.64 and Fresenius SE & Co KgaA which added 2.47% to €96.34.

FTSE 100 Index

The British benchmark index ended the day higher to settle at 6840.27 with a gain of 36.40 points or 0.53%. The index opened the day at 6803.87 setting the high of 6875.62 and the low of 6781.45. Among the listed shares, 66 ended higher and 34 declined while one share remained unchanged.

Leading shares in terms of contribution today started with Antofagasta PLC which surged 3.94% to close at £1002.00; following was Barclays PLC which added 3.26% to end trading at £333.85 and AstraZeneca PLC which added 2.68% to close at £3485.50.

Among movers, Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc lost 2.4 percent after UBS AG placed shares on behalf of an institutional seller. Pandora A/S tumbled 10 percent after Prometheus cut its holding in the Danish maker of jewellery. Metro AG jumped 9.7 percent after Morgan Stanley recommended that investors buy shares in Germany’s largest retailer for the first time in a decade.