Summary:
The dollar remained stable on Wednesday as data showed inflation slowed slightly more than expected last month.
The dollar remained stable on Wednesday as data showed inflation slowed slightly more than expected last month.
Gold saw some profit-taking and oil fell by more than a dollar as the Fed might hike interest rates further.
The CPI rose 4.9% vs 5% expected in April from a year ago, below 5% for the first time in two years.
A gauge of global stock markets rose and bond yields slid. The Nasdaq ended at its highest intraday level in more than eight months.
Commodities
U.S. Crude Oil inventories rose by about 3 million barrels last week due to another release from national reserves and a drop in exports, the EIA said.
U.S. gasoline inventories, however, fell by 3.2 million barrels last week, much bigger than the 1.2 million-barrel draw forecast.
‘We are forecasting that oil prices range from $75-95 during 2023 based on fundamental supply and demand and that oil will rally as we head into the summer driving season,’ said Jay Hatfield, CEO of Infrastructure Capital Management.
Forex
FX markets had been treading water while markets weighed policymakers' rhetoric against traders' conviction that U.S. interest rates should fall.
Fed funds futures traders are pricing in a pause before expected rate cuts in September. The Fed's target range stands at 5% to 5.25%.
But Amo Sahota, director at Klarity FX in San Francisco, believes the near 80-basis-point cut that markets are pricing in by the end of this year ‘looks a little aggressive’.
Oil prices steadied on Friday, set for a weekly loss, as the Fed and ECB's cautious stance fueled global economic concerns.
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