S&P 500, Nasdaq hit new closing highs on rate cut hopes

NEW YORK – The benchmark S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes hit new closing highs for the second straight day on Wednesday on hopes that the Federal Reserve was getting close to a monetary easing cycle.

But the market reflected weakness in some technology stocks after the previous day’s strong gains.

Signs that US tariffs on imports have not fully filtered into headline consumer prices came as a relief for investors this week as they seek insight on the impact of trade uncertainty on the economy.

Some large technology stocks including Nvidia, Alphabet, and Microsoft – among the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks – were lower as investors searched for new growth drivers.

“Valuations are elevated. I do think, though, at the end of the day, the key will be the delivery of earnings, and that’s what we’re seeing,” said Katherine Bordlemay, co-head of client portfolio management, fundamental equities at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

She said the dispersion of stock-level returns in the US is at one of the higher levels of the last 30 years.

Apple rose as Bloomberg News reported the company is plotting expansion into AI-powered robots, home security and smart displays.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 21.01 points, or 0.33%, to end at 6,466.77 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 32.08 points, or 0.15%, to 21,713.99. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 469.10 points, or 1.06%, to 44,927.71.

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks rate-sensitive small-cap companies, added more gains to hit a six-month high.

Traders are now fully pricing in a 25 basis-point interest rate cut, according to the CME’s FedWatch Tool. The central bank last lowered borrowing costs in December.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday he thought an aggressive half-point cut was possible, given recent weak employment numbers.

Investors were also taking notice of other sectors following the recent tech-led rally in US stocks that has pushed valuations of the S&P 500 above long-term averages.

Healthcare stocks, which have been beaten down for much of the year, led gains among the 11 S&P 500 sectors.

Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said on Wednesday the US central bank is grappling with understanding whether tariffs will push up inflation just temporarily or more persistently, which would inform its decision on when to cut interest rates.

CoreWeave, which is backed by Nvidia, fell sharply after the AI data center operator reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly net loss.

Paramount Skydance jumped as the company won exclusive broadcasting rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championship for seven years.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar in New York and Johann M Cherian and Sanchayaita Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Matthew Lewis)

US yields fall as traders boost bets on September rate cut

US Treasury yields fell on Wednesday as traders raised bets that the Federal Reserve will resume interest-rate cuts in September and after a backup in longer-dated yields on Tuesday attracted foreign buyers.

Tuesday’s consumer price inflation report showed that President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have not yet increased price pressures as many Fed policymakers including Chair Jerome Powell have anticipated.

As a result, it is more likely that the Fed will cut rates as the labor market weakens and other data also points to a slowing economy.

“The general sense is that we were going to see more pass-through (inflation) in July. That didn’t happen,” said Vail Hartman, US rates strategist at BMO Capital Markets.

“That doesn’t mean we’re not going to see it in the coming months, but the fact that it didn’t happen in July has now galvanized those calls for a September cut, particularly given that we’ve already seen the labor market start to come under pressure in the last couple of months,” he said.

Investors will focus on whether Powell offers any new clues on policy at the US central bank’s annual economic policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, next week.

With the market already pricing in a September cut, the question is most likely to be whether Powell pushes back against market expectations, said Hartman.

Fed funds futures traders are now pricing 25.7 basis points in cuts in September, indicating they are beginning to see the possibility that the Fed could cut rates by 50 basis points next month.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday that there is a good chance of a 50-basis-point cut next month.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said the US central bank is grappling with understanding whether tariffs will push up inflation just temporarily or more persistently, which would inform its decision on when to cut rates.

The interest-rate-sensitive 2-year note yield was last down 4.2 basis points on the day at 3.689%. The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes fell 5.3 basis points to 4.24%.

The yield curve between 2-year and 10-year notes flattened by around one basis point to 55 basis points.

Longer-dated Treasuries attracted buyers following a backup in yields on Tuesday that was driven by a selloff in European government bonds.

“The post-CPI dip that we saw yesterday proved to be an attractive level to add from the perspective of overseas investors,” said Hartman.

Traders are also focused on who Trump is likely to nominate as the next Fed chair when Powell’s term ends in May.

The Trump administration is considering 11 candidates to replace Powell, CNBC reported on Wednesday, citing two administration officials.

