Brent crude oil prices are rising during early Monday trading. After last week’s losses, when the price of the barrel was at some point down by more than 10%, oil appears to be back on the front-foot. Concerns regarding demand appear to be fading away, following the publication of better-than-expected US employment data, and a surprising level of growth in Chinese exports. Faced with the latest batch of data, oil traders decided that fears of a decline in consumption driven by a global economic slowdown were overblown, allowing for prices to bounce back from last week’s multi-month lows. However, the outlook for the global economy remains subdued, with many expecting a pronounced slowdown in activity as we approach the end of the year, so a question mark remains over how sustainable a rally in oil prices would be.
European stocks climbed at the beginning of the trading session on Monday, alongside US futures while Asian shares closed on a mixed tone. Tech and energy shares were among the top performers following the opening bell as investors, pushed by a strong earnings season and the prospect of positive nuclear talks with Iran due today, continued to drive benchmarks higher. However, this optimism seems to be fading a little as bullish trends on most indices showed signs of slowing as we approach key resistance levels. This slowdown can also be explained on the macro front as investors are likely to price in tighter monetary conditions brought by a much higher refinancing rate following the solid US NFP report from last Friday. While a 75bp rate hike is now fully on the table of expectations for the next September FOMC meeting, investors will keep both eyes on this week’s US inflation data and assess whether there is a peak on price pressure yet. Elsewhere, US-Sino tensions over Taiwan are far from over as Chinese military drills are set to continue over the island, which will certainly add uncertainty towards riskier assets in the region. The CAC-40 and DAX-40 indices are bringing the best EU performances so far, despite registering bearish divergences in the short-term.
Experienced writer and journalist, working in the global online trading sector, Steffy is the Editor of LeapRate. She has previous experience as a copywriter and has been with the company since January 2020. Steffy has a British and American Studies degree from St. Kliment Ochridski University in Sofia.
