Focus on growing BRICS, and Powell’s Jackson Hole speech! | MarketTalk: What’s up today? | Swissquote

Show notes

BRICS – which includes the world’s major energy-hungry nations like China and India, invited five countries - which happen to be the world’s top oil producers Saudi Araba, Iran, UAE, Egypt and Argentina - to join the bloc. This is an important step towards weakening the petro-dollar, though there are some important geopolitical barriers before BRICS becomes a solidly united union to challenge the Western dominance.
In the markets, those who expected the US dollar to tumble because BRICS are enlarging their alliance with top oil producers were disappointed yesterday. The US dollar extended gains to the strongest levels since the beginning of summer, as traders positioned for a hawkish speech from the Federal Reserve despite two Fed members hinting that the end of the Fed tightening is certainly near.
All eyes are on the Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole meeting today. Any hint of a higher neutral rate could wreak havoc in bond markets.
Listen to find out more!