EUR/USD
1.17192
-0.008%
Gold
4694.30
0.269%
Oil
94.991
0.074%
USD/JPY
159.364
-0.033%
GBP/USD
1.35335
0.003%
GBP/JPY
215.680
-0.027%
Real-time News
Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Minoru Jonouchi: I will attend todays Bank of Japan policy meeting.1. US crude oil futures closed up 2.42% at $96.68 per barrel; Brent crude oil futures rose 2.86% to $101.97 per barrel. The US-Iran negotiations have reached a complete stalemate, oil transport through the Strait of Hormuz remains restricted, preventing large quantities of oil from entering the international market. Iranian crude oil exports have essentially halted, and rising expectations of Middle East production cuts have pushed up oil prices due to geopolitical risk premiums. 2. International precious metals futures generally closed lower. COMEX gold futures fell 0.91% to $4697.70 per ounce, and COMEX silver futures fell 1.25% to $75.46 per ounce. The market awaits policy signals from the Federal Reserves interest rate meeting, with a cautious sentiment. Although geopolitical risk aversion and central bank gold purchases supported prices, short-term policy expectations weighed on the market. 3. Most London base metals fell. LME nickel rose 0.66% to $19,140.0/ton, LME lead rose 0.05% to $1,963.5/ton, LME aluminum fell 0.50% to $3,573.0/ton, LME copper fell 0.62% to $13,226.5/ton, LME tin fell 1.77% to $49,440.0/ton, and LME zinc fell 2.23% to $3,395.0/ton. 4. The three major U.S. stock indexes closed mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.13% to 49,167.79 points, the S&P 500 rose 0.12% to 7,173.91 points, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2% to 24,887.1 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both hit new closing highs. McDonalds fell more than 3%, and Walmart fell more than 1%, leading the Dow Jones decline. The Wind US Tech Giants Index rose 0.97%, with Nvidia up 4% and Google up over 1%. The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index fell 1.2%, with Atour and iQiyi both falling over 5%. Market focus remains on the stalled Iran peace talks and the situation in the Strait of Hormuz. The Federal Reserve will hold its monetary policy meeting this week, and several tech giants will release their earnings reports. European stock indices closed slightly lower: the German DAX fell 0.19% to 24083.53 points, the French CAC40 fell 0.19% to 8141.92 points, and the UK FTSE 100 fell 0.56% to 10321.09 points. Middle East geopolitical tensions pushed up oil prices, exacerbating inflation concerns; a decline in Eurozone PMIs indicated economic weakness; and rising risk aversion led to the stock market decline.Japans unemployment rate in March was 2.7%, below the expected 2.60% and the previous reading of 2.60%.Japans job opening to job seeker ratio was 1.18 in March, in line with expectations and down from 1.19 in the previous month.Japans March unemployment rate will be released in ten minutes.
