US Treasury Sec. Yellen: Urging Congress to act as soon as possible on debt limit

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

In a statement published on Friday, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged Congress to act as soon as possible on debt limit, as reported by Reuters.

Additional takeaways

"US will meet statutory limit on debt on August 1."

"Treasury will suspend the sale of state and local government securities at noon on July 30."

"Treasury will need to start taking certain additional extraordinary measures to prevent a US default if Congress does not act by August 2."

Market reaction

These comments don't seem to be having a significant impact on market sentiment. As of writing, the S&P 500 Index was up 0.7% on the day at 4,398.

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

EUR/USD struggles for direction around 1.1800

EUR/USD is churning around the 1.1800 area on Thursday, struggling to find direction in response to modest gains in the US Dollar. Earlier on Thursday, the ECB matched consensus and left its policy rates unchanged, while President Largarde delivered quite a neutral press conference.

GBP/USD loses the grip, back to 1.3550

GBP/USD extends Wednesday’s pullback on Thursday, drifting down towards two-week lows around the 1.3550 zone. Further improvement in the Greenback and the dovish hold by the BoE at its meeting earlier in the day kept the demand for the British Pound subdued for now.

Gold meets resistance near $5,000

Gold is back under pressure on Thursday, retreating to the $4,800 region per troy ounce against the backdrop of the firmer US Dollar and despite the prevailing risk-off sentiment. In addition, declining US Treasury yields across the curve seem to limit the sell-off for now.