Market Update

Natural gas inventories in the United States decreased by 52 billion cubic feet (bcf) last week, according to the weekly report released on Thursday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Working natural gas in storage reached 1,793 bcf as of Friday, March 5, the report showed. Gas stockpiles were …

The number of job openings in the United States rose by the end of January to 6.917 million, data showed on Thursday. The reading shown by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS) came better than expectations of 6.6 million job openings. The number …

Christine Lagarde, President of the Europen Central Bank (ECB), is delivering her remarks on the monetary policy outlook in a press conference following the ECB’s decision to leave the policy settings unchanged. “Overal economic situation is expected to improve in 2021.” “Uncertainty remains.” “Persistently high COVID rates, lockdowns weigh on …

There were 712,000 initial claims for unemployment benefits in the US during the week ending March 4, the data published by the US Department of Labor (DOL) revealed on Thursday. This reading followed the previous print of 754,000 (revised from 745,000) and came in better than the market expectation of …

The European Central Bank (ECB) decided to leave the interest rates on the main refinancing operations, the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.50%, respectively, as expected.

The German IWH Institute for Economic Research cut its 2021 growth forecast for Europe’s largest economy to 3.7% from the 4.4% it had forecast in December as the country faces the risk of a third wave of the Coronavirus pandemic. “For Germany in particular, there is a risk that the …

The CEO of British engine manufacturer Rolls Royce predicted that the worst is over in the Covid-19 crisis, after the company recorded a record basic loss of four billion pounds, equivalent to $5.6 billion, in 2020 after its customers stopped operating flights. The company said that the rate of capital …

The Turkish lira rose about 1%, to offset some of the recent losses it incurred for the third day in a row with growing expectations that the central bank will raise interest rates from 17% next week. The lira was steady at 7.44 against the US dollar, rising from Wednesday’s …

Oil prices rose Thursday, March 11th, as the distribution of vaccines to prevent Covid-19 boosted expectations for economic recovery, and US fuel stocks fell sharply, but a rise in crude stocks after a storm in Texas last month limited the gains. Brent crude futures for May delivery rose 20 cents, …

Democratic House of Representatives passed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill Wednesday, sending one of the largest stimulus plans in US history to President Joe Biden’s office for signature. The president hopes to sign the bill on Friday after Congress formally sends it to the White House, which could take …