Market Update

Retail sales in Canada continued to grow during October and rose by 0.4%, data by Statistics Canada showed on Friday. The total value of retail sales increased to $54.6 billion. This is the sixth consecutive monthly rise for Canadian retail sales, after recording an unprecedented decline in April due to …

A survey on Friday showed that the decline in British factory orders eased in December as more parts of the economy reopened following a second nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of the Coronavirus. The Confederation of British Industry’s measure of monthly orders books in the manufacturing sector rose to …

Russia’s central bank announced on Friday left its policy rate unchanged at 4.25% but reiterated that it will consider the necessity of further rate cuts at its upcoming meetings, as reported by Reuters.

The dollar exacerbated its losses, after a week of declining pushing it to its lowest level in two and a half years, as its decline attracted more short sellers seeking to make an easy profit. The dollar index recovered during the session and rose in recent trading 0.2% at just …

British retail sales fell last month when a four-week lockdown in England caused stores selling non-essential goods to close, dropping clothing sales by about a fifth and adding to the hardships in some of the main stores hit hardest. The Office for National Statistics said retail sales volumes overall fell …

Data from the European Central Bank showed that the revised current account surplus of the 19 Eurozone countries widened to 26.6 billion euros in October from 25.2 billion in September thanks to a rise in the contribution of trade in goods and services. In the twelve months to September, the …

Oil prices fell on Friday, but remained close to the nine-month peak they reached in the previous session, as rising Covid-19 cases put pressure on demand for fuel and US lawmakers are fighting over a $900 billion economic stimulus package. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 17 cents, or …

The headline German IFO Business Climate Index came in at 92.1 in December, stronger than last month’s 90.7 while beating the consensus estimates pointing to a reading of 90.0. Meanwhile, the Current Economic Assessment arrived at 91.3 points in the reported month as compared to last month’s 90.0 and 89.0 …

Gold prices retreated as the dollar rebounded after growing hopes of approval of stimulus in the United States led gold to rise for three days, putting the yellow metal on the path of achieving gains for the third week in a row. And gold in spot transactions fell 0.1% to …

Japan’s Nikkei index closed lower on Friday on concerns about the risks that a surge in COVID-19 cases in Tokyo posed to the prospects for a recovery in the world’s third-largest economy, but the index made weekly gains. The Nikkei index lost 0.16% to 26,763.39 points, while the broader TOPIX …