Market Update

Pending home sales in the United States declined in January, due to a shortage of supply, data by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) showed on Thursday. The NAR Pending Home Sales Index decreased by 2.8% in January to 122.8. The reading came against market expectations with a Reuters poll …

Data from the Turkish Statistical Institute showed today, Thursday, that the index of economic confidence in Turkey decreased by 0.5% on a monthly basis in February to 95.8 points, with the repercussions of the epidemic continuing. The index hit a record low last year before recovering as coronavirus measures eased …

The United States’ Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded at an annual rate of 4.1% in Q4, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis’ second estimate showed on Thursday. This reading followed the initial estimate of 4% and came in line with the market expectation.

The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 730,000 last week, while the previous week’s figure was also revised down by 20,000 to 841,000. Analysts had expected a figure of 838,000 before the release. This reading followed the previous print of 841,000 (revised from 861,000) and came in better than …

Durable Goods Orders in the United States rose by 3.4%, or $8.5 billion, in January to $25.6.6 billion, the data published by the US Census Bureau showed on Thursday. This print followed December’s increase of 1.2% and beat the analysts’ estimate of 1.1% by a wide margin.

The Japanese government will end the state of emergency in Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Aichi and Gifu prefectures at the end of the month, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing Kyodo News.

Pfizer announced on Thursday that they haven’t seen any evidence that circulating variants of the coronavirus result in a loss of the protection provided by the vaccine they developed with BioNTech, as reported by Reuters. “We haven’t observed changes to neutralizing antibody levels that would predict a significant reduction in protection …

Gold prices continue to decline for the third day in a row, one day before the US House of Representatives announced its vote on Friday on the US stimulus package proposal. Gold fell again below $1,800 an ounce, down by 0.80%. Waiting for the necessary support to resume its rise …

European Central Bank data showed that lending to Eurozone companies slowed last month as new credit flows stalled as the bloc returned to recession and banks tightened access to credit. Growth in lending to non-financial firms in the 19-nation euro zone slowed to 7% in January from 7.1% the month …

Barclays Bank raised its forecast for the price of oil in 2021, as it indicated a weaker than expected response from US producers to the price increase and the return of stocks to normal after the snowstorm that swept through Texas last week. The bank raised its forecast for the …