Latest updates:
– Moods improved at the beginning of a new week as new coronavirus variant Omicron is said to cause only mild symptoms
– European and US equity futures trade above Friday’s closing prices
– Stocks in Asia are trading lower, attempting to catch up with Friday’s moves in Europe and US. Nikkei drops 1.6%, S&P/ASX 200 trades 0.5% lower and Kospi drops 0.9%
– OPEC decided to postpone 2 technical meetings from Monday and Tuesday to Wednesday and Thursday. Decision comes as OPEC wants to have more data on new Covid variant
– According to NTV broadcaster, Japan may ban all visitors from entering the country. Australia is reviewing its border reopening plans. United Kingdom decided to reimpose mask mandate in shops and on public transport
– Iran wants to boost oil production to 5 million barrels per day. Nuclear talks will resume in Vienna today
– Japanese retail sales increased 0.9% YoY in October (exp. +1.2% YoY)
– Australian inventories increased 4% QoQ in Q3 2021. (exp. +0.1% QoQ)
– Chinese industrial profits increased 24.6% YoY in October
– Bitcoin recovered during the Asian session after a weekend of sideways trading. The coin is trading near $57,500 at press time
– Oil attempts to recover from a massive sell-off on Friday. Brent and WTI trade over 4% higher today
– Precious metals and industrial metals gain as well
– AUD, JPY and NZD are the best performing major currencies while CHF and EUR lag the most
– Gold moved above 1800 USD, WTI and Brent oil drop around 3% each. Industrial metals trade slightly lower
– Risk sentiment deteriorated during the Asian session as markets became worried about a new coronavirus variant from South Africa. Nu variant is said to be the more transmissible and more resistant to neutralizing antibodies
– UK Health Security Agency said that it is the most challenging coronavirus variant yet
– Nikkei dropped 2.5%, Kospi moved 1.5% lower and S&P/ASX 200 plunged 1.7%. Indices from China traded 0.5-2.0% lower
– DAX futures and US futures trade lower
– Safe haven currencies, like CHF or JPY, gained. Commodity currencies, like AUD, NZD and CAD, are the weakest in the G10 basket
– Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies trade lower
– Singapore will not allow arrivals from South Africa and nearby countries. Similar move is reportedly considered by Japan
– Australian retail sales increased 4.9% MoM in October (exp. 2.2% MoM) and this was the second straight month of increase in retail trade and the strongest pace since November 2020
– WTI (OIL.WTI) erased almost all of the gains made following the SPR release announcement. New coronavirus variant is pressuring markets with risk assets taking a big hit today. It is said that it is more transmissible and more resistant to antibodies.
Brent (OIL) plunged over 12% on Friday and tested 200-session moving average (purple line) on virus fears. However, as new variant is said to cause only mild symptoms, risk trades recovered at the start of a new week. Oil launched today’s trading with big bullish price gap and trades 4% above Friday’s close.
For more informations and news join our official social networks! Please click on the icons below to subscribe.