Oil is returning to pre-epidemic levels and a recovery in global stock markets

Oil is returning to pre-epidemic levels and a recovery in global stock markets

Oil is returning to pre-epidemic levels and a recovery in global stock markets:
There is an official holiday in the United States of America today,
so we do not expect that anything affecting the economic arena as a whole will happen,
and the focus remains on the American relief package,
in addition to the developments of the epidemiological situation in the world,
given the fact that the number of infections around the world has decreased in the last month or so.

Vaccines seem to be starting to show their power now.

Evest follows up with you on the developments in the commodity and forex markets on a daily basis.

Oil compensates for all the losses of the epidemic

Crude oil managed to extend its gains Monday as a barrel of West Texas Intermediate rose 2.19% to $ 60.77 a barrel,
the highest level since January 2020.

This is due to the fact that the United States is now experiencing a cold weather wave,
which made investors anticipate its impact on Production.

A barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude crossed the $ 60 barrel on Monday;
it is now in its best condition compared to before the epidemic.

Crude oil has been heading up for several months as a result of renewed optimism about the future of the global economy,
hope raised from the massive US stimulus package,
and the belief that a slowdown in infections and the launch of vaccination campaigns will restore a form of normality, thus encouraging demand.

Last week, Brent had already crossed the $ 60 barrier.

Both contracts have had a 20% gain since the start of the year.

Saudi Arabia’s announcement last month of cutting production in February and March also supported prices.

Recently, the price of WTI was also boosted by forecasts of a possible drop in production in
Texas due to the hail wave shut down some wells, caused blackouts, and disrupted transportation.

Gold is stable

The price of gold stabilized on Monday morning, and gold futures for April delivery rose 1.30$ to $ 1,824.50 an ounce.

Positive trading in the global stock market

The Tokyo Stock Exchange Nikkei index closed above 30,000 points on Monday,
for the first time since August 1990, after breaking new Wall Street records on Friday,
amid hopes of adopting a new US stimulus plan.

The main Nikkei index, which has not crossed this symbolic threshold at closing since August 2, 1990,
rose to 30,084.15 points, up 1.91%.

However, the Nikkei is still a long way from the absolute record that was signed at the end of 1989,
when it exceeded 38,915 points. The Topix Expanded Index rose 1.04% at 1953.94 points

Financial markets are awaiting the swift arrival of President Joe Biden’s stimulus package to support US homes and businesses that have been hit by the crisis.

Toshikazu Horiuchi of Ioikosmo Securities told AFP that the Tokyo Stock Exchange was supported by hopes of an economic recovery in Japan.

Japan’s gross domestic product rebounded above expectations in the fourth quarter of 2020,
rising 3% in one quarter, according to preliminary figures released on Monday.

Over the year as a whole, the Japanese economy has decreased by 4.8% due to the impact of the epidemic.

Since last spring, the market has taken full advantage of the aligned monetary policies of central banks, including the Bank of Japan,
and government budget support measures in the face of the epidemic.

The coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer and Biontech also became the first vaccine approved in Japan on Sunday,
and it is a vaccine beneficial to investor sentiment,
even if the Japanese authorities only plan to vaccinate professionals from immediate health care.


Stock Market

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 0.4% this morning at 6639.8,

in addition to the EURO STOXX index rising 0.4% today at 3,719.5,
and the French CAC 40 is expected to open 0.6% higher at 5743.6.

In the US, the Dow Jones index took a break on Friday and closed with little change.

However, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 rose slightly.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which rose the previous day to another record high at 15,543 points,
closed on Friday, up 0.09% at 31,458.40.

The index recorded a weekly gain of approximately 1%.

The Standard & Poor’s Index closed up 0.47% at 3,934.83 points,
and the Nasdaq 100 index rose 0.53% to 13,807.70 points.

There will be no trading in New York on Monday to mark “George Washington Day.”

A new push for the euro, the dollar, and the yen are under pressure

Market watchers spoke of a weak dollar, which in turn gave the euro a boost.

The generally positive mood in the financial markets, with some big price gains in the Asian equity markets,
has affected the US dollar.

A similar development has also emerged in the Japanese yen,
which investors also value as a safe investment.

The current increased investor appetite for risk has put the Yen under pressure in trading against all of the other major currencies.

