2023-12-19 04:40

Copyrighted Image by: Reuters. Investing.com-- The Japanese yen fell sharply on Tuesday after the Bank of Japan maintained its ultra-dovish stance and offered no cues on a planned pivot, while broader Asian currencies were muted as a post-Federal Reserve rally cooled. Resilience in the dollar also weighed on regional units, as some Fed officials downplayed enthusiasm that interest rate cuts by the central bank were imminent. Japanese yen tumbles as BOJ keeps dovish policy, stays mum on pivot The yen was the worst performer in Asia for the day, down 0.6% after the BOJ held interest rates at negative levels and offered no cues on when it planned to begin tightening policy. Still, the central bank warned that Japanese inflation was likely to remain sticky in the coming months- a trend that could see the bank come under increased pressure to tighten policy. While Governor Kazuo Ueda had offered some signals on potential policy tightening in 2024, he reiterated the need for ultra-loose policy in the near-term, citing increased economic risks to Japan. The BOJ echoed this stance on Tuesday. Still, the yen remained close to recent five-month highs against the dollar, having recovered sharply following dovish signals from the Fed last week. Most Asian currencies, while softening slightly on Tuesday, were also sitting on strong gains against the dollar over the past week, after the Fed said it was done raising interest rates and will consider rate cuts in the coming year. The Australian dollar rose 0.2%, remaining close to five-month highs. The minutes of the Reserve Bank’s December meeting showed that while the bank had considered hiking rates, it kept them on hold in anticipation of more economic cues. The Chinese yuan fell 0.1% before a People’s Bank of China decision on loan prime rates later this week. The central bank is widely expected to keep the rate at record lows, as it struggles to foster economic growth while supporting the yuan. Concerns over China still kept sentiment towards Asian markets skittish, following a string of dismal economic readings for November. The South Korean won lost 0.1%, while the Indian rupee was flat but traded above record lows hit last month. Dollar finds its footing as Fed officials downplay rate cut hopes The dollar index and dollar index futures both traded flat in Asian trade on Tuesday, but had marked a strong rebound from four-month lows in the past two sessions. A slew of Fed officials said that while the bank will trim rates in 2024, bets on an imminent pivot were unfounded. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said the bank had not committed to cutting rates soon, joining several other officials in pushing back against expectations of an abrupt end to high interest rates. Still, Fed Fund futures prices showed a nearly 63% chance for a rate cut in March 2024. Goldman Sachs analysts also said on Tuesday that the central bank will cut rates five times in 2024, with a bulk of the cuts biased towards the first half of the year. https://www.investing.com/news/forex-news/japanese-yen-slides-after-boj-keeps-dovish-course-asia-fx-muted-3259454

2023-12-19 01:49

Copyrighted Image by: Reuters. Investing.com -- Oil prices settled at two-week highs Tuesday, as a rise in vessel attacks along a key Red Sea shipping route has stoked concerns of supply disruptions at a time and eased concerns somewhat of supply outstripping demand. By 14:30 ET (19.30 GMT), the U.S. crude futures settled 1.3% higher at $73.44 a barrel and the Brent contract climbed 2% to $79.48 a barrel. Red Sea attacks continue to stoke supply disruptions Fears over disruptions to trade caused by a series of missile and drone attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthi militant group continued to underpin oil prices following a 2% gain a day earlier. The attacks have forced several major oil shippers to halt crude oil shipments through the Red Sea following attacks on ships in the region. Around 12% of world shipping traffic passes through the Suez Canal, heading mostly from the Mediterranean to the important Asian market. U.S. to lead naval task force in Red Sea The United States on Tuesday announced the creation of a multinational operation to safeguard Red Sea commerce, including countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Norway and Spain. These attacks had prompted a number of shipping firms to say over the weekend that they would avoid the region, while oil giant BP (NYSE:BP) stated on Monday that it will pause all shipments through the Red Sea, "in light of the deteriorating security situation for shipping." This saw markets begin once again pricing in a risk premium from the conflict, given that it now stood to potentially disrupt oil supplies from the region. U.S. inventories data due The crude market had started the new week with gains after Russia said on Sunday it would deepen oil export cuts in December by potentially 50,000 barrels per day or more. The world's biggest exporters, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, have been attempting to curb supply into the global market in an attempt to support oil prices. The prospect of oversupplied markets in early-2024 recently pushed prices to near six-month lows, with underwhelming production cuts by the OPEC+ last time out, which were voluntary in nature, combined with monthly record U.S. production levels. This puts the latest snapshot of U.S. supplies in focus, starting with the report from the American Petroleum Institute later in the session. The industry body reported a draw of 2.35 million barrels last week, a larger decline than had been expected, but it also showed that gasoline inventories increased by 5.8 million barrels. The official government inventory report is due on Wednesday. https://www.investing.com/news/commodities-news/oil-prices-inch-higher-after-red-sea-attacks-trigger-sharp-gains-3259422

