Market news

Investing.com – The Australian dollar was up against the US dollar on Friday.

At the time of publication of this material, AUD/USD is traded at 0.7513, adding 0.01%.

We believe that support is now at around 0.7446, Tuesday’s low, and resistance is likely to come in at 0.7566, Monday’s high.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar fell against the euro and rose against the Japanese yen. EUR/AUD, gaining 0.08%, reached the level of 1.5713, while AUD/JPY, having risen by 0.16%, reached the level of 83.35.

SOFIA/BRUSSELS, May 17 (Reuters) – EU leaders on Wednesday tried to reach a consensus in the face of the threat of US import duties on steel and aluminum, while some members of the bloc fear a trade war, while others refuse to make concessions.

US President Donald Trump in March introduced a 25 percent duty on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum for reasons of national security that do not yet apply for supplies from the EU until the end of negotiations on June 1.

French President Emmanuel Macron and other EU leaders who gathered at the summit in Bulgaria said that the bloc will not negotiate at gunpoint. Presiding at the summit, Donald Tusk said on Wednesday that the unity within the EU is key.

“In this case, unity is our main strength, and my goal is simple: we must stand on our own,” Tusk said at a press conference. “This means an unlimited exemption from US duties on aluminum and steel, then we will discuss possible liberalization of trade with the United States “.

According to him, the EU and the US are friends and partners, so US duties can not be justified by considerations of national security. “The very idea that the EU can be a threat to the US is absurd,” he said, adding that Trump deprived Europe of “all illusions” by launching a trade dispute and withdrawing from a nuclear deal with Iran.

“Looking at the latest decisions of President Trump, one might even think that enemies are not needed with such friends, but, frankly speaking, Europe should be grateful to President Trump, because thanks to him we got rid of all illusions,” Tusk said.

Discussions will continue at the meeting of EU trade ministers on May 22. Berlin calls on the bloc partners to be more flexible on the eve of the US-appointed deadline of June 1. Germany is Europe’s largest exporter to the US and runs the risk of losing more than 1 million jobs in the case of the EU-Washington trade war.

According to a source in the EU, the leaders of the bloc agreed that in exchange for an unlimited exemption from duties they could discuss with Washington deepening cooperation in the field of LNG, WTO reform and expanding access to each other’s markets for the automotive industry, as well as public procurement.

The European Commission earlier said that it will respond to duties by introducing its own tariffs on American goods, including motorcycles and whiskey. As expected, this week the European Commission will notify about its plans for the WTO.

($ 1 = 0.8444 euros)

Investing.com – The volume of construction in the euro area in March 2018 decreased by 0.3% compared to the previous month, when it was recorded a decrease of 0.7%, according to the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat). The decrease in the pace of construction is fixed for the third month in a row.
In annual terms, growth was 0.8%.

In 28 EU countries, the decline in construction volumes in the month before last accelerated to 0.9% after 0.8% in February. In annual terms, the indicator fell by 1.3%.

Among the EU member states, for which data are available for February, the greatest decline for the month was recorded in Hungary (-10.3%), Romania (-9.2%) and France (-2.6%), and the most noticeable growth was observed in Spain (3.1%), Slovakia (2.3%) and Belgium (1.1%).

In annual terms, the most noticeable growth rates were in Poland (18.8%), Spain (17.1%) and Slovakia (4.9%). The decrease was observed in Romania (-10.8%), Great Britain (8.1%) and France (-2.5%).

Investing.com – Statements by European Union representatives on trade relations with the United States are getting tougher in recent days, Brussels is dissatisfied with both the general direction of US President Donald Trump’s trade policy and with separate measures, including duties on aluminum and steel imports and the resumption of sanctions against Iran.

Foreign trade issues are among the most important on the agenda of the EU summit – the Western Balkans in Sofia on Thursday.

On Thursday, the European Commission (EC) issued a document providing for the possibility of introducing a reciprocal duty on imports from the United States of goods worth a total of 2.8 billion euros per year. Fees at a rate of 25% can be entered from June, 20th.

The European Commission also left itself the opportunity to expand the response in the future.

“Despite the fact that the US characterizes these measures as providing security, in fact, they are special protective measures,” the decision of the EC says. “They include actions that distort the balance of concessions and obligations arising from the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement, , and limit imports in order to protect domestic industry from foreign competition and ensure its commercial prosperity. “

Members of the WTO have the right to introduce special protective measures in cases where increased imports of a product from third countries cause or threaten to cause serious damage to local producers, but they should strive to maintain the existing volume of agreements and concessions within the WTO.

