Forex News

Brazil’s Ibovespa stock index added 1.3% to close around 117,000 on Friday, extending gains for the sixth successive day, after the holiday break on Thursday. Market sentiment has been supported by the expectation of interest rate cuts in Brazil in the second half of the year and a pause in rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. On the corporate front, almost all sectors of the stock market booked gains, with the exception of basic material and real estate. Among stocks, the heavyweight oil company Petrobras jumped 4.8%. Meanwhile, CVC Brasil soared 9.8%, with the announcement of the hiring of Citigroup and Itaú BBA to coordinate a potential primary stock offering to raise at least R$200 million. Gol (+7.3%) and Hypera (+4.3%) also posted sharp gains. For the week, the Ibovespa advanced 5.8%, marking its seventh consecutive weekly gain.

The S&P/TSX Composite index ended 0.2% lower around the 19,890 mark on Friday, extending losses for the third session, dragged down by gold miners and consumer staples stocks as markets digested the latest labor data for insights on the BoC’s policy outlook. The Canadian unemployment rate rose to 5.2%, above expectations of 5.1% to mark the first increase in the jobless rate since August 2022. The data raised concerns over the resilience of the Canadian economy to higher interest rates following the BoC’s surprise hike this week. Gold miners led the losses on the corporate front, pressured by lower bullion prices with a 0.9% drop for Barrick Gold and a 1.1% slide for Agnico Eagle Mines. Industrials and healthcare shares also underperformed while tech shares booked gains. On the week, the Canadian index gave up 0.7%.

The Dow Jones finished more than 40 points higher on Friday, the S&P 500 added 0.1% slightly below 4,300 benchmark, a level not seen since August 2022, and the Nasdaq edged up by 0.1%. Investors refrained from making big bets ahead of key US CPI report and the FOMC decision next week. The Fed is likely to pause at its June meeting to let the haze clear before it considers another rate hike. On the corporate front, Tesla shares rallied 4% and General Motors added 1% after the latter announced it will use Tesla technology to charge its electric vehicles. On the other hand, stocks of Target lost 3.3% after Citigroup analysts cut their rating. DocuSign slid 2.5% amid upbeat earrings after its CEO said they see cautious customer behavior and smaller deal sizes. So far on the week, the Dow added 0.5%, the S&P 500 gained 0.3% marking the fourth straight weekly gain, its longest weekly winning streak since August while the Nasdaq finished the week mostly flat.

The Dow Jones was fluctuating above the flatline on Friday afternoon, while the S&P 500 edged slightly higher reaching 4,300 benchmark, a level not seen since August 2022, and the Nasdaq added 0.3%. Investors refrained from making big bets ahead of key US CPI report and the FOMC decision next week. The Fed is likely to pause at its June meeting to let the haze clear before it considers another rate hike. On the corporate front, Tesla shares rallied over 5% and General Motors was up 1.6% after the latter announced it will use Tesla technology to charge its electric vehicles. On the other hand, stocks of Target lost over 2% after Citigroup analysts cut their rating. DocuSign slid 3% amid upbeat earrings after its CEO said they see cautious customer behavior and smaller deal sizes. So far on the week, the Dow is up nearly 0.4%, the S&P 500 also gained 0.4% to book a fourth straight week of gains and the Nasdaq is edging higher by 0.2%.

It will be a busy week in the US, with the Fed interest rate decision, inflation rate, retail sales, and Michigan consumer sentiment taking the central stage. Investors will closely follow the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan monetary policy meetings. Additionally, China will be releasing industrial production, retail sales, and fixed asset investment data, while India will announce its inflation rate and industrial production figures. Other important releases include Germany's ZEW Business Confidence, UK's trade balance and GDP for April, and Australia's consumer and business confidence as well as jobless rate.

Wheat futures in the US hovered at $6.25 per bushel, remaining above the two-year low of $5.9 touched on May 30th amid setbacks to previous forecasts of soaring supply. Traders continued to assess the impact that the blast at the Kakhovska hydroelectric dam will have on the water supply essential for agriculture in the southern part of the country. Besides directly destroying agriculture, the developments heighten geopolitical concerns and grim the possibility that Russia will extend the deal guaranteeing seaborne grain exports out of Ukrainian ports. Still, strong output elsewhere limited the rise in prices. A bumper harvest in Russia raised foreign sales forecasts to nearly 50 million tonnes despite Moscow’s recent increase in grain export duties. According to the latest WASDE report, strong supply is also expected from the EU and India.

