Market Update

WTI, the US crude oil benchmark, dropped sharply during Thursday’s US trading session due to an “unconfirmed” report that the United States and Iran may be closer to a temporary nuclear deal, which could unblock sanctions imposed by the US on Iran oil exports. At the time of writing the …

The US Dollar has weakened against its major rivals on Thursday after the US Department of Labour announced that there were 261,000 Initial Jobless Claims last week. The Dollar Index, which gauges the USD’s valuation against a basket of six major currencies, stays deep in negative territory below 103.50. According …

Canada’s employment data for May will be reported by Statistics Canada on Friday, June 9. The North American economy is expected to have added 23.2K jobs after creating 41.4K positions in April. The unemployment rate is expected to rise a tick to 5.1%. If so, it would be the first …

The Eurozone GDP decreased in the first quarter of 2023, according to Eurostat’s final estimate released on Thursday. The former continent’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell 0.1% in the first three months of current year compared to the previous quarter. During the stated time, the preliminary number showed a 0.1% …

The dollar dipped slightly on Thursday but stayed near three-month highs after the Bank of Canada raised interest rates unexpectedly, implying that other central banks, including the Federal Reserve, may have more work to do to contain inflation. Early in the European day, the euro was up 0.1% at $1.071 …

European stocks fell on Thursday, affected by the decline in technology stocks, which are sensitive to interest rate movements, on expectations that large central banks will continue to raise interest rates, but the gains of the Swiss healthcare group Novartis contributed to limiting losses. And by 0715 GMT, the European …

There was little change in oil prices in early Asian trading on Thursday, as investors assessed concerns about demand amid a slowdown in the global economy against an expected decline in supplies thanks to Saudi production cuts. And by 0110 GMT, Brent crude futures fell one cent to $76.94 a …

Japan’s Nikkei index witnessed a sharp decline for the second day in a row on Thursday, as investors took profits from a recent rally in technology stocks. The Nikkei’s losses accelerated in the second half of the session, falling 0.85 percent at the close, recording 31,641.27 points. The broader Topix …

On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada surprised markets by raising its key rate by 25 basis points to 4.75%, citing persistent excess demand and increasing concerns that inflation could “get stuck” materially above the target. This decision follows the Reserve Bank of Australia’s hike on Tuesday, which also exceeded economic …

Recovery in oil imports could provide some comfort to the oil market. However, the most recent economic data out of China continues to be a concern for the market and could result in lower demand for crude and other commodities and slower-than-expected global oil demand growth this year. The weaker-than-expected …