2023-12-18 14:12

Copyrighted Image by: Reuters. Investing.com -- Oil prices settled higher Monday as concerns about a supply surplus were eased after Russia said it would make deeper crude export cuts, and attacks by the Houthis on ships in the Red Sea stoked worries about supply disruptions. By 14:30 ET (14.30 GMT), the U.S. crude futures settled 1.5% higher at $72.47 a barrel and the Brent crude contract climbed 1.8% higher at $77.95 a barrel. Both benchmarks posted small gains last week, breaking a run of seven losing weeks, after a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting last week raised hopes of interest rate cuts next year. Tankers seek to avoid Suez canal A Norwegian-owned vessel was attacked in the Red Sea on Monday, adding to the series of missile and drone attacks on ships in the area by the Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthi militant group, which it claims are a response to Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip. This has prompted a number of shipping firms to say over the weekend that they would avoid the region, meaning they would have to take the much longer route around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the Suez canal. Oil major BP (NYSE:BP) also stated that it will pause all shipments through the Red Sea, "in light of the deteriorating security situation for shipping," adding it would "keep this precautionary pause under ongoing review." Russia to deepen oil supply cuts The crude market had already started the new week with gains after Russia said on Sunday it would deepen oil export cuts in December by potentially 50,000 barrels per day or more. The world's biggest exporters, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, have been attempting to curb supply into the global market in an attempt to support oil prices. However, the last meeting was widely seen as underwhelming given the output cuts were voluntary in nature, growing dissent within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a group known as OPEC+, over the policy. Additionally, bad weather had already resulted in Moscow suspending about two-thirds of loadings of its main export grade Urals crude on Friday, meaning Sunday’s announcement could be just a repackaging of the storm-related outage. While fewer barrels of Russian oil hitting the market helped ease concerns about a supply surplus, non-OPEC production, led by the U.S., which reported a monthly record production level in November, is expected to keep a lid on oil prices. Goldman Sachs cuts Brent price forecast on supply surplus concerns Goldman Sachs cut its price expectation for Brent crude in 2024 by $10 per barrel to between $70 and $90, saying strong production from the United States would moderate any upside in oil prices. Still, downside momentum in oil prices will be kept in check by a recovery in China, the need for the U.S. to replenish its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, an emergency stockpile of petroleum that was tapped last year to help offset the surge in oil prices. Crude stockpiles in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve stood at 351.91M barrels for the week ended Dec.08, markedly below its peak of 727M barrels it held during the Obama administration. https://www.investing.com/news/commodities-news/oil-prices-settle-higher-as-red-sea-attacks-trigger-supply-disruptions-jitters-3259041

2023-12-18 12:17

Investing.com - EOS was trading at $0.9237 by 00:59 (04:59 GMT) on the Investing.com Index on Tuesday, down 10.07% on the day. It was the largest one-day percentage loss since January 3. The move downwards pushed EOS's market cap down to $1.0552B, or 0.04% of the total cryptocurrency market cap. At its highest, EOS's market cap was $17.5290B. EOS had traded in a range of $0.9159 to $0.9913 in the previous twenty-four hours. Over the past seven days, EOS has seen a drop in value, as it lost 22.4%. The volume of EOS traded in the twenty-four hours to time of writing was $226.3210M or 0.15% of the total volume of all cryptocurrencies. It has traded in a range of $0.9159 to $1.2159 in the past 7 days. At its current price, EOS is still down 95.98% from its all-time high of $22.98 set on April 29, 2018. Elsewhere in cryptocurrency trading Bitcoin was last at $65,352.6 on the Investing.com Index, down 4.43% on the day. Ethereum was trading at $3,377.89 on the Investing.com Index, a loss of 6.63%. Bitcoin's market cap was last at $1,284.9793B or 52.09% of the total cryptocurrency market cap, while Ethereum's market cap totaled $407.7636B or 16.53% of the total cryptocurrency market value. https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/eos-falls-10-in-selloff-3343233

