Market Update

Weekly jobless claims in the United States increased by 109,000 as data released by the US Department of Labor on Thursday revealed 1,416,000 initial claims for unemployment benefits in the United States during the week ending July 17. That reading came after last week’s reading of 1,307,000 and worse than …

US equity markets are set to open higher with sentiment gaining some confidence after Tesla and Microsoft’s results. Earnings reports from Microsoft exceeded analysts’ expectations for a 13% increase in sales and a net profit of $ 11.2 billion, despite disappointment that Azure’s sales growth slowed below 50%. Dow Jones …

British factory orders fell at the slowest pace since March this month and firms are more optimistic about the coming months after the economic impact of COVID-19 caused the biggest collapse in demand since 1980. The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) monthly order book balance rose to -46 in July …

European stock markets are rising on Thursday, supported by increased confidence and strong earnings from Unilever, but were quickly bogged down by more headlines about the tension between the United States and China. The German DAX rose 0.5%, French CAC rose 0.3% while FTSE scored 0.4%. Consumer sentiment in Germany …

The US dollar on the dollar index, which measures the strength of the US currency against a basket of major currencies, fell to the lowest level in four months to continue to decline with investors in wait and see attitude by what the tension between the United States and China …

The British pound settled above $ 1.27 in the last day of Brexit negotiations, with investors looking for any headlines that might shed some light on whether Britain will exit the European Union with a deal at the end of the year. Media reports suggested the United Kingdom has given …

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday that his country expects the economy to grow 8 percent in 2021. Le Maire told the National Assembly that the government wanted the economic activity to return to pre-crisis levels, starting in 2022. He also said that the latest data was …

Oil prices rose on Thursday, but an unexpected increase in US crude stocks and the continued increase in new cases of Covid-19 discouraged the recovery in demand for fuel and limit gains. US crude oil inventories and distillates rose unexpectedly while fuel demand fell last week, the US Energy Information …

Previously occupied home sales increased by 20.7% from May to June while mortgage applications rose 19% last week. The figures were near a historic low but markets did not react to higher home sales. Existing home sales, the largest category in the US market, increased by 20.7% in June as …

Citing official data, Reuters reported that oil exports from Saudi Arabia, the OPEC’s top producer, fell by 44,277 million riyals (USD12 billion) or 65.0% in May 2020. In the face of the falling oil exports and its revenue, Saudi’s Finance Minister Mohammad Aljadaan said at a video forum hosted by …