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Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman: Friday’s meeting in Switzerland was not intended to sign an agreement, and a decision on whether to hold the meeting is expected in the next few hours.Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman: We believe the text of the agreement should exist in electronic form and be signed by the presidents of both countries.According to Axios: Two U.S. officials said the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday to end the war, which is now in effect.On June 18th, according to the Wall Street Journal, Apple (AAPL.O) CEO Tim Cook stated that Apple plans to raise product prices to offset soaring costs of memory and storage chips. "Unfortunately, price increases are inevitable," he said. "We are doing our best to mitigate these enormous price increases that are being passed on to us, and we have been trying to protect our customers from these price hikes, but the current situation has become unsustainable." Cook declined to disclose the timing or magnitude of the planned price increase, or which products would be affected. Cook stated that memory and storage chip prices are issues facing the company, and he paid particular attention to the DRAM market, noting that more and more resources are currently being allocated to so-called high-bandwidth memory used in AI servers. "Consumers need devices, and memory manufacturers are pushing up prices while supply is decreasing," Cook said. "We really need memory prices and supply to return to a level that is reasonable for consumer products. Thats the key." Cook also stated that Apple is prepared to use its cash reserves to increase memory supply. He said, "We are willing to use our balance sheet to address some of the issues. Obviously, more capacity is needed." However, Cook also stated that Apple will not use its cash and silicon technology to build its own memory and storage factories. “We can’t do everything at once, but we know where our strengths lie.”Apple (AAPL.O) shares rose slightly in after-hours trading, currently up 0.7%.

Gold Price Prediction: The XAU/USD pair recovers towards the $1,930 barrier as the US Dollar retreats amid contradictory signals

Daniel Rogers

Jan 19, 2023 15:07

Gold price (XAU/USD) gains bids to trim yesterday's losses, breaking a three-day downtrend, as the US Dollar struggles to defend late Wednesday's corrective bounce off the lowest level since May 31, 2022. Recent remarks by Dallas Federal Reserve (Fed) President Lorie Logan could provide more support for the XAU/USD recovery.

 

In her maiden statement as a Fed representative, Fed's Logan advocated for a slower rate hike pace but also acknowledged the possibility of a higher stopping point, whereas the majority of Fed policymakers appeared bullish on Wednesday.

 

Previously, James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, stated that US interest rates must increase further to reduce inflationary pressures. In the same vein, Loretta Mester, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, lauded the Fed's efforts to manage inflation. In addition, the president of the Kansas City Fed, Esther George, stated that the central bank must restore price stability, "which includes reverting to 2% inflation."

 

Notably, the disappointing US data allowed gold markets to restore upward momentum and challenge the Fed hawks. US Retail Sales had a 1.1% MoM decline in December, compared to market predictions of -0.8% and prior readings of -1.0%. This decline was the largest in a year (revised). On the same note, the Producer Price Index plummeted to its lowest level in six months with a -0.5% MoM figure, compared to a -0.1% MoM figure that was anticipated and a 0.2% MoM result from the previous month (revised).

 

In addition, the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) unexpected inaction and diminishing fears of the Federal Reserve's (Fed) aggressive monetary policy activities weighed on United States Treasury bond yields and the Gold price on Wednesday. In spite of the BOJ's inaction on monetary policy and interest rates, 10-year US Treasury bond yields reached their lowest level in four months as of press time, hovering around 3.37 percent.

 

Analysts at Goldman Sachs anticipated greater China development and preferred chances for a rise in energy demand from the dragon kingdom. However, elsewhere, contradictory concerns about China appeared to have hampered Gold purchases. In recent times, though, worries about the US-China friction have outweighed optimism. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He met in Germany on Wednesday, which initially bolstered risk appetite with the BOJ's inactivity. However, the diplomats' mention of the disagreements sparked market fears of a new round of friction between the United States and China. Prior to this, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) stated that Beijing'should be cautious' as the United States and Taiwan seek stronger economic ties.

 

In light of these performances, markets remain cautiously hopeful on Thursday, resulting in a Gold price recovery. Mildly bid US stock futures, a weakening US Dollar Index (DXY), and declining US Treasury bond yields could be indicative of market sentiment.