A recent report has warned against the rising number of Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and fatalities, despite the improvement that is mostly attributed to the wide rollout of vaccines. Experts in the Yale School of Public Health and the Commonwealth Fund believe that without a vaccination program, there would have been …
Read More »European Stocks Log Worst Losses in Two Months
European stocks dropped on Thursday, with all market sectors closing in red, amid worried about the new coronavirus (COVID-19) variants. The pandemic-related concerns are driving more investors into safe havens, such as the bonds, which is reflecting negatively on the stock market due to questions about maintaining the pace of …
Read More »U.S. Oil Inventories Down for Seventh Week in Row
Crude oil inventories in the United States declined last week for the seventh consecutive week, according to official data released on Thursday. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that crude inventories fell by 6.866 million barrels last week. The drop in oil inventories exceeded most market expectations of a …
Read More »Fed’s Bostic Warns COVID-19 Delta Variant Might Slow Recovery
President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Raphael Bostic, has warned that a new wave of the coronavirus pandemic with the Delta variant might hinder or slow the economic recovery, with an impact on consumer demand. “If we see spikes in infections that will likely mean that people are …
Read More »Dollar Stabilizes with Modest Gain After Fed Minutes
The U.S. Dollar stabilized on Wednesday against most major peers, with last month’s Federal Reserve meeting minutes showing caution among monetary policymakers regarding tapering after a surge in inflation that exceeded expectations. The Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the greenback against a basket of six peers, rose by 0.18% to …
Read More »Oil Maintains Losses amid Continued Uncertainty
Oil prices continued to plummet on Wednesday, amid uncertainty about the outlook for the OPEC+ agreement and output policies. Major producers are in disagreement about extending the current output cuts, which are gradually being eased, with recent talks about quotas and production levels not leading to a consensus. Brent crude …
Read More »Gold Maintains Gains for Fifth Session in Row
Gold prices maintained an upwards trend for the fifth consecutive session on Wednesday, despite the rise of the U.S. Dollar (USD) across the board. However, the yellow metal was supported by the drop in U.S. Treasury bond yields to their lowest level since February, amid higher demand for safe-haven investments, …
Read More »European Stocks Rebound and Near All-Time Closing High
European stocks closed higher on Wednesday after the European Commission increased its expectations for economic growth in the Eurozone. The European Union is now projecting the Eurozone gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 4.8% in 2021 and 4.5% for 2022. The STOXX Europe 600 index rose by 3.55 points, …
Read More »FOMC Minutes Show Inflation Could Remain Above 2% Beyond 2023
Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) June meeting showed participants focused on data showing lower employment growth and higher inflation readings than had been expected. The median expectation is that the Federal Reserve will begin tapering its asset purchases in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022, before ending …
Read More »IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Drops in July
U.S. consumer confidence declined this month, as the IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index dropped 3.7% from 56.4 in June to 54.3 in July. Nevertheless, the index remained in the positive territory, above 50.0, for the seventh consecutive month. The Presidential Leadership Index fell by 8% from 61.2 last month to 56.3, …
Read More »