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Fitch: If the energy price shock is prolonged due to the war in Iran, the limited fiscal buffers of sovereign states in Central and Eastern Europe will face downward pressure on their ratings.French President Emmanuel Macron stated on April 2nd that attempting to reopen the Strait of Hormuz militarily is "unrealistic." Speaking to reporters during his visit to Seoul on Thursday, he said such an action would be time-consuming and uncertain, and would expose participating parties to the risk of being attacked by Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. "This has never been an option we chose; we consider it unrealistic," Macron said. "We must be able to reopen this strait because it is strategically important for energy, fertilizers, and international trade, but this can only be achieved through negotiations with Iran." He indicated that the first step should be a ceasefire, followed by restarting negotiations, and that safeguarding operations could help ensure ships are not attacked. "The world cannot afford a situation where Iran can decide to open or close the strait at any time," Macron added.On April 2nd, Gong Zheng, Deputy Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee and Mayor of Shanghai, conducted research on Shanghais leading industries in Pudong New Area. Gong Zheng stated that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Shanghai should accelerate the upgrading and competitiveness of its leading industries, and cultivate a large number of high-growth technology companies. He expressed hope that high-growth technology companies like Muxi would maintain their innovative momentum, continue to make breakthroughs, and fully utilize the resource advantages of Shanghai and Zhangjiang, strengthening industry-academia-research collaboration and upstream-downstream coordination to serve the digital transformation needs of various industries in Shanghai and help improve the quality and efficiency of all sectors. He also stressed that government departments should strengthen their service awareness, conduct thorough research and visits to key enterprises, promptly identify new situations and problems in industry development, address enterprise issues and demands with a "solution-oriented" approach, and promptly introduce industrial policies and measures to amplify the synergistic effects of policies, creating a first-class environment for the development of Shanghais leading industries.April 2 - US stock futures extended their losses, with Nasdaq 100 futures down more than 2%, Dow Jones futures down about 1.4%, and S&P 500 futures down about 1.6%.CME Group: In March, the average daily trading volume hit a new monthly high of 41.1 million contracts.

Gold Price Forecast: XAU / USD flirts with $1,850 support convergence; Fed's Powell, US NFP in focus

Daniel Rogers

Mar 06, 2023 14:40

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Gold price (XAU/USD) remains mostly illiquid around $1,855 as traders brace for the key data/events during early Monday in Europe. Adding filters to the XAU/USD movements could be the muddled headlines from China, as well as the US Dollar’s inaction despite a pullback in the Treasury bond yields.

 

The National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China (NDRC) recently stated that it "Will further discharge the potential for consumption," adding that China's economy is consistently improving, as reported by Reuters. Earlier in the day, market sentiment deteriorated after China's National People's Congress (NPC) annual session appeared to be a gloomy event due to its development target and geopolitical concerns.

 

Elsewhere, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly highlighted the significance of incoming data to determine how high the rates can go. Previously, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic renewed concerns about the Fed’s policy pivot while Federal Reserve published a semi-annual Monetary Policy Report on Friday wherein it plainly said, “Ongoing increases in the Fed funds rate target are necessary.” In addition, the report stated that the Fed is committed to restoring inflation to 2%.

 

It should be noted that US 10-year Treasury bond yields rose to their highest levels since November 2022 in the previous week before falling to 3.95% by the end of Friday and circling back to the same level at the latest. More significantly, US two-year bond coupons increased to levels not seen since 2008 before retracting to 4.85% as of press time. That said, the S&P 500 Futures print mild gains, mirroring Wall Street’s movements amid a light sluggish start to the key week, whereas the US Dollar Index (DXY) remains depressed around 104.45, down 0.05% intraday by the press time.

 

Moving ahead, Gold traders may witness further inaction in the market as traders remain cautious before the key events including Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s Testimony, China’s inflation data and Friday’s US employment report for February.