Meanwhile, Ukraine and its European allies on Wednesday signaled hope that Trump would push for a ceasefire at talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin without selling out Ukraine’s interests or proposing to carve up its territory.

(Reporting by Karen Brettell; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Leslie Adler)

Oil gains as US-China tariff pause extension boosts trade hopes

Oil prices rose on Tuesday as the United States and China extended a pause on higher tariffs, easing concerns an escalation of their trade war would disrupt their economies and crimp fuel demand in the world’s two largest oil consumers.

Brent crude futures gained 26 cents, or 0.39%, to USD 66.89 a barrel by 0015 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 22 cents, or 0.34%, to USD 64.18.

US President Donald Trump extended a tariff truce with China by another 90 days, a White House official said on Monday, staving off triple-digit duties on Chinese goods as US retailers prepared for the critical end-of-year holiday season.

This raised hopes that an agreement could be attained between the world’s two largest economies, and could help sidestep a virtual trade embargo between them. Tariffs risk slowing down economic growth, which could sap global fuel demand and drag oil prices lower.

Investors are also looking ahead to a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.

The meeting is set amid heightened US pressure on Russia, with the threat of harsher penalties on Russian oil buyers such as China and India if no peace deal is reached that could upset oil trade flows.

“Any peace deal between Russia and Ukraine would end the risk of disruption to Russian oil that has been hovering over the market,” ANZ senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes wrote in a note.

Trump set a deadline of last Friday for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or have its oil buyers face secondary sanctions, while pressing India to reduce purchases of Russian oil.

Washington has also been pressing Beijing to stop buying Russian oil, with Trump threatening to impose secondary tariffs on China.

The risk of those sanctions being enacted has receded ahead of the August 15 Trump-Putin meeting.

Also on the radar is US inflation data later in the day, that could hint at the Federal Reserve’s interest rate path. Any sign that the central bank may cut rates soon would support crude prices.

(Reporting by Anjana Anil in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

Dollar edges up with US inflation report on tap

NEW YORK – The US dollar firmed across the board on Monday, a day before the release of a US inflation report that could help determine whether the Federal Reserve lowers borrowing costs next month.

The dollar index was up 0.3% at 98.52 after last week’s 0.4% fall. Against the yen, the US currency traded at 148.085, up 0.2%. Japanese markets were closed on Monday for the Mountain Day holiday.

The euro was down 0.3% at USD 1.16123, while sterling was down 0.2% at USD 1.34335.

“The buck is trading a little firmer against all peers, though the moves are overall modest in nature,” said Michael Brown, market analyst at online broker Pepperstone in London.

“A very modest hawkish repricing of Fed policy expectations appears to be helping the move along, likely driven by participants squaring up some positions ahead of the risk that tomorrow’s CPI print presents,” he said.

The dollar softened last week as investors adjusted their expectations for interest rate cuts from the Fed after soft data on US jobs and manufacturing.

Fed officials have sounded increasingly uneasy about the labor market, signaling their openness to a rate cut as soon as September.

Cooling inflation could cement bets for a cut next month, but if signs emerge that US President Donald Trump’s tariffs are fuelling price rises, that might keep the Fed on hold for now.

“It’s important to note ahead of tomorrow’s data that the bar for a hawkish surprise is higher,” said Francesco Pesole, FX strategist at ING.

Pesole added that a 0.3% monthly rise in core CPI would give the Fed room to lower interest rates, given the deterioration in the labor market.

Economists polled by Reuters expect core CPI to have risen 0.3% in July, pushing the annual rate higher to 3%.

Money market traders are pricing in around a 90% chance of a rate cut next month, while 58 basis points of easing are priced in by year-end, implying two quarter-point cuts and around a one-in-three chance of a third.

The dollar was little swayed by Trump signing an executive order extending a pause in sharply higher US tariffs on Chinese imports for another 90 days, a move that some market participants said was expected.

With the United States and China seeking to close a deal averting triple-digit goods tariffs, a US official told Reuters that chip makers Nvidia and AMD had agreed to allocate 15% of China sales revenues to the US government, aiming to secure export licences for semiconductors.

The Australian dollar fetched USD 0.6515, trading down 0.2% ahead of a rate decision on Tuesday, in which it is widely expected that the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut rates by 25 bps to 3.60%, after second-quarter inflation came in weaker than expected and the jobless rate hit a 3-1/2-year high.

