There were some strong moves in the markets yesterday and they were very volatile, the US dollar fell against most currencies, while the USD/JPY pair, which often stole the spotlight, continued to decline.
At the same time, investors chose to play alternately in indices and stocks, as the Dow Jones index closed at a new record high yesterday, and the Nasdaq index fell by almost 3% in its worst performance since December 2022, gold also rose per ounce to its highest level at 2,483 dollars, but stumbled again with today's close, but the precious metal is still ready to look for new record levels and is currently heading towards the levels of 2500 dollars.
Oil prices also rose yesterday, supported by a larger-than-expected weekly decline in US crude inventories, as US crude inventories fell by almost 4.9 million barrels last week.
On the other hand, the most important news today will be what the European Central Bank (ECB) will reveal about its latest decision on monetary policy on July 18, and the question on everyone's mind right now is, Will the ECB cut the interest rate for the second time in a row or will the bank keep it steady ?
Based on what the bank's board members have said recently, the majority of experts do not expect another reduction, as well as the comments made by Christine Lagarde in favor of this option, as well as statements by members such as Joachim Nagel, governor of the German central bank, and Claes Nott from the Dutch bank. Analysts predict that since annual inflation in the eurozone is not yet close to the 2% target, the bank will not rush to overdo its monetary policy easing, as they expect the ECB to pave the way for imposing new cuts in September and December, thereby skipping July and October.
Another reason why experts believe that the ECB will not cut the interest rate in July is the content of the minutes of the previous board meeting, which revealed that some members still doubt that the annual inflation rate is on its way to 2%, and they want to see new reports before making sure that the fight against inflation is moving towards the target, indicating that they see no need to rush to cut rates in 2024.