D.Trump, from March 23, introduced a 25% duty on steel imports and 10% on aluminum imports, but granted temporary exceptions for Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the EU, Australia and Argentina.

On Wednesday, European Council Chairman Donald Tusk said that the EU will try to persuade the US administration to abandon the increased duties on imports of aluminum and steel from Europe.

The EU wants to get the US permanently exempted from new duties, in return “we are ready to discuss the mutual reduction of trade barriers,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who arrived in Sofia to attend the summit, told journalists on Thursday. She admitted that the agreement with Iran is not ideal, but it needs to be preserved, refined, and negotiated with Tehran on the basis of this agreement, reports Bloomberg.

The European Union is considering the possibility of imposing duties on goods from the United States as one of the options for responding to the resumption of US sanctions against Iran, EU Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources Gunther Oettinger said in an interview with German radio station Deutschlandfunk on Thursday.

“You can impose your own fees, because Americans also have important goods and services in the industry, in the digital industry, which they want to sell in the European market,” he said.

“Trump despises the weaklings, if we step down step by step, if we silently agree, if we become a junior partner of the United States, then we will lose,” G. Oettinger believes.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron, during a press conference in Sofia, called for the separation of trade and interaction with Iran in relations with the US.

Minfin.com.ua – The banking unit of the Japanese financial group Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) plans to conduct a large-scale testing of its own digital currency.

Testing of MUFG Coin crypto currency will begin next year in several regions of the Land of the Rising Sun. It is expected that about 100,000 account holders of MUFG bank will test the new crypto currency.

Participants will install the application on their smartphones, which converts their deposits into a digital currency. One MUFG coin will cost 1 yen.

They will be able to use the crypto currency to make payments in places like restaurants, shops, etc. They can also transfer the digital currency to the accounts of other project participants.

May 17 (Reuters) – Wall Street rose on Wednesday due to a rise in the price of shares of retailers and technology firms, while the index of small-cap companies Russell 2000 reached a record high, despite the rise in the yield of US state bonds to a maximum of almost seven years.

Shares of small-cap companies continued to show better dynamics than their larger competitors. Russell 2000 reached a record high, completing trading growth of 1 percent.

Macy’s Inc shares gained 10.8 percent after the department store operator reported on the quarterly results that exceeded expectations and raised the profit forecast.

Macy’s results pushed up shares of other companies in the sector: J.C. Penney Co Inc, Kohl’s Corp, Nordstrom Inc (NYSE: JWN) and Target Corp (NYSE: TGT).

The yield of 10-year US state bonds reached 3.10 percent for the first time since July 2011, continuing to exert pressure on the shares.

Investors’ sentiment was affected by the renewed fears around the DPRK after Pyongyang canceled the summit talks with Seoul and called into question the holding of a meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.

The Dow Jones index increased by 0.25 percent to 24,768.93 points, the S & P 500 index – by 0.41 percent to 2.722.46 points, the Nasdaq Composite index – by 0.63 percent to 7.398.30 points.

Nine of the 11 main sectors of the S & P 500 completed trading in positive territory, the decline closed the index of utilities and real estate. Techsector added 0.4 percent.

Shares of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) fell by 0.6 percent amid reports that the head of the company Mark Zuckerberg will address the European Parliament, answering the deputies ‘questions about unauthorized access to social network users’ data.

TOKYO, May 17 (Reuters) – The dollar was held near the high of five months on Thursday after the euro fell to a five-month low amid fears that political uncertainty in Italy could affect the entire euro zone.

Euro to 8.38 MSK traded at $ 1,1823 after a decline to $ 1.1763 the day before – the minimum since December 18. Since the beginning of the week, the single European currency has lost almost 1 percent.

Pressure on the euro is a political uncertainty in Italy, where populist parties announced their intention to create a coalition, hoping to lead the new government.

According to the draft program of a potential coalition involving the “Five Star Movement” and the “League”, the parties plan to ask the European Central Bank to write off part of Italy’s debt of 250 billion euros.

The dollar index to the basket of major currencies slipped 0.17 percent to 93,237, but was held near the 93.632 mark, the maximum since December 19, reached on Wednesday.