Cryptocurrencies rose, with bitcoin up 1.1% at USD 119,679, not far from its July 14 record of USD 123,153.22, after Trump’s executive order on Thursday freed up cryptocurrency holdings in US retirement accounts.

Ether rose 1.9% to USD 4,298.23, its highest since December 2021.

(Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; Additional reporting by Samuel Indyk and Gregor Stuart Hunter; Editing by Mark Potter, Chizu Nomiyama, Kirsten Donovan, and Marguerita Choy)

Wall Street stocks end down, inflation data, China trade in focus

NEW YORK – Wall Street’s main indexes ended lower on Monday as investors anxiously await inflation data this week to assess the outlook for interest rates and eye US-China trade developments.

Investors expect the recent shakeup at the US Federal Reserve and signs of labor market weakness could nudge the central bank into adopting a dovish monetary policy stance later this year, fueling much of the optimism.

July’s consumer inflation report is due on Tuesday, and investors anticipate that the Fed will lower borrowing costs by about 60 basis points by December, according to data compiled by LSEG.

“The inflation data is starting to embody the more direct tariff impacts on the consumer, raising concern that inflation will remain sticky,” said Eric Teal, chief investment officer at Comerica Wealth Management.

“Lower inflationary readings and slower growth numbers are needed to support the case for lower rates.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 200.52 points, or 0.45%, lower to 43,975.09, the S&P 500 lost 16.00 points, or 0.25%, to 6,373.45 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 64.62 points, or 0.3%, to 21,385.40.

Shares of Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices were volatile through the day, ending 0.35% and 0.28% lower, respectively.

A US official told Reuters the semiconductor majors had agreed to give the United States government 15% of revenue from sales of their advanced chips to China.

Analysts said the levy could hit the chipmakers’ margins and set a precedent for Washington to tax critical US exports, potentially extending beyond semiconductors.

Separately, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order extending a pause in sharply higher US tariffs on Chinese imports for another 90 days, a White House official said.

Enabling semiconductor sales to China was an integral issue in the agreement Washington and Beijing signed this year, which expires on Tuesday. Trump lauded China’s cooperation in talks at a White House press conference on Monday.

Traders took a step back after the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq last week logged their strongest weekly performances in more than a month.

Citigroup and UBS Global Research became the latest brokerages to raise their year-end targets for the benchmark S&P 500.

Micron Technology raised its forecast for fourth-quarter revenue and adjusted profit, boosting its shares 4%.

Intel rallied 3.5% after a report said CEO Lip-Bu Tan arrived at the White House on Monday. Trump had called for his removal last week.

TKO TKO.N surged 10% after Paramount bought the rights from the live entertainment company to exclusively distribute UFC events for the next seven years in a deal valued at around USD 7.7 billion.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.18-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 251 new highs and 98 new lows on the NYSE.

On the Nasdaq, declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.24-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and 17 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 73 new highs and 121 new lows.

Volume on US exchanges was relatively light, with 15.5 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 18.3 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar in New York and Johann M Cherian and Sanchayaita Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Rod Nickel)

US yields climb as investors look toward data

NEW YORK – US Treasury yields rose on Friday, with that of the benchmark 10-year note set for its first weekly gain in three weeks after a series of lackluster auctions ahead of next week’s inflation data.

Yields have been choppy throughout the week, moving lower on economic data that indicated little movement in the labor market, while a services sector report hinted at a rekindling of inflationary pressures. Yields turned higher later in the session as the Treasury saw weak demand for a total of USD 125 billion in 3-year notes, 10-year notes and 30-year bonds.

The 10-year yield recorded its biggest weekly drop in two months last week, after a soft government payrolls report sharply increased expectations on the timing and amount of rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year.

Data next week will include multiple readings on inflation, including the consumer price index (CPI), which will heavily influence rate expectations for the central bank.

The benchmark US 10-year Treasury note yield rose 3.9 basis points to 4.283% and was up 6.5 basis points on the week, on track for its biggest weekly gain since early July.

“We probably came down as far as we’re likely to, unless we get really much weaker data, and so our call is we stall at 4.25%, said Jay Hatfield, CEO of Infrastructure Capital Management in New York.

“It’s normal for this to back up, because we don’t know what CPI is going to be,” said Hatfield, who also cited the uncertainty surrounding the makeup of the Federal Reserve board of governors.

