OPEC
OPEC Production Cut Accord Sets Tone for Wednesday’s Financial Markets
November 30, 2016
OPEC oil ministers in Vienna announced a 1.2 million barrel per day production cut to 32.5 mb/d. Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran are on board, and there’s reason to believe Russia will take actions to make the agreement work. It’s the first cut since 2008. Brent oil jumped above $50, and West Texas Intermediate crude […] More
Price of Oil Softens Further
October 26, 2016
It appears that Russia will probably not join OPEC’s effort to cut production. In response, West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell another 1.4% to $49.25 per barrel. Stocks in Europe and the Pacific Rim have performed weakly overnight, depressed by a number of weaker-than-expected corporate earnings reports. Equities lost 1.5% in New Zealand and Australia, […] More
Oil Price Rally Continued
October 19, 2016
West Texas Intermediate crude oil, which traded at $43.30 per barrel just a month ago, rose another 1.5% overnight to $51.02 per barrel. Investors are reasonably confident that OPEC will find the discipline with Russia to reach an accord limiting production. Comex gold advanced 0.7% to $1,271.50 per troy ounce, and the dollar is modestly […] More
Winding Down a Rollercoaster of a Week
December 4, 2015
The first week of December already had included weaker-than-expected monetary support from the ECB, weaker U.S. purchasing managers indices, mounting rhetorical evidence that the federal funds rate will be hiked this month, softer core inflation in the eurozone, public remarks from central bank chiefs in the U.S., Britain, Euroland, Japan, Australia, and Canada, and a […] More
Slow But Constructively Solid Start to Week of Christmas 2014
December 22, 2014
Last week’s post-FOMC rally in share prices remained intact in Asian and European trading. Stocks rose 1.9% in Australia, 1.3% in Hong Kong, 1.2% in India, 1.6% in Singapore, and 1.1% in Taiwan. Lesser gains were achieved in South Korea of 0.7%, China of 0.3%, and Japan of 0.1%, but equities in Europe so far […] More
U.S. Heading for Thanksgiving Day Break
November 26, 2014
Before U.S. markets close early today, a load of U.S. data were released including several downside surprises. New jobless insurance claims jumped 21K last week to 313K, and that boosted the 4-week average rise by 6.25K to 294K. The U. Michigan/Reuters gauge of consumer sentiment in November got revised downward to 88.8 from 89.4 reported […] More
European Equities Absorb New Hit
December 14, 2011
Share prices are so far down another 1.5% in France and 0.9% in Great Britain and Germany. Earlier, stocks fell 1.0% in China, 0.8% in India, 0.7% in Thailand and Sri Lanka, 0.5% in Hong Kong and Singapore, and 0.4% in Japan. The dollar had risen 0.5% against the kiwi, 0.2% versus the yen, loonie, […] More
Risk Aversion Sends Stocks and Commodities Lower and Yen and Dollar Higher
June 8, 2011
Euroland officials still haggling over the composition of a Greek bailout. OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna have range of stands over whether to raise oil production. Moody’s again warns that British AAA sovereign debt rating may get downgraded. Today’s release of the Fed Beige Book of regional trends comes amid mounting concern that U.S. growth […] More
Oil Prices Rocketed in the 00s
December 30, 2009
The past decade saw a quantum leap in oil price pressures. When oil and other commodity prices shot up in the 1970s, central banks lost control of inflation. Although general goods and services prices were very subdued nonetheless over the past decade, so too was economic growth. In the United States, for example, inflation of […] More
Somewhat Less Pressure on Greek Debt
December 22, 2009
The dollar was narrowly mixed overnight, easing 0.4% against the Canadian dollar and 0.1% versus the euro but advancing by 0.3% against sterling and the Australian dollar, 0.2% against the yen and Swiss franc, and 0.1% relative to the kiwi. Stocks are mostly higher, with the notable exception of China. Equities have risen 1.9% in […] More
