Oil and gold prices, in addition to the US dollar index, declined during trading, as investors cautiously await the US Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates later this evening, Wednesday.
And by 07:20 am GMT, Brent crude futures for July delivery fell 0.7% to $75.35 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2 cents, or 0.4%, to $71.62.
At the same time during today's trading, global gold prices fell by 0.04% to 2015.86 dollars an ounce, with the dollar index declining 0.3%.
Attention awaits the decision that the US Federal Reserve will issue later today, Wednesday, regarding interest rates.
The US central bank is widely expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday. Investors will focus on any indications the bank issues as to whether it will pause interest rate hikes or continue tightening.
The US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 475 basis points in total since March last year, from a level close to zero, to the current range of 4.75%-5%.
Data on Tuesday showed new jobs fell in the United States for the third month in a row in March, and the rate of layoffs was the highest in more than two years, which means a slowdown in the labor market, which may help the Federal Reserve to combat inflation.