The yield on the 30-year bond rose 4.1 basis points to 4.853% and was up 4.9 basis points on the week after two straight weekly declines.

RATE EXPECTATIONS

Expectations for a rate cut of at least 25 basis points by the Fed at its September meeting stand at 89.4%, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool, up from 80.3% a week ago. According to LSEG data, the market is pricing in 58.3 basis points of cuts by the end of the year.

St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem said on Friday the Fed’s inflation and jobs goals both face risks, with policymakers needing to balance which seems the more serious threat in deciding whether it is appropriate to reduce rates.

A closely watched part of the US Treasury yield curve measuring the gap between two- and 10-year Treasury notes, seen as an indicator of economic expectations, was at a positive 52.5 basis points.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will nominate Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Stephen Miran to serve out the final few months of a newly vacant seat at the Fed while the White House seeks a permanent addition to the central bank’s governing board and continues its search for a new Fed chair.

Miran is replacing Fed Governor Adriana Kugler, who announced a surprise resignation last week, effective on Friday.

In a note to clients, JPMorgan chief US economist Michael Feroli said he now expects the Fed to cut interest rates by 25 basis points at its September meeting, citing signs of weakness in the labor market and uncertainty around Miran’s nomination.

The two-year US Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, advanced 2.2 basis points to 3.756% and was up 5.8 basis points on the week, on pace for its biggest weekly gain since the week ending July 3.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by David Holmes and Richard Chang)

Inflation data to test stocks as some investors brace for rally to pause

NEW YORK – A fresh look at inflation trends will test the US stock market’s rally in the coming week, with some investors saying equities are primed for a potential pullback after rocketing to records.

The benchmark S&P 500 ended on Friday up more than 8% on the year and on the cusp of all-time high levels, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was at a record, as stocks rebounded from declines following a weak employment report earlier this month.

Strategists at firms including Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley have recently said the market could be poised for some level of pullback after a largely unabated climb over the past four months, which has pushed valuations to historically expensive levels as a seasonally treacherous period for stocks begins.

The monthly US consumer price index report, due on Tuesday, could cause volatility. Data showing higher-than-expected inflation could undermine the growing expectation for impending interest rate cuts.

“I do think the market is set up for a bit of a pullback,” said Dominic Pappalardo, chief multi-asset strategist at Morningstar Wealth. “There’s a lot of concern bubbling underneath.”

The S&P 500 has surged 28% since its low for the year in April, as investor fears about a tariff-induced recession calmed after President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement earlier that month had set off extreme asset volatility.

The index is trading at over 22 times its earnings estimates for the next year, well above its long-term average P/E ratio of 15.8 after recently reaching its highest valuation in over four years, according to LSEG Datastream.

Investors are also wary of risks posed by the calendar. Over the past 35 years, August and September have ranked as the worst-performing months for the S&P 500, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac. The index has declined an average of 0.6% in August and 0.8% in September — the only months of negative average performance for the index during that time period.

“The combination of a softer payroll number with concerns of tariff-related inflation could be the recipe for … a correction, especially in the seasonally weak third quarter,” Morgan Stanley equity strategist Michael Wilson said in a note this week. Still, Wilson said his 12-month outlook was bullish, adding “we’re buyers of pullbacks.”

The CPI for July is expected to have climbed 2.8% on an annual basis, according to a Reuters poll of economists. Investors will be watching to see if Trump’s tariffs on imports are translating into higher prices after the June CPI report suggested levies were impacting the prices of some goods.

Market bets on Fed rate cuts rose following the recent weak jobs data as investors expect the central bank will ease monetary policy to help shore up the labor market. Fed funds futures indicate an over 90% chance the Fed will cut at its next meeting in September, with at least two cuts priced in for this year, LSEG data showed.

That narrative could be at risk if CPI rises more than expected, making the Fed more hesitant to cut rates, investors said.

“If the CPI suggests that the market got a little ahead of itself, that can create volatility,” said Angelo Kourkafas, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones. “But if it’s not worse than feared … that can further reinforce that we are now in an inflection point for the Fed.”

The prospect of higher tariffs and the economic fallout from those levies already instituted by the Trump administration has been a persistent theme clouding markets, but stocks have managed to rise to records despite the uncertainty.

Higher tariffs on imports from dozens of countries took effect on Thursday, raising the average US import duty to its highest in a century, while the president also this week announced plans for levies on semiconductor chips and pharmaceutical imports.

