Category: Gold & Commodities

Stocks Wobble as Wall Street Focuses on Central Banks

Stocks wobbled in morning trading on Wall Street Thursday as investors study moves by central banks to fight rising inflation. The S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent as of 10:20 a.m. Eastern and is hovering around the record high it reached last Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 178 points, or 0.5 percent, to 36,102…


Futures Rise as Fed Wages War on Inflation

U.S. stock index futures climbed on Thursday after the Federal Reserve announced a faster wind-down of its pandemic-era stimulus, calming some nerves around surging price pressures. The U.S. central bank said on Wednesday it would end its bond purchases in March and signaled three quarter-percentage-point interest rate hikes by the end of 2022. Fed Chair…


Japan Trade Recovers as Supply Chain Troubles Ease

TOKYO—Japan’s exports jumped 20 percent and imports rose at an even faster pace in November as disruptions to manufacturing supply chains eased. Preliminary trade data reported Thursday showed imports surging nearly 44 percent from a year earlier, pulling the country into a deficit, as surging oil prices pushed costs sharply higher. Iron and steel exports…


World Shares Advance After Fed Steps Up Stimulus Pullback

Stocks have climbed in Europe and Asia, tracking Wall Street’s gains, after the Federal Reserve said it would accelerate its pullback of economic stimulus. Shares surged in Paris, Frankfurt, London, and Tokyo. New York futures and oil prices also advanced. The Fed said it would likely raise interest rates three times next year to tackle…


Nord Stream 2 Gas Unlikely to Flow if Russia Renews Aggression on Ukraine, Blinken Warns

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that Russian aggression toward Ukraine will jeopardize the functioning of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline during a Sunday appearance on Meet the Press. “If Germany were more open to, essentially, shutting down the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, do you think Vladimir Putin would pay more attention?” asked…


World Shares Mixed Ahead of Fed Policy Statement

BANGKOK—World shares were mixed Wednesday as traders awaited the outcome of the last Federal Reserve meeting of this year. Benchmarks rose in Paris, Tokyo, and Frankfurt but fell in Hong Kong and Shanghai after the U.S. Labor Department reported wholesale prices jumped a record 9.6 percent in November from a year earlier. Fed policymakers end…


Omicron Travel Restrictions Poised to Dent Oil Demand: IEA

New travel restrictions driven by a rise in COVID-19 infections is poised to slow the recovery in global oil demand, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), which dropped its oil demand forecast by 100,000 barrels per day for the remainder of 2021 and all of 2022, mostly due to reduced…


Asian Shares Shed Gains Ahead of Fed Policy Statement

BANGKOK—Stocks were mostly lower in Asia on Wednesday after new U.S. data showed inflation is still running high, putting a spotlight on what action the Federal Reserve will take as it holds its last meeting of the year. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index edged 0.1 percent higher to 28,459.72 and the Kospi in Seoul was nearly…


Tesla to Accept Dogecoin as Payment for Merchandise, Says Musk

Tesla Inc. chief Elon Musk said on Tuesday the electric carmaker will accept dogecoin as payment for merchandise on a test basis, sending the meme-based cryptocurrency up 24 percent. “Tesla will make some merch buyable with Doge & see how it goes,” Musk said in a tweet. Dogecoin, popular among retail investors, raced up to…


S&P 500, Nasdaq Slide on Hot Producer Prices Data as Fed Meet Looms

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell on Tuesday after data showed producer prices increased more than expected in November and ahead of a potential decision on faster tapering from the U.S. Federal Reserve this week. The fast-spreading Omicron coronavirus variant also tamped down the mood after the S&P 500 index hit an all-time closing…