The ruble-based MOEX Russia index pared early gains and closed at the flatline at 2,708 on Friday, broadly holding the advance from the prior session as losses for miners and metallurgists offset gains for oil companies and banks, while investors digested the Central Bank of Russia’s interest rate decision. The CBR held borrowing costs unchanged for the sixth consecutive decision but paved the way for rate hikes in the incoming meetings as inflationary risks are higher than before. Sberbank dropped a slight 0.2% flat after its May results were broadly in line with market expectations. Still, other banks booked gains on the back of solid results from VTB posted earlier in the week. In the meantime, gains for oil companies were led by a 4.3% surge for preferred Surgut shares following the announcement of strong 2022 results. Also, Transneft added 0.6% as its board will announce dividends on Tuesday. Shortly after the close, data from Rostat showed that consumer inflation rose to 2.5%.

The annual inflation rate in Russia rose to 2.5 percent in May 2023 from 2.3 percent in April, accelerating after 12 consecutive months of decline and surpassing expectations of 2.4 percent. The central bank indicated its intention to potentially raise interest rates this year with the aim of bringing prices back to its 4% target by 2024 as it predicts that inflation will likely reach 4.5%-6.5% by the end of this year. Services inflation picked up to 11 percent from 9.4 percent in the previous month and non-food prices went up 0.2 percent, after a 0.3 percent decrease. Meanwhile, food cost went down 1 percent, after being unchanged. Also, core consumer prices rose at a faster pace (2.1 percent vs 2 percent). On a monthly basis, consumer prices went up 0.3 percent, as expected.

The IBEX 35 slid by 0.3% to 9,309 on Friday as caution reined ahead of next week's central banks meetings. Cellnex was crowned as the most bearish, falling by 1.93%. It was also a bad session for financials, with largest losses from CaixaBank (-1.34%) and BBVA (-1.15%). Additionally, Inditex reversed earlier gains to trade 0.36% lower despite sealing the deal with Jeanologia. On the positive side, the energy sector went up, led by Acciona Energia (2.22%) and Solaria (2.07%). Grifols also closed in the green (0.31%) following the news about new plasma centers in Canada. On the macroeconomic front, Spain's consumer morale jumped to an over 1-year high in May. Weekly the index closed flat.

The CAC 40 index closed marginally down at 7,213 on Friday, amid a general cautious mood, as investors braced for monetary policy decisions by the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank next week. While a surge in US jobless claims has increased speculation that the Fed may opt to forgo a rate hike at the conclusion of its two-day meeting on Wednesday, the outcome is likely to be influenced by Tuesday's May inflation data. Meanwhile, the ECB is widely anticipated to raise rates by another 25 bps. On the corporate front, Eurofins Scientifique (-2.7%) was the top loser, along with Dassault Systemes (-2.5%), Vivendi (-2.4%) and Axa (-2%). Wordline (-1.9%), Danone (-1.9%) and BNP Paribas (-1.7%) also posted significant declines, while Teleperformance (+3.6%) outperformed. On the week, the CAC 40 lost about 0.8%.

The FTSE MIB index closed 0.4% down at 27,160 on Friday, pressured by losses for Milan’s heavy-weight banking sector as investors continued to assess the policy outlook for major central banks worldwide. The decline was led by a 10.8% plunge in shares of Banca Monte Paschi Siena after the BPER Banca’s CEO excluded the possibility of a merger between both lenders, which would have created a third banking powerhouse in Italy. Shares for the latter fell by 2%. In the meantime, Telecom Italia closed flat as KKR and the rival consortium formed by state-backed CDP and Macquarie are set to present their respective improved offers for the telecom's fixed-line assets in today's deadline. On the data front, Italian industrial production contracted more than expected in April. On the week, the FTSE MIB added 0.3%

The FTSE 100 declined by 0.5% on Friday, driven by an over 12% slump in Croda's shares following a profit warning. Additionally, energy shares lost more than 0.5% as the British government declared the continuation of the current Energy Profits Levy on oil giants until 2028, along with the establishment of a floor on the windfall tax. Furthermore, homebuilders faced pressure as HSBC temporarily withdrew all its mortgage deals for new borrowers due to high demand, and Nationwide announced rate increases on several of its products. Throughout the week, the UK index fell by 0.6%, marking its sixth week of losses in the last seven.