China could face a potential tariff increase on Tuesday unless Trump approves an extension of a prior truce.

The impact of higher tariffs on the economy could take a while to show up, and “the market has kind of ignored the potential negative impact of this friction to the economy,” said Matt Rowe, senior portfolio manager at Man Group.

“The market has gotten comfortable with tariffs being kind of a non-event, which I don’t think is correct,” Rowe said.

(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Sandra Maler)

UPDATE 3-White House to clarify tariffs for gold bars as industry stops flying bullion to US

US ruling implies 1 kg gold bars fall under broad import tariffs

Ruling is issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection service

Swiss refinery, some non-Swiss industry players stop US deliveries

Gold market hopes to see the ruling reversed by the White House

Recasts with White House remarks, Comex gold futures reaction in paragraphs 1, 3-4

By Polina Devitt

LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) – The White House plans to clarify what its official called misinformation about import tariffs for gold bars amid uncertainty, which saw some industry players pausing deliveries of bullion to the United States.

According to a ruling on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) service’s website on Friday, Washington may place the most widely traded gold bullion bars in the United States under country-specific import tariffs, a move that would roil the metal’s global supply chains.

The White House intends to issue an executive order in the near future “clarifying misinformation” about tariffs on gold bars and other specialty products, the White House official told Reuters on Friday.

U.S. gold futures pared gains after the White House comment. They were last up 0.1% at $3,457 per ounce, reducing a premium over spot gold XAU=, the global benchmark, which was steady at $3,398. GOL/

The CBP ruling refers to cast gold bars from Switzerland, the world’s biggest bullion refining and transit hub, which is now subject to U.S. import tariffs of 39%.

The CBP said that the correct HS customs code to use when supplying 1 kg bullion bars and 100 troy ounce bullion bars, the most traded sizes in the U.S. futures market, to the U.S. would be 7108.13.5500 and not 7108.12.10.

However, Washington included only the latter code in the list of products excluded from country-specific import tariffs in April, with 7108.13.5500 not on the list.

The Swiss Association of Precious Metals Manufacturers and Traders (ASFCMP) said in a statement that the clarification applied to any country delivering these bars to the U.S.

“The United States is a longstanding market for us, so this is a blow for the industry and for Switzerland,” Christoph Wild, president of the ASFCMP, told Reuters.

“With a tariff of 39%, exports of gold bars will be definitely stopped to the U.S,” Wild said.

While Switzerland is the refining and transit hub, Britain is home to the world’s largest over-the-counter gold trading hub, and South Africa and Canada are among major gold miners.

“Likely imposing 39% tariffs on Swiss kilobars is akin to pouring sand into an otherwise well-functioning engine. I say “likely”…the possibility remains that this is an error,” said independent analyst Ross Norman.

A major gold refinery in Switzerland stopped deliveries to the U.S. after seeing the CBP ruling, a top manager at the refinery told Reuters, while a gold logistics specialist said some other industry players outside Switzerland did the same.

The White House’s upcoming executive order “should hopefully clear things up,” said the logistics source.

Protecting the U.S. gold futures during this uncertainty are high stocks of gold in Comex-owned warehouses GC-STX-COMEX, after massive inflows over December-March as traders hedged against the possibility of broad U.S. tariffs hitting bullion imports.

“The COMEX inventories currently amount to 86% of open interest – against a more normal 40-45% – so there is no liquidity issue at present,” said StoneX analyst Rhona O’Connell.

(Reporting by Polina Devitt;
Additional reporting by John Revill and Andrea Shalal;
Editing by Veronica Brown, Louise Heavens and Sharon Singleton, Kirsten Donovan)

((polina.devitt@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: polina.devitt.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

UPDATE 7-Oil steadies on reports of US-Russia deal, ends week about 5% lower

US, Russia aim to reach a deal to halt the war in Ukraine

Latest US tariffs raise concerns over economic activity

Trump threatens further sanctions on buyers of Russian oil

US oil rig count rises by one to 411

Updates with CFTC data

By Arathy Somasekhar

HOUSTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) – Oil held steady on Friday as markets awaited a meeting in coming days between Russian president Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, but prices marked their steepest weekly losses since late June on a tariff-hit economic outlook.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 settled 16 cents, or 0.2%, higher at $66.59 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 were unchanged at $63.88.

