Market Overview - Page 64

Oil is down 1.3% since the start of the day on Friday and remains on a tight leash around its 200-day moving average. The previous afternoon, oil managed to resist pressure from a strengthening dollar. It failed to make any.

Something important happened in the currency markets on Thursday. The initial and relatively sharp fall of 0.7% in the dollar index was reversed, and now, as trading begins in New York, we are seeing a strengthening to the day’s opening.

The impact of the Yen’s fluctuations was evident in the country’s latest external trade report.  On a seasonally adjusted basis, January recorded the highest surplus in three years. The 235B yen ($1.57B) surplus of exports over imports represents 1.3% of total.

The eurozone’s current account surplus climbed to a six-month high of 31.9bn in December. Analysts, on average, had expected a decline to 20.3 bn from 22.5 bn the previous month. The current level was seen in the eurozone during the.

Gold rallied for the fourth consecutive session to reach $2023, recovering almost all the losses suffered the week before on the back of the inflation report. Gold’s ability to rally suggests continued domestic demand, as some investors are clearly rushing.

Producer prices in Canada fell by 0.1% in January after a cumulative drop of 2.9% in the previous three months. Prices are now 2.9% lower than a year ago, picking up the pace of decline. Looking through all these large swings since.

The Japanese yen is hovering near 150 per dollar, retreating from last week’s four-month highs of 151. The 150-152 area is hazardous for short-term traders, as this is the level from which the Japanese Ministry of Finance intervened in October.

US housing starts plunged 14.8% to 1.331m in January, reversing four months of growth and taking the figure back to last year’s lows. This is in sharp contrast to analysts’ average expectations of 1.450m. The number of building permits issued.

UK retail sales rose by 3.4% in January, mainly recovering from the previous month’s dip but showing very high volatility. Last month’s miss led to talk of a looming recession despite a strong labour market. The new data reduced the.

US retail sales fell 0.8% in January instead of the expected 0.2% decline. Sales excluding autos fell 0.6% instead of the expected 0.2% rise. This drop took sales back to their lowest level since last July. Fuel sales last month.

Oil once again failed to confirm the bullish trend on Wednesday, moving lower under pressure from news of a jump in US inventories. The Department of Energy reported that commercial inventories rose by 12 million barrels last week, bringing the.

The release of last October’s US inflation data was a real blockbuster for the markets, creating powerful one-way movements. Consumer prices rose 0.3% in January, while annual inflation slowed from 3.4% to 3.1% instead of the expected 2.9%. The core.