The JSE FTSE All Share index pared some early gains to close slightly below the flatline at 76,936 on Friday, as losses in resource-linked sectors, retailers and industrials more than offset strength in financials. Meanwhile, global sentiment remained cautious ahead of the U.S. inflation release for May due next week, and the outcome of the Fed's two-day rate decision meeting, starting Tuesday. Moreover, investors continued to worry about slowing global activity. The JSE closed the week about 0.2% lower.

European equity markets booked a weekly loss, with the German DAX down 0.3% on Friday and the benchmark Stoxx 600 falling 0.2% as investors continue to assess the global economic outlook while awaiting key monetary policy decisions from the Fed and the ECB next week. The ECB is expected to raise rates by 25 basis points, and markets will closely follow indications for future rate adjustments after data indicated the Eurozone economy slipped into recession. Across sectors, chemicals declined by 2% following a profit warning from Croda International while utilities closed higher.

Silver prices rose past $24.4 per ounce, the highest in one month, supported by threats to supply while investors continued to digest the latest data for hints on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision last week. Regulatory changes in Mexico will make it harder for mining giants to be rewarded mineral concessions, threatening companies to reduce investments in new projects and jeopardizing output from the world’s top producer. In the meantime, recent speeches from Fed officials favored a skip in the central bank’s tightening for the economy to be better assessed with current tightening conditions. Still, a hot jobs report and unexpected rate hikes from the RBA and the BoC flagged concerns against sticky core inflation, raising bets that the Fed will still deliver another rate hike this year.

JPMorgan increased to a 5-week high of 141.65

US30 increased to a 5-week high of 33944

Uranium prices soared to $55.5 per pound in June, the highest in over one year, amid concerns that current supply levels are not enough to meet bullish long-term demand. Major economies continue to announce plans to increase nuclear power capacity to strengthen energy security and lower carbon emissions, solidifying expectations of strong uranium buying activity for decades to come. In the meantime, two bills to ban the import of Russian uranium were approved by relevant US government committees, aligning with multiple European utilities that have voluntarily shunned Russian supplies and jeopardizing imports from one of the top producers of enriched nuclear fuel. The supply concerns were exacerbated by Russian firms winning contracts to mine uranium in Kazakhstan, threatening the neutrality form the world’s top uranium miner and increasing purchasing competition from China.

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which measures the cost of shipping goods worldwide, advanced for a fifth session on Friday, rising 1.4% to its highest since May 30th at 1,055 points, supported by larger vessel segments. The capesize index, which tracks vessels typically transporting 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, surged 3.7% to 1,514 points; and the panamax index, which tracks ships that usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, was unchanged at 1,146 points. Among smaller vessels, the supramax index lost 11 points at 736 points. The benchmark index was up 14.8% for the week, marking its best week since mid-March.

Brazil’s Ibovespa stock index rose more than 1% towards 117,100 on Friday, extending gains for the sixth successive day, after the holiday break on Thursday. Market sentiment has been supported by the expectation of interest rate cuts in Brazil in the second half of the year and a pause in rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. On the corporate front, almost all sectors of the stock market were advancing, with the exception of junior oil companies, which operated with mixed results. Notably, heavyweights miner Vale and oil company Petrobras rose more than 1% each. Meanwhile, CVC Brasil saw its shares jump over 12%, with the announcement of the hiring of Citigroup and Itaú BBA to coordinate a potential primary stock offering to raise at least R$200 million. Assai (+5.2%), Hapvida (+5%) and Copel (+3.5%) also posted sharp gains For the week, the Ibovespa was set to rise about 4%, notching its seventh consecutive weekly gain.