Daily market commentary: Brent crude oil reaches a fresh multi-year record

Oil

Brent crude oil reached a fresh multi-year record during early Thursday trading, touching $119 a barrel for the first time since 2013. Supply side pressures remain high, as the conflict in Ukraine triggers new sanctions on Russia, which could soon extend to gas and oil exports and exacerbate the tightness felt in global markets. US inventories continue to decline and the OPEC+ cartel is sticking to its pre-established output levels, despite the growing demand. In this scenario there is scope for further price gains, which could soon see the price of the barrel of Brent breaking through the $120 mark.

Ricardo Evangelista – Senior Analyst, ActivTrades

Gold

Gold is trading flat at the opening of Thursday’s European session, as investors play a balancing act by factoring in the heightened geostrategic risk posed by the ongoing war in Ukraine on one side and the measurement of the Fed’s approach to tighten monetary policy on the other. Russia’s belligerence continues to generate concern in the markets, leading to an increase in demand for haven assets such as gold, which may lead to further price gains. However, there was some respite for the markets on Wednesday, when Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that the central bank will be measured in the deployment of its monetary policy tightening, generating some risk appetite that supported stocks and other risk-related assets, capping some of the scope for gold gains generated by the conflict in Eastern Europe.

Ricardo Evangelista – Senior Analyst, ActivTrades

European Shares

European markets slid lower on Thursday, correcting some of yesterday’s gains, as investors digest the lingering geopolitical uncertainty in Eastern Europe as well as a batch of disappointing macro data on the old continent. Despite a bullish opening in Europe, market sentiment turned negative shortly after the bell, following poor PMI data releases from Germany and France. Investors are switching their focus back to data, especially after Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell, reassured global markets on monetary policy, with a quarter basis point rate hike now expected for the upcoming FOMC March meeting. Treasuries have also shown signs of price stabilization, which is well received by stock traders as it could mean the “fear trading” move is now ending, at least on a short-term basis. Many investors will remain cautious today, with all eyes towards the ECB minutes of its February meeting as well as another batch of PMI and PPI data from the eurozone that could trigger higher  intraday volatility.

 

Pierre Veyret– Technical analyst, ActivTrades


Disclaimer: opinions are personal to the authors and do not reflect the opinions of LeapRate. This is not a trading advice.

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