On the other hand, among the winners in the foreign exchange market was the pound sterling,
which was able to achieve gains against almost all major currencies,
supporting progress in the Corona vaccination program.

15 million doses of the Corona vaccine have now been given in the United Kingdom.

 

Oil is returning to pre-epidemic levels and a recovery in global stock markets

A positive week for oil

A positive week for oil: The two crudes are at their highest levels in nearly 2 years ,Although the price hike stumbled on Thursday,
oil prices closed the week at their highest levels in more than two years on Friday,
as West Texas Intermediate oil futures for March delivery reached $ 59.47 a barrel, rising by 2.11% compared to the previous day.

 

This week Brent oil prices closed at $ 62.43 a barrel, rising at a rate of 2.11% daily.

According to Bloomberg data, Brent is at its highest level since October 2019. At the same time,
the price of WTI crude oil is at its highest level since November 2018.

 

Last week, crude prices rose by 4.60%.

Brent oil futures for April delivery rose at a range of 5.21%.

 

Why did oil rise?

Oil prices rose due to hopes that US stimulus will support the economy and fuel demand for oil.

In addition, oil supplies have been shrunk due to production reduction
by the largest producers in OPEC+, which in turn supported oil as well.

US President, Joe Biden will meet a group of mayors and governors from both parties as he continues
to push for approval of a $ 1.9 trillion aid plan to combat Coronavirus, support economic growth, and help millions of unemployed workers.

 

According to Reuters, Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and his partners in Galena, Illinois, said, “expected US incentives and continued in
the vaccine will likely maintain the appetite for risky assets in providing support to the oil market”.

 

Oil prices have increased during the last few weeks.

This is partly due to production reduction by OPEC+.

In a note, Capital Economics analysts said: “Oil prices halted their recent gains this week,
supported by more indications of decreasing crude stocks, especially in the United States of America.

 

Capital Economics said: “We expect supplies to further decrease later this year as demand for transportation
fuels will increase in line with the easing of restrictions relating to Coronavirus on travel after progress in vaccination process”.

 

OPEC has the biggest credit

Despite all previous reasons, the price of oil significantly increased during last month thanks to the January meeting of OPEC and its allies.

 

At that meeting, Saudi Arabia suddenly undertook to voluntarily reduce its oil production by 1 million barrels a day during February and March.

Saudi Arabia is expected to produce about 8.119 million barrels of oil a day during the two months.

 

OPEC + production of oil for February is expected to be about 35.728 million barrels a day, compared to the production of October 2018.

This means an oil reduction of 8.125 million barrels. During next March, reductions will reach about 8.050 million barrels of oil a day.

 

After the January meeting of the OPEC + group, the price of oil immediately rose by more than 10%.

After the outcome of negotiations, Goldman Sachs Bank revised its forecast for the development of oil prices.

It is expected that Brent oil prices will reach about $ 65 a barrel during the middle of the year.

The next meeting of the OPEC + group is supposed to be held on March 4.

This program will determine oil reductions for the following month or months.

 

However, This week OPEC lowered expectations for a recovery in global oil demand by 110,000 barrels a day to 5.79 million barrels a day in 2021.

 

International energy is still cautious

This week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that there is still an oversupply in the global oil market
due to in-place measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 and its new strains.

 

According to the International Energy Agency, expectations of global economic growth
and development of oil demand are closely related to the distribution of vaccines.

This progress will be followed by easing travel restrictions on major economies of the world.

 

IEA added that oil supplies are still exceeding global demand,
although the Covid-19 vaccine is expected to support a recovery in demand.

 

IEA noted that a rapid decline in oil reserves which is expected in the second half
of this year may lead to an easing of oil declines by the OPEC + group

 

US oil inventories

Last week, US oil inventories fell to 469 million barrels for the third week in a row.

This is the lowest level since March of last year.

 

For his part, Commerzbank said: “IEA report paints a more pessimistic picture than expectations of market participants because of current high prices”.

 

Rebalancing of the oil market may also face obstacles if US production rises. According to Baker Hughes data,
This week, US drilling workers added oil and natural gas rigs for the twelfth week in a row.

This is considered the longest addition since June 2017.

 

The number of oil rigs that are considered indicators of the outlook for the US oil industry and short-term crude oil production rose by 7 this week.

