Rarely does a day go by without Donald Trump berating the Federal Reserve for not delivering more monetary easing measures. Yesterday was no different only this time the US President got his wish. The Fed shocked investors with an emergency rate cut of 50 basis points to counteract the impact of the coronavirus. This was [...]
Markets work in mysterious ways. The epidemic that originated from China shows no signs of abating yet risky assets performed one their biggest daily jumps yesterday. The US stock markets strengthened around 5% yesterday and European stock index futures are also on the rise this morning. Oil tracked equities and WTI gained nearly $2/bbl to [...]
Less than two weeks ago Donald Trump boasted of record-breaking highs on US stock indices. Not anymore. Financial markets were gripped last week by a fear factor as concerns over the escalating coronavirus outbreak reached fever pitch. The epidemic in China appears to have peaked but the rest of the world has seen a sharp [...]
The desperate search for clues about the impact of the coronavirus epidemic continues. This search at the moment appears to be futile. It is simply impossible to predict with great confidence what the economic effect of the epidemic will be. All one can do is to take daily or weekly snapshots and try to figure [...]
The impression on the impact of the Covid-19 based on last week’s price movements was as confusing and uncertain as the containment of the virus itself. The general fall in the stock markets and the 3.7% jump in gold suggested that investors remained concerned about the economic implications of the outbreak. The Shanghai Composite index, [...]
Supply issues are irrelevant at the moment. The chairman of the Libyan National Oil Corporation suggested that his country’s production has already fallen to 400,000 bpd from well above 1 mbpd and will plummet to 72,000 bpd soon unless the blockade of its pipelines and export terminals by forces loyal to General Khalifa Haftar are [...]
Oil started the new year on the front foot, albeit only just. Brent and WTI eked out respective gains of 25 cts/bbl and 12 cts/bbl on the first day trading of 2020. Nevertheless, underlying sentiment remains well supported by trade optimism and deeper OPEC-led cuts which took effect at the start of this month. There [...]
They met; they cut; and the market paid no attention. OPEC day turned out to be an underwhelming affair if the price action is anything to go by. Indeed, the two leading crude markers ended the session little changed. This is in spite of the fact that the OPEC+ producer alliance is bracing for deeper supply [...]
The noises coming out of Washington have been very confusing lately. A bigger than normal dose of uncertainty surrounds the trade policy of the US administration. It all started last Friday when President Trump demonstrated its support for the Hong Kong protesters. This week he raised the possibility of not striking any deal with China until [...]
Like the Grinch, the season of goodwill seems lost on the US President. We are barely halfway through the week and the self-declared “Tariff Man” has already made a series of protectionist moves. On Monday, he made the surprise announcement that tariffs on steel imports from Brazil and Argentina would be restored. As if for [...]
