The following article was written by Tony Chrystopher, Financial Analyst at UFX.com’s Trading Support Center.
Your Weekly Trading Review by UFX.com – Sunday, August 20, 2017
Here are some of the major financial events of the past week and how they affected the global currency and commodity markets.
EUR/USD rose by 0.32%, closing at $1.1761. The GBP/USD increased by a slight 0.02%, closing at a £1.2870 exchange rate.
Gold dropped by -0.06% as of last week’s market close, closing at $1,291.60. Crude Oil jumped by a massive 3.02%, closing at 48.51 a barrel.
The Dow, S&P 500, and NASDAQ all ended the week down in value. The Dow fell by -0.35%, closing at 21,674.51, the S&P 500 by -0.18%, closing at 2,425.55, and the NASDAQ by -0.09%, ending the week at 6,216.53.
Australia is the Most Recent Country to Begin Bitcoin Regulation
Bitcoin’s value has grown to a whopping $73 billion market value. One of the reasons that people love using Bitcoin is because of its decentralised and non-regulatory status. This could soon change, if some governments get their way. China and Japan have started to implement regulations for Bitcoin mining and exchange, and now Australia has proposed policies regulating the popular cryptocurrency. Although many enjoy using it anonymously, government regulators are insisting on stricter policies in order to fight financial crimes like money laundering, terrorist financing, and tax evasion.
Lower Sugar Consumption Affects Food Industry
For many years now, nutritionists and health care experts have warned against high sugar consumption. The healthy food trend is starting to affect sugar producers in high producing countries like Australia, Brazil, Mexico, and the United States. This is causing leading food companies like Kellogg, Nestle, and Unilever to offer healthier options in many of their products. It’s probably too soon to predict how sugar producers will keep generating revenue while health concerns continue to grow, but they’re watching industry trends to see what happens next and to plan accordingly.
That’s our summary of the financial headlines from the past week. Good luck with this week’s trading and stay tuned for our next review.