Market Update

European stocks closed lower on Thursday, as concerns about the rising number of newly confirmed Coronavirus cases continued to dominate the market. The STOXX Europe 600 index finished lower by 0.15%, while the UK’s FTSE100 slipped by 0.02%. Similarly, the German index DAX decreased slightly by 0.03%, while the French …

The US Dollar (USD) is maintaining its rising trend amid increased demand on concerns about the rising number of COVID-19 cases. The Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the USD performance against a basket of six major international currencies, is up by 0.65% for the day at 94.02. The index has …

The Canadian Dollar (CAD) declined on Thursday against its US counterpart (USD) to its lowest level in about a month. This comes as the USD is recovering across the board, while the CAD remains hit by the falling oil prices. The USD/CAD is trading higher for the day by 0.24% …

Major crude oil producers in the Arabian Gulf are considering whether to extend output curbs into 2021, Reuters reported. The current OPEC+ agreement indicates that by the end of the year, production cuts will be eased by 2 million barrels per day (b/d). However, it is widely expected that the …

The United States Pending Home Sales Index declined by 2.2% to 130, according to data by the National Association of Realtors released on Thursday. On an annual basis, pending home sales increased by 20.5%.

Natural gas inventories in the United States increased by 29 billion cubic feet last week, below market expectations, according to data by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday. Gas stockpiles now stand at 3.955 trillion cubic feet. This means an increase of 285 billion cubic feet compared with …

The United States’ Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded at an annual rate of 33.1% in the third quarter, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis’ advance estimate showed on Thursday. This reading came in better than the market expectation of +31% and followed the 31.4% contraction recorded in the second …

There were 751,000 initial claims for unemployment benefits in the US during the week ending October 24th, the data published by the US Department of Labor (DOL) revealed on Thursday. This reading followed last week’s print of 791,000 (revised from 787,000) and came in slightly better than the market expectation …

At its monetary policy meeting held on October 29th, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to leave the interest rates on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.50%, respectively, as …

Inflation in Germany, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), was 0.1% (preliminary) in October, the data published by Destatis showed on Thursday. This reading followed September’s print of -0.2% and came in higher than the market expectation of 0%. On a yearly basis, the CPI stayed unchanged at …