Market Update

With the tumultuous start of the new year, the US is due to publish its monthly employment report (NFP) today, Friday. The US Nonfarm Payrolls report for December is expected to show only 71,000 new jobs added, despite the unemployment rate to remain at 6.7% with an hourly wage expected …

Oil prices rose on Thursday for the third consecutive session, supported by the recent OPEC+ agreement to curb output and the large drop in crude inventories in the United States. Brent crude futures for March delivery closed higher by 8 cents, or 0.2%, at $54.38 per barrel. Meanwhile, the West …

Gold prices rose on Thursday, recovering some of its big losses on Wednesday, which were due to the surge in Treasury yields in the United States and were the first in a week. With Democrats taking over a majority in the U.S. Senate, more fiscal stimulus spending is expected, which …

Bitcoin continued its rising rally on Thursday, going above $40,000 for the first time ever, supported by a recent surge in demand especially from institutional investors. This means that the market value of the world’s largest digital briefly exceeded $1 trillion today. Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency in the world, has …

European stocks closed higher on Thursday, supported by the gains of the construction and commodity sectors. In addition, global markets were affirmed by the confirmation of the election of Joe Biden to be the next President of the United States, after riots erupted in Washington D.C. on Wednesday causing concerns …

Goldman Sachs expects new government stimulus spending in the United States at around $750 billion during the first quarter (Q1) of 2021, after Democrats gained a majority in the U.S. Senate after winning the Georgia elections. This means that the Democratic Party will be in control of both the White …

Social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, will impose a suspension on the official accounts of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, for at least two weeks, until the end of his presidency term, the CEO of Facebook Inc. Mark Zuckerberg revealed. This comes after Facebook and Instagram, as …

The President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Patrick Harker, said on Thursday that he expects the United States Federal Reserve to continue with its bond buying activity at least until the end of 2021, Reuters reported. The continuity of asset purchases at the current pace depend on the …

The activity of the services sector in the United States expanded in December, data showed on Thursday. The non-manufacturing activity index registered 57.2 in December, up from a reading of 55.9 in November, according to the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). The index came very close to its level prior …

The European Central Bank said in a periodic economic bulletin that economic indicators for the eurozone indicate that the economy will contract in the last quarter of 2020. “Survey indicators point to a renewed contraction in an activity primarily affecting the services sector.” “Financial conditions in the euro area have …