2023-12-18 09:38

Copyrighted Image by: Reuters. Investing.com - The U.S. dollar edged lower in early European trade Monday, while the Japanese yen gave back some of last week’s gains ahead of the conclusion of a key policy meeting by the Bank of Japan. At 05:35 ET (09:35 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded 0.1% lower at 102.052, after dropping roughly 1.3% last week. Fed’s dovish pivot hits the dollar The dollar retreated sharply last week after the U.S. Federal Reserve pivoted towards rate cuts at its latest policy meeting, with traders now fully expecting an interest rate reduction at least by the start of summer next year. The U.S. economic data slate is largely empty Monday, and the week’s focus will be on the personal consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s favorite gauge of inflation, on Friday, which is likely to show easing consumer price pressures. Ahead of that Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee later Monday and Raphael Bostic on Tuesday will give their views on future policy. “The last few days of market action, before volumes dry up for Christmas, should continue to revolve around the ‘tug of war’ between Fed officials trying to temper rate cut speculation and investors who have instead seen a validation of dovish bets from last week’s Dot Plot projections,” said analysts at ING, in a note. Yen steadies ahead of BOJ meeting Elsewhere, USD/JPY traded 0.1% higher at 142.30, with the Japanese yen giving back some of last week’s nearly 2% gains. The Bank of Japan concludes its two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday, with traders uncertain of when the dovish central bank starts to unwind its ultra-loose policy settings. “Bank officials have already tempered rate hike expectations for this month by saying such a move is still premature,” ING added. “Still, with investors now actively betting on the end of negative rates in January, the language at this meeting will be key for the short-term performance of the yen.” Euro still weighed by weak German outlook EUR/USD rose 0.3% to 1.0922, with the euro boosted by the relatively hawkish nature of comments from the European Central Bank last week, when compared with the dovish pivot from the Fed. That said, the single currency continues to be weighed by a darkening growth outlook in the eurozone, typified by German business morale unexpectedly worsening in December, according to data from the Ifo institute. The Ifo business climate index stood at 86.4 in December, a retreat from the revised reading of 87.2 in November. "As the year draws to a close, the German economy remains weak," Ifo president Clemens Fuest said. GBP/USD rose 0.1% to 1.2687, ahead of the latest U.K. inflation data later this week. U.K. consumer prices are expected to have risen 4.3% in November on an annual basis on Wednesday. While this represents a drop from 4.6% the previous month, it’s still more than double the BoE’s 2% medium-term target, making rate cuts a more distant prospect. Elsewhere, USD/CNY traded 0.2% higher at 7.1318, while AUD/USD rose 0.6% to 0.6734, as the Aussie dollar, a major indicator of risk sentiment, remained in a buoyant mood. https://www.investing.com/news/forex-news/dollar-slips-back-yen-holds-ground-ahead-of-boj-meeting-3258500

2023-12-15 11:22

Iris Energy Limited (IREN) (together with its subsidiaries, “Iris Energy” or “the Company”), a leading owner and operator of institutional-grade, highly efficient Bitcoin mining data centers powered by 100% renewable energy, today announced the acquisition of 1.6 EH/s of Bitmain T21 miners to increase self-mining capacity to 10 EH/s. Key Highlights Iris Energy is acquiring 8,380 new-generation T21 miners from Bitmain Technologies Delaware Limited for a purchase price of $14/TH ($22.3 million, payable in progressive instalments). Shipping is scheduled for Q2 2024. The newly acquired S21 and T21 miners, once installed, will improve overall fleet efficiency from 29.5 J/TH to 24.8 J/TH. The Company’s 80MW data center expansion at Childress remains on track to be progressively delivered from January 2024 through to Q2 2024, supporting the increase in operating hashrate from 5.6 EH/s to 10 EH/s. Early works and procurement for the next 100MW of data centers at Childress are ongoing, with 500MW of additional power immediately available on site.About Iris Energy Iris Energy is a sustainable Bitcoin mining company that supports the decarbonization of energy markets and the global Bitcoin network. https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/iris-energy-increases-mining-capacity-to-10-ehs-432SI-3257442