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Oil prices continued to trade sharply lower on concerns that Europe’s COVID cases increase could lead to lockdown anew and could hurt energy demand.
Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Christopher Waller said on Friday that the rapid improvement seen in the labour market and high inflation makes him favour faster taper and sooner rate increase.
Inflationary pressures are becoming more extensive, and will last longer into 2022 than expected. Waller added that the labour market is rapidly approaching full employment and that supply chain disruptions were having a larger and more persistent effect on the economy.
Early Christmas shopping have pushed up shop sales in October as people spent more on clothing and on toys.
Sales rose by 0.8% in October, following no growth in September, according to the Office for National Statistics. Clothing sales reached their highest level since the start of the pandemic.
Second-hand stores, like charity shops and auction houses, had seen sales rise. Sales in clothing stores were only 0.5% below pre-pandemic levels, “with some retailers suggesting that early Christmas trading had boosted sales.
Economic Data
Baker Hughes reported, Friday, that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil rose by seven to 461 this week.
The new figures followed increases in each of the previous three weeks, including a climb of four oil rigs last week, Baker Hughes data shows.
The total active U.S. rig count, which includes those drilling for natural gas, also surged by seven to stand at 563, according to Baker Hughes.
December West Texas Intermediate crude was down $2.77, or 3.5%, at $76.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Other Developments
Texas is home of the most vulnerable power grid across the United States. The state is preparing to be hit by a surge in demand for electricity that’s twice as much as the size of Austin’s.
An army of cryptocurrency miners opted to head to Texas state to utilize cheap power and loose regulation. Forecasts indicate surging demand as much as 5,000 megawatts over the next two years.
Fed’s Richard Clarida has warned of globally coordinated interest policy. Central banks in different countries can usefully share analysis and may adopt similar policies in response to common global shocks, but explicit coordination would likely do more harm than good, Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida said on Friday.
The House of Representatives on Friday passed the largest expansion of the social safety net in decades, a $1.75 trillion bill that funds universal pre-K, Medicare expansion, renewable energy credits and affordable housing.
The final vote was 220-213, and only one Democrat, Jared Golden of Maine, voted against the bill. President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act goes to the Senate, where it is likely to be revised in the coming weeks.
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