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Oil rally, bullish gold case weak, bitcoin lower

Oil at two month high as OPEC struggles to hit quotas Oil prices are continuing to climb at the end of the week as unrest in Kazakhstan and lower output from Libya further hamper producers' ability to gradually return to pre-pandemic levels. We are already seeing OPEC+ struggle to deliver the agreed 400,000 barrel per day increase and this is further exacerbating the problem. And it's happening at a time when demand is expected to remain strong thanks to omicron symptoms being mild by comparison

07-01-2022 11:50 GMT by Craig Erlam

Pressure mounts on central banks

Jobs report adds to inflation fears Stock markets are back in the red on the final day of the week as investors continue to fret about the prospect of higher interest rates this year. Whether this is just an exhaustion of the omicron relief trade, a case of January blues that will quickly be forgotten once earnings season gets underway next week, or something more significant will only become clear later this month. But the data isn't offering investors much chance for relief and the jobs repor

07-01-2022 11:46 GMT by Craig Erlam

Pound steady as markets eye NFP

UK Construction PMI cools off The UK Construction PMI for December indicated that growth at cooled off and fallen to a 3-month low. The PMI slowed to 54.3, down from 55.5 in November.

07-01-2022 07:05 GMT by Kenneth Fisher

Canadian dollar calm ahead of job reports

The Canadian dollar is on a holding pattern ahead of key Canadian and US employment reports later today. Currently, USD/CAD is trading just above the 1.27 line. Nonfarm payrolls could shake up US dollar It could be an active North American session for the Canadian dollar, with the release of Canada's job creation numbers and the US nonfarm payrolls.

07-01-2022 06:30 GMT by Kenneth Fisher

Yen hovers just below 116

All eyes are on US nonfarm payrolls, perhaps the monthly highlight on the economic calendar. An interesting prelude to nonfarm payrolls was the ADP employment report on Wednesday.

07-01-2022 04:37 GMT by Kenneth Fisher

Kazakhstan bites bitcoin

Bitcoin volatile over Kazakhstan unrest Bitcoin and other digital Dutch tulips have endured a torrid week thus far, with bitcoin falling 4.0% to USD 41.400.00 in Asian trading. Kazakhstan is the world’s second-biggest bitcoin mining hub and while Russian troops are shooting protestors there to restore order, bitcoin mining and the internet have been taken offline.

07-01-2022 03:49 GMT by Jeffrey Halley

Oil rises on supply disruptions, gold slides

Oil rallies impressively As mentioned yesterday, oil’s price action is bullish, as it shrugged off a series of seemingly bearish news inputs over the last 48 hours. That news swung the other way overnight, with domestic protests disrupting local production, and with the arrival of Russian paratroopers to restore order.

07-01-2022 03:43 GMT by Jeffrey Halley

Buying the dip

Markets calm ahead of US nonfarm payrolls Lots of noise, but little substance probably describes the last 24 hours in global markets. US equities moved sideways overnight, the US dollar was steady versus major currencies, US yields edged a little higher, while oil, a consistent outperformer, received a Libyan and Kazakhstan boost. The US data dump overnight held no real surprises.

07-01-2022 03:21 GMT by Jeffrey Halley

Asian equities rise with US futures

Asian markets mixed ahead of US nonfarm payrolls Equities traded sideways overnight as US data balanced itself out and with bulls nervously on the sidelines after the rout of the past few days, and ahead of tonight’s US Non-Farm Payrolls. However, the buy-the-dip couldn’t contain its addiction anymore, especially with the news tickers remaining quiet.

