Market News

Oil prices were broadly lower during Wednesday’s Asian session on reports that Chinese crude imports fell to their lowest levels in a year.

Earlier, the Pound Sterling had been relatively steady versus the US Dollar but is now currently under some pressure.

The S&P 500 Index of the 500 highest-cap U.S. publicly quoted companies hit a new all-time high yesterday, and is still rising this morning in off-session trading.

The US Dollar was relatively unchanged in London trading on Monday following last Friday’s profit-taking on a week now recorded as the Dollar’s best performance of 2017.

Despite less than stellar jobs data on Friday, the U.S. dollar traded near three-month highs early in Monday’s Asian session, buoyed by solid data about service sector activity.

This week will see a lighter news agenda, with the key Central Bank input coming from Australia and New Zealand. There are very few important releases scheduled beyond this area.

The US Dollar steadied as markets turn their attention to US labor data due out later today.

The Pound Sterling consolidated gains ahead of today’s Bank of England decision and is currently trending lower against the US Dollar.

The dollar was modestly lower in early Asian trade after the Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve’s policymaking arm, kept interest rates stable between 1 percent and 1.25 percent.

The New Zealand Dollar saw a strong surge after an upbeat jobs report showed that unemployment unexpectedly dropped while the participation rate edged higher.

The Federal Reserve will be ending its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, and traders are looking for hints about monetary tightening measures that may be coming, both in the near term and in the future.

The Pound Sterling edged higher during Tuesday trade even as markets ready themselves for the Bank of England’s anticipated interest rate increase later this week.

Yesterday saw the probe led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into possible unlawful collusion between Trump’s campaign and the Russian government deliver its first criminal indictments.

The US Dollar was broadly lower with limited exceptions during Monday trade in London after posting its largest single week’s rise in 2017.

Last week the euro posted its worst week of 2017, and the common currency continued its struggle during Monday’s Asian trading session