Gold futures struggle for gains as Fed decision looms

(MarketWatch) -- Gold futures edged higher in electronic trading Wednesday as the U.S. dollar weakened against its major counterparts, weighed down by expectations the Federal Reserve will keep its low-rate stance at the end of its monetary-policy meeting.

Gold for August delivery rose $5.40, or 0.4%, to $1246.40 an ounce in electronic trading on Globex. The contract ended the prior New York floor session with a 10-cent gain, with advances held back by uncertainty about the Fed's rate decision.

If the Fed keeps rates low, that should weigh on the U.S. dollar, analysts say. Weaknesses in paper currencies - such as the euro - have been a boost to gold, which has soared to highs in both euro and dollar denominations, in part because of its attraction as an alternative to paper currencies.

Bank of England's Sentance makes first call for rate hike

Bank of England's Sentance makes first call for rate hike
Monetary Policy Committee voted 7-to-1 to leave rates on hold

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Fears over rising inflation led a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee to vote for an interest rate hike earlier this month in the first such call since rates were cut to an all-time low last year.

Andrew Sentance, an external member of the MPC, was the lone voice calling for a quarter-point hike as the MPC voted 7-to-1 to leave rates on hold at 0.5% and maintain the central banks' 200 billion pound ($297 billion) asset repurchase program, according to the minutes of the June 10 meeting released Wednesday.

The U.K.'s key rate has been held at 0.5% since March 2009 and is starting to spark inflation fears for Sentance, if not for Governor Mervyn King and other MPC members.
The annual rate of inflation in May was 3.4%, a slight improvement on the 3.7% in April, but still well above the central bank's 2% target rate.

The minutes said Sentance in particular was worried that inflation had proved so resilient in the aftermath of the recession and noted that demand was now growing faster than the typical pre-recession rates. "For this member, it was appropriate to begin to withdraw gradually some of the exceptional monetary stimulus provided by the easing in policy in late 2008 and 2009," the bank said.

Other members, however, argued that the likelihood of a sharp drop in inflation had actually increased because of the tighter fiscal policy as well as the potential for a further reduction in bank lending as worries about sovereign debt exposure pushed up funding costs for banks.

U.S. stock futures climb ahead of Fed decision

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures rose Wednesday, pointing to a partial recapturing of the previous session's losses as the Federal Reserve is expected to again refrain from signalling interest rate hikes.

U.S. stocks finished sharply lower Tuesday, hurt by disappointing housing data as well as a judge ruling against an Obama administration moratorium on deepwater drilling -- a decision the market interpreted as spurring protracted legal battles ahead.

Attention turns to the Federal Open Market Committee, which releases its interest rate decision at 2:15 p.m. Eastern. Economists don't expect a rate move or even a changing of the language saying rates will be kept low for an extended period of time.

Overseas, minutes from the last Bank of England minutes revealed the first vote in favor of hiking rates from historically low levels of 0.5%. Seven other members voted to keep rates at 0.5%. The lone rate hike call sparked gains for the British pound language saying rates will be kept low for an extended period of time

British pound gains after BOE minutes show divide

PORT LOUIS, Mauritius (MarketWatch) -- The British pound /quotes/comstock/21o!x:sgbpusd (CUR_GBPUSD 1.4915, +0.0108, +0.7295%) rose against the euro and U.S. dollar Wednesday after minutes from the Bank of England's latest monetary policy meeting showed one panel member voted for a quarter-point increase to interest rates. Higher interest rates generally support a country's currency. The British pound bought $1.49, up about 0.5% from $1.4822 in late North American trading Tuesday. Against the euro, it traded at 1.2281 euros, up about 0.4%.

EUR/USD Menuju Level 1.2200 Akibat Anjloknya Nikkei

EUR/USD, EUR/JPY melemah terkait anjloknya Nikkei (turun 1.5%) sehingga mendorong pemain pasar jangka pendek untuk melepas EUR, menurut trader senior Tokyo bank.

EUR/USD "tidak dapat menembus level 1.2500 (hari Senin), mendorong pemain pasar untuk menghindari posisi beli yang telah mereka lakukan selama beberapa hari terakhir, di tengah memburuknya sentimen pasar."
Ia mengatakan EUR/USD dapat melemah ke 1.2200 vs terakhir 1.2258; EUR/JPY melemah ke 110.00 vs 110.92.

Saham Seoul Dibuka Melemah Karena Wall Street, 227.65

Saham Seoul dibuka melemah hari Rabu setelah kejatuhan Wall Street dan lemahnya data home sales AS, membawa eksportir besar seperti Hyundai Motor dan LG Electronics merosot.

Indeks Harga Saham Komposit Korea (KOSPI) turun di 227.65 poin.

Saham AS Anjlok Akibat Data Penjualan Rumah

Saham AS turun untuk hari kedua setelah data penjualan rumah secara tidak terduga merosot, dan juga pernyataan dari pihak Obama yang akan mengajukan banding setelah hakim mencabut larangan enam bulan dari Gedung Putih untuk proyek pengeboran baru. Indeks S&P500 tergelincir 1,26% setelah sebelumnya sempat naik sebesar 0,5%, sementara Dow juga anjlok 1,06%.

"Kami hanya ingin mengambil sikap wait and see," kata Jack Ablin, salah satu manajer investasi di Chicago. "Timbul ketakutan akan kejatuhan kedua kalinya pada sektor perumahan. Kami tidak akan bertaruh terhadap pasar. Kami juga tidak mengurangi posisi beresiko. Kami sedang menanti indikator ekonomi lain dan pernyataan dari The Fed minggu ini. "

Hakim Federal AS Cabut Moratorium Obama

Hakim federal New Orleans mencabut larangan (moratorium) enam bulan untuk pengeboran lepas pantai yang dikeluarkan Presiden Barack Obama setelah terjadinya musibah tumpahan minyak terbesar dalam sejarah AS. Saham jasa pengeboran langsung melonjak setelah berita tersebut.

Presiden Obama memberlakukan larangan sementara terhadap semua pengeboran di perairan dengan kedalaman lebih dari 500 kaki terhitung sejak 27 Mei untuk memberikan waktu bagi komisi presiden mempelajari langkah-langkah perbaikan dalam keselamatan operasional pengeboran lepas pantai. Lebih dari selusin layanan jasa pengeboran lepas pantai dan perusahaan pemasok di Louisiana menggugat regulator AS untuk membatalkan larangan tersebut. Pemerintah Amerika Serikat sendiri mengatakan akan mengajukan banding atas keputusan pencabutan tersebut.
Hakim Distrik AS Martin Feldman hari ini memberikan perintah awal untuk menghentikan larangan itu.Dia juga "melarang" pemerintah AS menjatuhkan larangan pengeboran. Sementara pengacara pemerintah beralasan bahwa larangan itu didasarkan pada temuan dalam sebuah laporan AS menyusul tenggelamnya rig Deepwater Horizon di lepas pantai Louisiana bulan April lalu.

"Pengadilan tidak dapat memahami hubungan antara temuan dengan apa yang terkandung dalam larangan itu," kata Feldman dalam keputusannya. "Larangan sementara itu tanpa disertai parameter, tampaknya hanya berasumsikan kegagalan atas salah satu rig saja dan meskipun belum ada yang benar-benar mengetahui penyebabnya."