07-01-2022 03:19 GMT by Jeffrey Halley

Commodities and Cryptos: Oil market getting tighter, Gold battered as yields rally, Bitcoin in danger

Oil A tight oil market just got hit with supply disruptions and geopolitical risks, which means oil prices are headed higher. Oil prices were boosted after growing unrest in Kazakhstan posed a risk to their 1.6 million barrels per day of production. Insurgents were responsible at the beginning of the year for sending Libyan production to the lowest levels in more than a year. Energy traders are growing very confident this market will remain very tight and now that omicron worries have eased o

06-01-2022 15:55 GMT by Edward Moya

US Close: Mixed Session, US Data, Yields rally, Lira weakens

US stocks were mixed as some traders found value in the heavily beaten-up tech sector, while some were hesitant to put on massive positions before Friday’s nonfarm payroll report. The big question for many traders' is how high yields will go up and at one point will it become a problem for the economy. Most of Wall Street has an upbeat outlook for 2022, but the risks of a Fed policy mistake, US geopolitical tensions with both Russia and China, and inflationary pressures, pose serious risks to t

06-01-2022 15:53 GMT by Edward Moya

Oil pushes higher, gold slides after FOMC

Oil shakes off sentiment hit Oil is continuing to push higher as traders price in a modest economic impact from omicron. The OPEC+ meeting this week supported the view and the price of oil is now not far from its October peak, with WTI closing in on USD 80 for the first time in almost two months. The knock to broader market sentiment from the Fed minutes is not reverberating around the crude market, with prices up more than 2% on the day and backed by momentum. Gold hit hard by Fed minutes G

06-01-2022 13:29 GMT by Craig Erlam

January blues

It's been something of a downbeat day in the markets, something we may see more of this morning as the January blues kick in. The omicron relief trade appears to have played out now and attention has quickly shifted back to the interest rates dilemma, with the economy performing well but not firing on all cylinders, the labor market extremely tight and inflation at risk of getting out of control. Central bank policymakers would ordinarily like to be more patient during this stage of the recove

06-01-2022 13:21 GMT by Craig Erlam

Yen edges below 116, inflation next

The Japanese yen has edged higher and is back below the 116 level. Still, the yen remains vulnerable, especially with US treasury yields moving higher.

06-01-2022 12:43 GMT by Kenneth Fisher

Euro yawns as German factory orders jump

The euro is showing little movement, as it trades just above the 1.13 line. German Factory Orders recovered in November, with a robust gain of 3.7% m/m. This follows a sharp decline of -5.8% m/m in October.

06-01-2022 10:03 GMT by Kenneth Fisher

Oil and gold trading sideways

Oil is bid despite its fall today Oil prices were almost unchanged overnight, despite a massive 10 million barrel increase in US Gasoline Inventories, distillates rising by 4.4 million barrels and Crude Inventories falling only 2.5 million barrels, with Cushing Stocks climbing by about the same. That should all have been bad news for oil prices, implying that omicron is weighing on mobility and consumption.

06-01-2022 05:33 GMT by Jeffrey Halley

The US dollar holds steady

US dollar recovers on hawkish FOMC minutes The US dollar spent most of last night under pressure from the omi-gone rally, until the release of the hawkish FOMC minutes. The committee members felt inflation risks were more persistent and to the upside, and there was general agreement that the taper should be accelerated with three tentative rate hikes pencilled in. With US yields rising after that, the US dollar reversed most of its losses intra-day, leaving it only slightly lower and marking th

06-01-2022 05:10 GMT by Jeffrey Halley

Asia follows Wall Street south

Hawkish FOMC minutes send equity markets lower Wall Street had a torrid session as a hawk FOMC minutes highlighted the amount of post-omicron speculative longs positions that were out there. Technology came in for particular attention, the Nasdaq suffering its biggest one-day drop in nearly a year.

06-01-2022 04:51 GMT by Jeffrey Halley

The street was clearly long Omi-gone

US tech stocks sink after FOMC minutes Greetings from day four of managed isolation in New Zealand, and no, I’m not a tennis player. All the chatter overnight was about the implosion on tech stocks in New York after seemingly hawkish FOMC minutes from the December meeting.

06-01-2022 04:34 GMT by Jeffrey Halley

Oil pares gains after EIA, gold rises

Oil Crude prices tentatively pared gains after the EIA crude oil inventory report posted a smaller-than-expected headline draw, while gasoline demand plummeted the most since April 2020. The EIA report was a mixed bag that didn’t have anything to change the tight outlook for the oil market. A headline draw of 2.14 million barrels last week was the sixth consecutive decline, but the focus was on big builds with gasoline and distillate inventories, which were largely due to seasonal factors. Bo

05-01-2022 13:07 GMT by Edward Moya

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