After over two weeks of oil falling, last week (from 2nd August) saw things turn around. The growth continued on Friday (5th August), albeit without much gusto: Brent nudged up 0.5%. Nevertheless, oil lifted above $44 per barrel (closing price on 5th August: $44.4 per barrel). On Monday morning Brent is continuing its rise, with Brent now sat at $44.4.
Gold prices on Friday lost 1.9%, hitting $1335 per troy ounce. This could be connected to the rise of commodity markets. However, on Monday morning it is again on the rise, albeit weakly, and gold has now reached $1337 per troy ounce.
The Dow 30 increased 1.04% on Friday and the S&P 500 was up 0.86%. Growth in US indices on Friday has given more emphasis to Asian markets on Monday. The Nikkei 225 is up 2.14% and the Chinese indices are up from between 0.3% and 1.0%. The reason for such growth is Chinese balance of trade data. In June the balance rose by 8.7%; from $48.11 billion to $52.30 billion (forecasted rise of $47.6 billion). As such, the world markets are now expecting the Chinese to overcome their economic issues and this important news has reflected positively on the oil market.
The EUR/USD had fallen 0.3% by trade close on Friday to 1.108, However on Monday it has risen slightly to 1.110. The weakening of the dollar is linked to contradictory labour market data from the US. July job creation outside of the agricultural sector in the US exceeded market expectations, but fell from 292k to 255k in comparison with June’s figures. However, the market was expecting a fall to 180k. In Europe today some statistics on German industrial production in June will be out, but there will be no important economic news from the US.