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It's been an incredible couple of weeks in the markets, one in which we've seen another hawkish move from multiple central banks, big swings in stocks on the back of earnings, and tensions around Ukraine intensify. The result has been very volatile markets and while the coming week looks a little lighter on event risk, there's little reason to expect that the markets will suddenly settle down.

04-02-2022 15:46 GMT by Craig Erlam

Market Insights Podcast (Episode 291)

OANDA Senior Market Analyst Craig Erlam reviews the latest market news with Jonny Hart. They discuss the US jobs report and why it had such a big impact on the markets, before previewing the week ahead.

04-02-2022 14:33 GMT by Craig Erlam

NFP React: Payroll Shocker, Wall Street eyes half-point March liftoff, Amazon impresses

US stocks traded mixed after a surprisingly strong employment report made some investors nervous the Fed will be forced to be much more aggressive with fighting inflation. The Nasdaq was boosted after yesterday’s flawless Amazon earnings report. Amazon delivered strong eps and AWS revenue beats, reported a $12 billion gain from their bet on Rivian, and raised their annual Prime membership prices. Investors care about Cloud growth and future profits and Amazon’s earnings report had all those bo

04-02-2022 11:10 GMT by Edward Moya

Commodities and Cryptos: Oil surges, Gold hovers around $1800, Bitcoin $40k ceiling may get tested

Oil Crude prices seem to have a one-way ticket to $100 oil. This week’s rally in crude was supported by the OPEC+ decision to stick to their gradual increase strategy and as US production fell again. An artic blast is also disrupting some production in Texas and that is driving this latest price surge. Initially crude prices pared gains after a shockingly strong NFP report sent yields and the dollar higher, but that was short-lived as energy traders realized that the key takeaway is that the

04-02-2022 11:09 GMT by Edward Moya

Oil stays strong, gold volatile

Oil heading for USD 100? A winter storm in Texas appears to have been responsible for the latest spike in crude prices, as traders fret about the possibility of outages in the Permian Basin. In such a tight market, that's more than enough to encourage traders to buy what was the mildest of dips following the OPEC+ meeting earlier this week. With both Brent and WTI now comfortably above USD 90, it may just be a matter of time until we're closing in on triple-figures.

04-02-2022 08:43 GMT by Craig Erlam

Downbeat ahead of NFP

It's been another downbeat session in financial markets, with even US tech stocks losing recovery momentum ahead of the open as focus switches to the January jobs report. While earnings season has overall been something to reflect positively on, there have been plenty of potholes along the way that has continued to stall any recovery in the stock market. What's more, it's coming at a time of considerable uncertainty about the outlook which is weighing heavily on sentiment. Tech stocks bounced

04-02-2022 08:37 GMT by Craig Erlam

Sterling yawns after BoE hike

The British pound is slightly lower in Friday trading. It has been an excellent week for GBP/USD, which has gained 1.26%.

04-02-2022 07:58 GMT by Kenneth Fisher

Euro rockets as Lagarde talks hawkish

The euro has posted slight gains in the European session, as it trades around 1.1450. Thursday was an absolute barn-burner, as EUR/USD surged 1.18%, its best one-day performance since December 2020. Lagarde beats a retreat on rates The ECB did not raise rates at its meeting on Thursday, but some tweaks in the statement and hawkish comments from ECB President Lagarde were enough to send the euro soaring.

04-02-2022 04:51 GMT by Kenneth Fisher

US Close: Stocks tumble after Meta’s big miss, Jobless Claims and ISM Services

The tech rebound is officially over after both Facebook owner’s disastrous earnings and a couple major central bank decisions paved the way for borrowing costs to continue to surge. The ECB's hawkish shift opens the door for tightening this summer.

03-02-2022 15:48 GMT by Edward Moya

Commodities and Cryptos: Nat Gas volatility, WTI crude tops $90, Gold pares losses, Bitcoin lower

The UK power regulator approved a 54% increase for prices starting on April 1st. This follows the 12% price jump households saw in October. UK energy companies can now pass along the rise in natural gas prices to consumers, which will punish 15 million that rely on floating rate pricing.

03-02-2022 15:47 GMT by Edward Moya

Market Insights Podcast (Episode 290)

OANDA Senior Market Analyst Craig Erlam reviews the latest market news with Jonny Hart. Today they discussed the BoE meeting, change in the energy price cap and the ECB decision.

03-02-2022 15:07 GMT by Craig Erlam

EUR/GBP - Jumps after ECB

OANDA Senior Market Analyst Craig Erlam discusses EURGBP following the ECB and BoE meetings.

03-02-2022 13:01 GMT by Craig Erlam

Bank of Canada expects inflation to ease

Inflation has been rising in Canada, with December CPI hitting 4.8% y/y, a 30-year high. The Bank of Canada is keeping a watchful eye on inflation but has a new problem to worry about.

03-02-2022 12:19 GMT by Kenneth Fisher

Oil eases lower, gold falls below USD 1800

Oil softens but major correction unlikely Oil prices are softening a little again today, as they continue to struggle around the USD 90 level. This comes even as OPEC+ refused to be pressured into raising output faster in March - or perhaps be forced to do something they're unable to do right now.

03-02-2022 11:30 GMT by Craig Erlam

Stocks slide amid weak earnings and more tightening

European stock markets are coming under pressure on Thursday, with the moves being exacerbated by the realisation that rate hikes may come earlier and faster than thought. Equity markets were already under a little pressure today, as earnings from Meta and Spotify brought investors back down to earth with a bang. Results from Microsoft, Apple and Alphabet had been far more encouraging and it seemed that the worst could be over for big tech.

03-02-2022 11:23 GMT by Craig Erlam

Aussie steady as rally fizzles

The Australian dollar headed lower earlier in the day before recovering. In the North American session, AUD/USD is trading at 0.7137, down 0.01% on the day. The RBA policy meeting went as expected, with the bank winding up its bond asset programme while preaching caution.

03-02-2022 10:05 GMT by Kenneth Fisher

Euro rally pauses ahead of ECB

The ECB is expected to maintain monetary policy at today's meeting, but investors have been snapping up euros ahead of the meeting, with EUR/USD up 1.26% this week. The upswing in eurozone inflation, which was reinforced by the January record-breaking CPI report, has raised expectations that the ECB will implement a rate hike before the end of 2022.

03-02-2022 04:55 GMT by Kenneth Fisher

GBP in holding pattern as BoE meets

The British pound has put together an impressive rally this week, with gains of 1.11%. The currency has taken a pause ahead of a key BoE policy meeting later today. BoE expected to hike rates The Bank of England is widely expected to raise rates by 0.25% at today's meeting.

03-02-2022 04:12 GMT by Kenneth Fisher

Oil whips around, gold steady above USD 1800

Oil goes on wild ride Energy traders knew today was going to be a wild ride with another OPEC+ meeting, the weekly EIA crude oil inventory report, and as Ukraine-Russia tensions intensified. OPEC+ meetings are a big wildcard, with some meetings getting dragged out for days, while others end very quickly.

02-02-2022 13:28 GMT by Edward Moya

Alphabet results sends tech stocks higher, ADP impacted by omicron, bitcoin wall at USD 40k

Investors are focusing on what has been a mostly positive earnings season, also shrugging off a negative private payroll report that was clearly impacted by the omicron variant spread in January. Google crushed earnings and that optimism has many traders feeling that the bottom is in for the mega-cap tech giants. Apple and Google have made Wall Street turn more optimistic about earnings season and that is largely because some of these tech giants are still delivering impressive results despite

02-02-2022 13:07 GMT by Edward Moya

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