Despite ECB statements indicating more stimulus would be needed and greatly increased tensions between the U.S. and Iran precipitated by Iran’s shooting down of a U.S. drone on Thursday, the U.S. dollar sharply weakened following U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments – at the end of the 2-day FOMC meeting – that the Fed would act as needed to sustain economic growth.
Over the last year, gold has outperformed the S&P 500. Between Powell, a weaker dollar, and geopolitical tensions, will gold break out of its 6-year hibernation?
il tanker attacks attributed to Iran by both the U.S. and Britain, better-than-expected U.S and weaker than expected China economic rerpots combined to push the U.S. dollar higher and leave both 10-year U.S. Treasury rates and the S&P 500 index practically unchanged from the previous week.
Continued concerns of weaker global and U.S. growth, driven by U.S-China trade frictions and economic reports pointing to slowdowns in the EU, China and the U.S, helped push commodity and stock markets lower last week.
Continued concerns of weaker global and U.S. growth, driven by U.S-China trade frictions and economic reports pointing to slowdowns in the EU, China and the U.S, helped push commodity and stock markets lower last week.
The S&P 500 index, down 2.4% on Monday on renewed U.S-China trade tensions, regained most of its losses through Friday as off-again-on-again optimism of U.S.-China trade progress along with President Trump’s delay of EU and Japan auto tariffs moved the S&P 500 of its lows.