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[IFX Gertrude]

Gold Prices Tumble to Lowest in Almost 7 Weeks amid Firm Dollar



Gold prices fell to its weakest in almost seven weeks early on Monday, as the U.S. dollar climbed while equities advanced, amid rising expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates in December.

Spot gold fell 0.2 percent at $1,276.47 per ounce, after previously hitting its lowest since mid-August at $1,273.90. The precious metal marked its largest monthly drop so far this year in September.

U.S. gold futures for December delivery declined 0.5 percent to $1,278.90 an ounce.

Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said that he still has "pencilled in" an interest rate hike by the end of the year, and three more rate hikes in 2018, in line with most of his colleagues at the central bank.

The dollar was up 0.1 percent versus a basket of major currencies and rose 0.2 percent against the Japanese yen.

U.S. President Donald Trump recently brushed off the prospect of talks with North Korea as a waste of time, a day after his own secretary of state said the United States was maintaining open lines of communication with Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong Un.

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[IFX Gertrude]

COLOMBIA: Colcap Closes Steady Despite Oil Fall



Colcap, the main index of the Colombian Stock Exchange, closed Monday's session stable, amid a low trading volume, in a day in which oil fell by more than 2%.

Camilo Silva, an analyst at Valora Inversiones, said that the Colcap recorded a mixed behavior among its constituents, while crude prices abroad fell because of the skepticism among market players that the United States could reduce its oil production.

Regarding local companies, the state-owned Colombian oil company Ecopetrol reported that it was included in the technical recovery group of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which includes world powers in the application of this technology of oil production.

Meanwhile, the Colombian government affirmed on Monday that if the Avianca's pilots do not appoint an arbitrator to its litigation against the air company, it will be selected by lottery.

The shares of Cemex (+1.91%), Preferencial Bancolombia (+0.59%), Cemargos (+0.34%), and ?xito (+0.13%) rose, while Grupo Aval (-0.75%), Davivienda (-0.66%), Banco de Bogot? (-0.64%), and Conconcreto (-0.49%) fell.

The locally traded U.S. dollar closed the day at 2,950.00 Colombian pesos, marking a 0.37% rise, as the euro weakened and oil fell abroad. Ramses Pestanapalmett, an analyst at Ultraserfinco, said that the euro is falling against its peers due to the political tensions in Catalonia, where people voted for separating the region from Spain.

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[IFX Gertrude]

U.S. Yields Slightly Advance after Strong Manufacturing Data



U.S. Treasury rose as investors weighed in a strong reading by a U.S. manufacturing activity gauge and geopolitical issues, such as the Catalonian independence vote and the most violent shooting in recent U.S. history.

Treasury yields slightly fell from their intraday peaks hit after a survey of Japanese firms showed optimism among the country's top manufacturers was at a record-high, indicating global growth continued to gather momentum from Japan. Historically, the nation has had difficulty curing deflation and rebooting its stagnant economy.

Across the board, U.S. government bond climbed by around a basis point. The 10-year Treasury yield advanced to 2.337 percent, while the two-year note yield advanced to 1.487 percent. Meanwhile, the 30-year bond yield rose up to 2.866 percent.

One of the factors moving the markets is a Las Vegas mass shooting on Sunday, which left a minimum death toll of 58 people and over 500 injured individuals. Another is a disputed referendum on independence held by a region of Spain, Catalonia. The vote resulted in violent incidents as Madrid attempted to bar the referendum from occurring.

However, earlier in the session, Treasuries had initially traded higher after the Bank of Japan's Tankan survey showed that sentiment among big manufacturers reached a decade-long high, up to 22. The surge in the reading is seen to give policymakers the confidence to continue loosening its monetary policy. But the data in focus was the ISM manufacturing index for September, which clocked in at 60.8 percent, its highest reading since 2004. The figures surpassed estimates.

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[IFX Gertrude]

Singapore Private Sector Accelerates In September - Nikkei



The private sector in Singapore continued to expand in September, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Nikkei revealed on Wednesday with a PMI score of 53.7.

That's up from 53.2 in August, and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

Individually, there were faster rises in both new orders and output, while export growth hit a record high.

Backlogs rose again despite additional staff numbers.

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[IFX Gertrude]

Trump’s Tax Overhaul Plan Hit with New Criticism



President Donald Trump's plan to revamp the U.S. tax code came under fire once more on Tuesday from two renowned Wall Street figures, including Warren Buffet who raised the Republican push to reduce the U.S. corporate rate.

Buffett and BlackRock Inc. CEO Larry Fink both indicated in separate interviews that the corporate rate may not have to be reduced as deeply as proposed by the White House and top Republicans in Congress.

In an interview with CNBC, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said the corporate tax rate did not affect the competitiveness of U.S. businesses.

Meanwhile, Fink said a corporate rate as high as 27 percent could still give U.S. businesses' some breathing room, while preventing the widening in the federal budget deficit. During an interview on Bloomberg TV, Fink said that the current proposal will mean a big expansion of the country's deficits.

The Republican tax plan outlined last month calls for reducing the corporate income tax rate to 20 percent from the current level of 35 percent, which majority of multinational firms are avoiding by taking advantage of loopholes in the tax code.

