Market News

Gold edged higher on Monday as uncertainty over U.S. tax reform weighed on the dollar, while an analyst said bullion may face renewed headwinds early next year.

There wasn’t much in the docket, but a few themes were clearly playing out, particularly GBP’s strength, JPY’s broad-based recovery, and the Kiwi’s tumble after climbing higher during the earlier Asian session.

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Oil prices rose on Monday amid an ongoing North Sea pipeline outage and signs that booming U.S. crude output growth may be slowing, although the 2018 outlook points to ample supply despite production cuts led by OPEC.

Risk-taking was the name of the game during the Asian session, as optimism over a successful tax bill and a lack of fresh catalysts pushed higher-yielding assets higher.

Asian shares edged up on Monday, with sentiment boosted by expectations U.S. lawmakers will pass a long-awaited tax bill this week, while Chinese stocks were soggy on concerns about liquidity and tighter regulations in the world’s second largest economy.

Austria is set to become the only western European country with a far-right party in government after the anti-immigration Freedom Party and Sebastian Kurz’s conservatives struck a coalition deal to share power almost equally.

There were top-tier events for GBP, EUR, and USD. However, NZD and AUD stole the show since the two dominated their peers, with NZD being the stronger of the two. So, what drove price action this week? Read on and find out!

Republicans in the U.S. Congress released a final version of their tax bill on Friday, clearing the way for Senate and House of Representatives votes on the legislation next week.

Not just important for forex traders, learn how the Fed’s rate hike affects interest rates for consumers with credit card debt, car loans, student loans and mortgages.

Gold prices clung to earlier gains and were poised for their first weekly gain in four weeks on Friday, withstanding pressure from strong equities markets on continued support from this week’s interest rate rise by the Federal Reserve.

Republican negotiators in the U.S. Congress on Friday expanded a child tax credit that is part of sweeping tax legislation in order to shore up support for passage, but it was still unclear whether the move was enough to satisfy two balking senators.

The European Union agreed on Friday to move Brexit talks onto trade and a transition pact but some leaders cautioned that the final year of divorce negotiations before Britain’s exit could be fraught with peril.

There wasn’t much on the docket. Even so, there was action to be had since EUR caught a bid while GBP took a pounding ahead of the Euro Summit and then got whupped some more when Brexit talks were cleared for Phase 2.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ brand of economic nationalism is pushing Mexico to seek sanctuary in more open commercial ties elsewhere to soften the blow of a possible breakdown of the NAFTA.

Italian bonds were set for their worst week since July on Friday as talk of a March election renews focus on the political risks facing the euro zone’s third biggest economy, while broader debt markets drew support from wrangling over a U.S. tax bill.

The Greenback continued to bleed pips as a hurdle in the GOP’s tax reform concerned market players. Meanwhile, Kiwi jumped higher on a reassurance from NZ’s FinMin.

Euro zone government bond yields are close to multi-month lows just as the European Central Bank is on the verge of cutting its bond-buying scheme by half, leaving some investors worried that a sharp correction may be due in 2018.

Asian shares erased earlier modest gains on Friday but were still on track for a weekly rise, as sentiment was hurt by Wall Street’s weakness on concerns about the progress of U.S. tax reform.

The dollar had a mixed performance for the session even with upbeat retail sales, and it was the euro that found clear direction during the ECB presser.