Brent fell 4.4% over the week, while WTI finished 5.1% lower than last Friday’s close.

U.S. crude fell over 1% earlier in the session after Bloomberg News reported that Washington and Moscow were aiming to reach a deal to halt the war in Ukraine that would lock in Russia’s occupation of territory seized during its military invasion.

U.S. and Russian officials are working towards an agreement on territories for a planned summit meeting between Trump and Putin as early as next week, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The potential meeting raises expectations of a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine, which could lead to eased sanctions on Russia, and comes as trade tensions have been on the rise between Trump and buyers of Russian oil.

This week, Trump threatened to increase tariffs on India if it kept purchasing Russian oil. Trump also said China, the largest buyer of Russian crude, could be hit with tariffs similar to those levied against Indian imports.

“Various non-oil considerations are at play, including fears over the impact of tariffs and the headlines flying over the last few days regarding a Trump and Putin meeting in the near term,” said Neil Crosby, an energy market analyst at Sparta Commodities.

“Headline risk is particularly strong currently with flip-flopping regarding who will turn up to a meeting over Ukraine and under what circumstances.”

Higher U.S. tariffs on imports from a host of trade partners went into effect on Thursday, raising concern over economic activity and demand for crude oil, ANZ Bank analysts said in a note.

OPEC+ agreed on Sunday to raise oil production by 547,000 barrels per day for September, the latest in a series of accelerated output hikes to regain market share, adding to supply.

The U.S. oil rig count, an indicator of future supply, rose by one to 411 this week.

“Bearish sentiment has returned this week as key OPEC+ members announced a second ‘quadruple’ output unwind for September (thus fully restoring their extra voluntary cuts of 2.2 mmb/d) and President Trump’s sweeping import tariffs took effect against most countries,” analysts at FGE NexantECA said.

Trump on Thursday also said he will nominate Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Stephen Miran to serve out the final few months of a newly vacant seat at the Federal Reserve, fuelling expectations of a more dovish policy ahead.

Lower interest rates reduce consumer borrowing costs and can boost economic growth and demand for oil.

The dollar firmed on Friday but headed for a weekly fall. A stronger dollar hurts demand for dollar-denominated crude from foreign buyers.

Money managers cut their net long U.S. crude futures and options positions in the week to August 5, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said.

(Additional reporting by Colleen Howe in Beijing and Ahmad Ghaddar in London; Editing by David Goodman, Marguerita Choy and Nia Williams)

((Robert.Harvey@thomsonreuters.com; +447552256587;))

Gold futures hit record high after US tariff report

Gold futures jumped to a fresh high on Friday following a report that the United States has imposed tariffs on imports of one-kilo gold bars, while spot gold was headed for a second straight weekly rise on tariff turmoil and US interest rate-cut hopes.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Spot gold was down 0.2% at USD 3,389.37 per ounce, as of 0104 GMT, after hitting its highest since July 23 earlier in the session. Bullion is up 0.8% so far this week.

* US gold futures for December delivery were up 1.6% at USD 3,509.10, after hitting an all-time high of USD 3,534.10.

* The United States has imposed tariffs on imports of one-kilo gold bars, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing a letter from Customs Border Protection.

* The letter, dated July 31, said one-kilo and 100-ounce gold bars should be classified under a customs code subject to levels, according to the newspaper, which added that the move could impact Switzerland, the world’s largest refining hub.

* US President Donald Trump’s higher tariffs on imports from dozens of countries kicked in on Thursday, leaving major trade partners such as Switzerland, Brazil and India hurriedly searching for a better deal.

* Gold is often used as a safe store of value during times of political and financial uncertainty.

* SPDR Gold Trust GLD, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 0.66% to 959.09 metric tons on Thursday from 952.79 tons on Wednesday.

* Last week, weaker US payrolls data boosted rate-cut bets, with the market now pricing in an over 91% chance of a 25-basis-point reduction next month, as per CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.

* Risks to the job market have increased, but it remains too soon to commit to rate cuts before the next meeting of the Federal Reserve, with key data still to come and inflation still expected to rise in coming months, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said.

* Elsewhere, spot silver fell 0.3% to USD 38.19 per ounce, platinum rose 1.3% to USD 1,350.98 and palladium eased 0.4% to USD 1,146.48.

(Reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

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