OIL SEMMINGLY LOOKING TO EXTEND GAINS
In Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 262.95 points, or 0.90% to 29,420.92. The tech rout weighed on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, sending them down 4.97 points, or 0.14% to 3,545.53, and down 159.93 points, or 1.37% to 11,553.86, respectively. Although stocks were mixed Tuesday, the overall tone of the market was clearly positive even though Investors sold tech growth stocks that had rallied during the coronavirus pandemic and rushed into value names.
The stock markets in Europe seem to be opening slightly higher Wednesday as investors pause for a breather after this week’s strong gains on the back of the covid-19 vaccine hopes. The DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.2% lower, CAC 40 futures in France climbed 0.4% while the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. rose 0.2%.
Oil prices pushed higher Wednesday, continuing the recent positive tone generated by Pfizer’s vaccine news, and helped further by an industry report showing that U.S. crude inventories fell by more than expected. The American Petroleum Institute reported crude inventories dropped by 5.15 million barrels last week, with gasoline and diesel stockpiles also decreasing, according to people familiar with the data. Oil has rallied more than 11% over the past two days, buoyed initially by the election of Joe Biden as U.S. president and followed by a broader market surge on the vaccine news. The gains have come even as Covid-19 infections surged in Europe and the U.S., with Italy reporting the most fatalities since April and American cities including San Francisco announcing new restrictions.
In the SSA space, a key bondholder group looks set to reject Zambia’s request for an interest-payment holiday, putting the country on course to become the first African sovereign defaulter since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. There is consensus among the so-called Zambia External Bondholder Committee to refuse the proposal, with a voting deadline of Wednesday ahead of Friday’s meeting with creditors, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly.