Oil Continues Fall as Crude Inventory Stockpiles Rises
Major US indexes ended mixed as July hiring data disappoints and as concerns rose regarding coronavirus infections and impact. The Dow dropped 0.92%, the S&P 500 also followed with a fall by 0.46%. The Nasdaq, however, rises by 0.13%. The 10-year US treasury yields ended 1 bps up on the day, yielding around 1.1820. Oil fell for a third day in a row to a two-week low on Wednesday on a surprise build in US cruse stockpiles. Brent Crude fell almost 3% on Wednesday, ending the day at 70.38. The US dollar ticks up by 19 bps as shown on the DXY Chart.
Asian markets opened mixed today. China’s CSI 300 is down by 0.63% as investors worry about Beijing’s crackdown on online gaming companies, fertilizer producers and spirit makers. Japan’s NIKKEI is up by 0.52% trading at 27728.12 as momentum came from positive earnings from Nippon Yusen and Sony Group. HANG is currently trading 0.94% down. Australia’s ASX is up by 0.11%, contributors mostly by the commonwealth bank of Australia.
European shares ended at fresh highs on Wednesday with technology stocks hitting a 20-year peak, while optimism over the second-quarter earnings season continued to feed into positive sentiment. The European STOXX 600 index rose 0.6% to a record high of 468.22 points, extending its record-setting run to a third day. The German DAX rose 0.9%, the French CAC 40 added 0.3%. Technology stocks were the best performers for the day, surging 1.9% to levels last seen during the dot-com bubble. Recent buying into the sector has been driven by a rise in cases of the Delta coronavirus variant in Europe, given technology’s resilience to disruptions caused by the virus. The British FTSE 100 indicator rose 0.3%. UK’s PMI sinks to 59.6 in July, well above expectation of 57.8 and a 57.8 flash reading of last month. The Bank of England may move a step closer to tightening monetary policy, unwinding 900 trillion pounds ($1.2 trillion) government bond purchases while also opening the possibility that borrowing costs could be pushed below zero.
Yesterday, the Moscow Exchange index added 0.45%, with all the growth occurring in the first minutes after the opening. The RTS index rose by 0.16% – the dollar rate by the end of the main trading session increased by 29 kopecks. up to RUB 73,235 In favor of the ruble, it can be noted that today the Ministry of Finance announced a slight increase in foreign currency purchases in August compared to July.
The Russian Finance Ministry projects GDP growth above 4% in 2021, whereas inflation will substantially increase 5%, according to the ministry’s estimations.
Oil prices rose on Thursday, supported by tensions in the Middle East, but failed to recoup most of the previous day’s losses after a surprise build in crude stockpiles in the United States, the world’s top oil consumer. Brent crude oil futures rose by 19 cents, or 0.3%, to $70.57 a barrel by 0438 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures increased by 23 cents, or 0.3%, to $68.38 a barrel. Both benchmarks fell by more than $2 a barrel on Wednesday.
Gold was down on Thursday morning in Asia, as investors digested remarks from a top U.S. Federal Reserve official that indicated the central bank could begin asset tapering sooner than expected. Gold futures inched down 0.05% to $1,813.60 by 5:09 AM GMT. In other precious metals, silver was little changed at $25.34 per ounce, after it hit a near three-week peak on Wednesday. Platinum fell to an over seven-month low of $1,005.50 earlier in the session and was last down 1.5%., while palladium eased 0.1%.