Investing in Currencies

By Herbert Lash and Naomi Rovnick NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) -Bond prices slid and a gauge of global equity performance closed a tad higher in choppy trading on Friday after a surprisingly strong U.S. labor report increased the odds that the Federal Reserve can engineer a "soft landing" for the economy. U.S. employers hired more workers than expected last month while raising wages at a solid clip, leading markets to initially dial back bets the Fed would start cutting interest rates in March. But a weak report from the Institute for...

The initial week of the year witnessed extraordinary cash inflows into money market funds, setting a record, according to BofA strategists. In the week ending January 3, cash received $123.1 billion, bonds attracted $10.6 billion, and stocks saw $7.6 billion in inflows. Notably, gold experienced an outflow of $800 million during the same period. BofA strategists highlighted the contrasting trends of a contracting ISM, resilient payrolls, strong stocks, and a slowdown in job openings. They add that it is “critical Fed eases H1 to avert corporates cutting jobs and capex...

Investing.com - The U.S. dollar gained in early European trade Friday, on course for its strongest week since July ahead of the release of the widely-watched monthly official jobs report. At 04:10 ET (09:10 GMT), the Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded 0.3% higher at 102.410, set for a weekly gain of around 1.3%. Dollar set for strong weekly gains The dollar has rebounded sharply this week as economic resilience has prompted traders to scale back expectations that the Federal Reserve could...