At a speech in Jackson Hole, Wyo., on Friday, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the “case for a rate hike has strengthened in recent months”.
Advertisement
Yellen gave little indication of when the Fed would move but Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer suggested that a move as soon as next month could be possible.
Yellen, addressing a gathering of global central bankers on Friday, said the central bank was close to meeting its goals of maximum employment and stable prices, while describing consumer spending as “solid”.
The greenback rose to session highs after the ADP National Employment Report on Wednesday showed USA private employers adding 177,000 jobs in August, slightly above the 175,000 forecast by a Reuters survey of economists.
She did not indicate when the USA central bank might raise rates, and euro zone bond yields closed lower on Friday.
Gold held steady today above two-month lows hit in the previous session after the dollar gave up gains as investors wait for clues to the next USA interest rate hike from the nonfarm payrolls report tomorrow. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note bounced 8 basis points to 1.661 percent, the yield on 5-year note climbed 9 basis points to 0 1.225 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year note also increased 9 basis points to 0.837 percent.
The average fee for a 30-year mortgage fell to 0.5 point this week from 0.6 point last week.
MSCI’s all-country world equity index was last down 0.15 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 417.89.
The nonfarm-payrolls data is one of the most highly anticipated monthly economic reports, as it reveals the health of the USA labor market and helps the Fed set its path for monetary policy.
In the exchange-traded funds followed by FastMarkets, holdings dropped 11.2 tonnes to 2,105 tonnes – another sign that investors are looking elsewhere after the dollar surged and general poor backdrop for safe-haven assets.
-Holdings in bullion-backed exchange traded funds fell 11.3 metric tons to 2,021.3 tons on Wednesday, the biggest decline since August 12, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Turning to European markets, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC-40 were up 0.3 percent and 0.9 percent respectively while the dollar gained 0.1 percent to 1.1144 against the euro.
Spot gold rose 0.3 per cent to $1,314.19 per ounce at 0415 GMT.
Advertisement
Revised non-farm productivity quarter-over-quarter in the second quarter was in line with estimates at -0.6 percent while revised unit labour in the same period was at 4.3 percent – it was expected at 2.0 percent. The euro fell to $1.1177 from $1.1289.