Buffett added that the planned elimination of the estate tax under the Republican's plan is a 'terrible mistake'. Given that it only impacts a small percentage of Americans, scrapping the tax would not have widespread effects, he said.

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[IFX Gertrude]

COLOMBIA: Colcap Falls 0.26% Amid Profit-taking And Oil Decrease Abroad



Colcap, the main index of the Colombian Stock Exchange, fell 0.26% Wednesday, closing at 1,484.12 points with the most of the shares in red.

Andr?s Fonseca, an analyst at Alianza Valores, said that the profit-taking on Bancolombia's shares moves ahead amid a continued selling trend after the FTSE index rebalance.

Meanwhile, the decline in oil prices pushed Ecopetrol shares down 0.36%.

Avianca dropped after the Colombian Association of Civil Aviators (Acdac) rejected a resolution issued by the Civil Aeronautics of Colombia to allow the air company to hire foreign pilots to cover the gap a strike by its pilots.

The shares of ?xito (+0,90%), Nutresa (+0.67%), Cemargos (+0,40%), Grupo Aval (+0.38%), and Cesia (+0.22%) rose, while Preferencial Bancolombia (-1.75%), Bancolombia (-1.10%), ETB (-0.97%), and Ecopetrol (-0.36%) fell.

The locally traded U.S. dollar closed the day at 2,935.30 Colombian pesos, marking a 0.67% fall, amid the uncertainty related to the shortlist released by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, to nominate a replacement for the current U.S. Federal Reserve bank chairwoman Janet Yellen.

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[IFX Gertrude]

Yellen Says Fed Working to Properly Adjust Bank Regulations



Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen expressed her support for ensuring that financial regulations are not excessively oppressive for banks.

Speaking at a conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Yellen said the Fed has been working hard to ensure that the U.S. central bank's regulation and supervision of banks are customized appropriately to the size, complexity, and roles varying institutions have in the financial system.

The Fed chief's comments were mostly in line with her prior remarks that the Fed is putting into consideration the option of easing some of the regulatory burden on lenders, particularly the smaller banks.

Yellen did not comment regarding her plans during the event. She did not also mention anything regarding the path of monetary policy or the economic outlook.

But she underlined the recent move by the Fed to reduce cut red tape by simplifying several regulatory requirements. She told the conference that the Fed have been focused on ensuring that the much-required improvements to regulation and supervision since the crisis are needed and not 'unduly burdensome' for community banks.

Yellen's remarks comes amid speculation in the market who will be her successor as the chair of the Fed when her term expires in early February.

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[IFX Gertrude]

Hong Kong Private Sector Expands In September - Nikkei



The private sector turned to expansion in September, the latest survey from Nikkei revealed on Friday with a PMI score of 51.2.

That's up from 49.7 in August, and it moves above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

Individually, the index was boosted by renewed growth in new orders and output, although firms remain pessimistic about business outlook.

Supply shortages helped to drive up input costs.

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[IFX Gertrude]

Gold Steady Ahead of U.S. Payrolls Data



Gold prices were steady on Friday ahead of the release of the U.S. jobs data later in the day, with prices being restrained from moving upwards as the dollar stood near a seven-week peak.

Spot gold was flat at $1,268.52 per ounce. It fell 0.5 percent the session earlier.

U.S. gold futures for December delivery dropped 0.2 percent at $1,270.90 an ounce.

The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits dropped more than expected last week, but the sustained impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma on the data made it difficult to get a definite picture of the labour market.

According to Kansas City Fed President Esther George, the Federal Reserve will need to hike U.S. interest rates further in order to keep the economy on course to full employment and the central bank's two percent inflation goal.

Expectations of monetary tightening were also backed by Philadelphia Fed Bank President Patrick Harker saying he was still expecting one more rate hike this year and three next year.

UBS trimmed its average forecast for the precious metal for this year to $1,270 from $1,300 taking into account the likelihood of a December rate hike weighing on the market, metals strategist Joni Teves said.

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[IFX Gertrude]

New Zealand Dollar Tumbles to 4-Month Low amid Government Discussions



The New Zealand dollar plunged to a four-month low following the release of a final vote count for the nation's general election, which failed to name the winner.

The small nationalist New Zealand First Party continues to be main power after the final count revealed that the governing National Party lost some ground against the center-left Labour-Green bloc, compared with the preliminary tally announced on the Sept. 23 poll day.

The New Zealand currency dropped to $0.7060 when markets opened on Monday, its weakest since early June from $0.7090 on Friday evening. It stood at $0.7066 during midday.

NZ First continued negotiations on Monday with both the Labour and National, as it awaits its self-imposed deadline of Oct. 12 to announce which party it would support.

According to Imre Speizer, head of NZ strategy at Westpac, “it remains unclear which way NZ First will swing, and when it will announce its intentions”. As a result, “the election-related uncertainty hanging over NZD markets is likely to persist until the composition of the government is announced.”

Con Williams, economist at ANZ Bank, says “the downward bias for the NZD will likely continue following the tallying of the final vote count”.

The Labour and New Zealand First hopes to hold down immigration, renegotiate particular trade deals and adjust the role of the central bank.

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