The pound sterling rose by 0.38 percent to $ 1.3544 after The Telegraph reported that Britain will notify Brussels of its readiness to remain in the EU customs union after 2021.

To yen, the dollar fell by 0.1 percent to 110.30.

The Australian dollar added 0.3 percent to $ 0.7537 after rising by 0.6 percent the day before due to a rise in raw material prices.

The Canadian dollar rose by 0.2 percent to 1.2766 against the US dollar, continuing the rally that began on the eve of it.

The New Zealand dollar went up by 0.1 percent to $ 0.6905 after rising from a minimum of five months at $ 0.6851 in the previous session.

Investing.com – The Australian stock market ended Thursday’s trading with a fall against the background of negative dynamics from the sectors of industry, health and real estate funds in Australia.

At the close of the Sydney Stock Exchange, the S&P/ASX 200 declined by 0.36%.

In the growth leaders among the components of the S&P/ASX 200 index following the results of today’s trading were shares of Galaxy Resources Ltd (AX:GXY), which went up by 0.255 points (8.20%), closing at 3.365. Quotes Orocobre Ltd (AX:ORE) increased by 0.360 p. (6.52%), completing trades at the level of 5.880. Paper Sigma Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AX:SIG) rose in price by 0.022 p. (3.82%), closing at around 0.748.

The leaders of the fall were shares of Treasury Wine Estates Ltd (AX:TWE), whose price fell by 1.110 p. (6.16%), finishing the session at 16.910. Shares of Westpac Banking Corp (AX:WBC) climbed by 1.225 p. (4.05%), closing at 28.985, while Bellamys Australia Ltd (AX:BAL) declined by 0.690 p. (3.99%) and completed trades at around 16,620.

On the Sydney Stock Exchange, the number of more expensive securities (619) exceeded the number of closed in the red (591), while the quotes of 374 shares remained unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX volatility index, which is formed on the basis of trading options on the S&P/ASX 200, rose by 4.06% to 11.804.

Futures on gold futures for delivery  in June added 0.05%, or 0.60, reaching $ 1.292.10 per troy ounce. As for other products, the price of WTI futures for delivery in June increased by 0.36%, or 0.26, to $ 71.75 per barrel. Futures for futures for Brent crude for delivery in July rose 0.21%, or 0.17, to $ 79.45 a barrel.

Meanwhile, the AUD/USD pair in the Forex market increased by 0.33% to 0.7540, while the AUD/JPY quotations increased by 0.20%, reaching 83.14.

Futures on the USD index fell by 0.20% to 93.08.

Investing.com – Oil prices resumed their climb to the close of the session in the US on Wednesday and Thursday continued on the back of a decline in US inventories and new fears related to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the Korean peninsula, Dow Jones writes.

Both oil brands update their highs since the fall of 2014, while the spread between them continues to increase, signaling high demand in Europe and Asia.

The quotation of July futures for Brent crude at the London Stock Exchange ICE Futures to 8:12 Moscow time on May 17 rose by $ 0.08 (0.10%) – to $ 79.36 per barrel.

WTI oil for June delivery in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) rose by $ 0.22 (0.31%) on Thursday morning, to $ 71.71 per barrel.

On Wednesday, the price of Brent increased by $ 0.85 (1.1%), to $ 79.28 per barrel, WTI – by $ 0.18 (0.3%), to $ 71.49 per barrel.

According to the US Department of Energy, oil reserves in the country for the week ended May 11 fell by 1.4 million barrels, to 432.4 million barrels. Forecasts of analysts polled by S & P Global Platts, suggested a decrease in oil reserves by 2.3 million barrels.

According to the Ministry of Energy, gasoline reserves in the US fell by 3.79 million barrels, while distillates fell by 92,000 barrels.

Oil production in the US increased by 20 thousand barrels per day (b/d), to 10.723 million b/d.

The lower price of WTI compared to European and Middle Eastern benchmarks contributed to the growth of oil exports from the US to a record last week – 2.566 million b/d vs. 1.877 million b/d.

According to Tom Kloza, an analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, the contribution of exports to the reduction in oil reserves was 18 million barrels.

The market continues to wait for the presidential elections in Venezuela this weekend. According to CNBC, US authorities can impose sanctions on Venezuela, if they consider that the election was falsified.