Market Update

Oil prices rose on Friday, supported by concerns about geopolitical risks in the Middle East impacting crude supplies, but could not recover its weekly losses, which are mostly due to worries about the recovery of the global demand. A resurgence in coronavirus cases in Europe, which resulted in another four-week …

Gold prices rose on Friday, extending their weekly gains, amid increased demand from investors. The yellow metal futures for April delivery gained $9.20, or 0.5%, to close today’s session at $1,741.70 per ounce. For the week, gold futures gained about 1.3%.

European stocks closed lower on Friday, amid concerns about the slow rollout of vaccines, a rise in the number of new Coronavirus infections and re-imposing lockdown measures in France, in addition to a the rise in U.S. Treasury bond yields. The STOXX Europe 600 index dropped by 0.76% and closed …

The United States coal exports declined by 26% to 69 million metric short tons (MMst) in 2020, from 93 MMst in 2019, according to recent data by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Data also showed that four out of the top 10 U.S. coal exporters increased their imports in …

Fitch Ratings expects the United States Federal Reserve will begin next year reducing the quantitative easing (QE) measurements aimed at combating the negative economic impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic. The move could come in the form of decreasing asset purchases in 2022, which the ratings agency expects it will be …

The number of active rigs drilling for crude oil and natural gas in the United States increased by nine rigs to 411 this week, weekly data by Baker Hughes showed on Friday. The increase in the rig count was entirely attributed to the increase in oil rigs to 318, while …

The Central Bank of Russia on Friday decided to raise its main interest rate by 0.25% to 4.5%, due to the recent rise in inflation above the central bank’s forecasts. The bank’s policy statement noted that “domestic demand is recovering more steadily and faster than expected, outstripping the pace of …

The U.S. Dollar (USD) is showing a mostly positive performance on Friday, supported by the rise in Treasury bond yields and the Federal Reserve’s decision to end the temporary change to the supplementary leverage ratio (SLR) for depository institutions by the end of the month as scheduled. “The temporary change …

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones fell slightly at the opening trades on Friday, as financial stocks dropped after the US Federal Reserve’s decision to allow the exemption from some requirements related to bank debts to expire. The Dow Jones Index fell 3.9 points, or 0.01%, to 32,858.36. The …

Retail Sales in Canada declined by 1.1% in January to $54.5 billion, the data published by Statistics Canada revealed on Friday. This reading followed December’s decrease of 3.4% and came in better than analysts’ estimate for a fall of 3%.