 

According to weekly data from Baker Hughes, an oilfield services company,
the number of drilling rigs in the United States increased by 7 to reach 306 during the week between 6 to 12 February compared to last week.

 

The number of oil drilling rigs in the United States of America decreased by 370 last year.

 

On the other side demand data from the world’s largest oil importer gives a bleak picture.

The number of people who travel to China during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday has decreased by 70% from the last 2 years.

 

A positive week for oil 

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Oil keeps rising amid declining US crude inventories

Oil keeps rising amid declining US crude inventories

Oil keeps rising amid declining US crude inventories: The American Petroleum Institute (API) announced yesterday,
Tuesday, February 9, 2021, that US crude oil inventories decreased by 3.500 million barrels for the week ending February 5th.

However, as for this week, Analysts had expected US crude oil inventories to increase by 985,000 barrels.

In the previous week, the American Petroleum Institute announced that crude oil inventories decreased by 4.261 million barrels,
after analysts had expected an increase of 446,000 barrels in US crude oil inventories.

Oil weekly trading prices

On Tuesday, and before the data was released,
oil prices had risen resulted from the optimism of OPEC
and the hopes of some for an increase in demand for oil this week.

At midday and ahead of the release of Tuesday’s data,
the price for
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for March delivery was up $ 0.41 per day (+ 0.71%) to $ 58.38
– an increase of nearly $ 4 over the same time last week.

Futures closed at the highest level since January 2020.

The benchmark Brent Crude Oil Index for April delivery on the day rose $ 0.57 at the time (+ 0.94%) to $ 61.13
– also rose about $ 4 over the course of the week.

Futures in New York have risen nearly 12% over the past seven sessions to their highest level in more than a year
as the market continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

After the data was released, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil index was trading
according to EDT — at $ 58.37, while Brent crude was trading at $ 61.19

Energy production rates

According to the Energy Information Administration,
US oil production continued at a rate of 10.9 million barrels a day,
which is millions of barrels below March 2020 levels.

The American Petroleum Institute reported an increase in gasoline inventories by 4.810 million barrels
for the week ending February 5 – after the previous week’s rates of 240,000 barrels declined.

While analysts had expected an increase of 1.814 million barrels this week.

As for distillate stocks, they witnessed a decrease of 487 thousand barrels during the week,
after last week’s decline was 1.622 million barrels.

Cushing inventories decreased by 1.378 million barrels,
after last week’s decline existing in stocks in Cushing by 1.885 million barrels.

Egypt is preparing to explore for oil and gas

Egypt is now preparing to launch a new exploration round,
a month after signing nine agreements for oil and gas exploration
abroad with the largest oil and gas companies in the world.

Egyptian Minister of Petroleum Tarek … said that the state oil and gas companies
in Egypt are preparing to launch a new round of oil and gas exploration in the country at the end of this month,
according to the exploration agreements with the major international oil companies, which were signed a month ago.

The major oil companies have been interested in exploring for natural gas and oil in Egypt,
since the discovery of the Zohr Gas Field in Egyptian waters in 2015,
which the major companies consider the largest gas discovery in the Mediterranean.

Last year, major oil companies declared that they had successfully tested the presence of natural gas in Egypt.

ExxonMobil, in one of the deals, obtained areas for offshore exploration in Egypt with Tharwa (Petroleum) and EGAS,
in an area near the northeastern Amiriya Al-Baharia
(To wit: Marine Amiriya) area in the Nile Delta,
according to ExxonMobil Egypt.

“This new agreement strengthens our exploration portfolio in Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean
and complements ExxonMobil’s long-term presence in Egypt,
since 1902,” wrote Exxon Egypt on the LinkedIn website.

Among the major companies that signed the exploration deals last month was the American Chevron Corporation
as well as the French company Total, which includes Shell.

US confiscation of an Iranian oil ship

The Justice Department ordered the ship to sail to the United States.

After the United States filed a seizure complaint last week in the US District Court,
alleging that all oil on board the Iranian ship is subject to seizure under US anti-terrorism laws.

Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia denied any information about an oil tanker that the United States had targeted
for seizure because it was being used to export crude oil from Iran despite US sanctions. “I don’t know anything about it,” Zamaninia told the media.

Bloomberg also reported last week that the ship was carrying two million barrels
of what the United States believes to be Iranian crude oil travelling to the United States.

The crude oil ship was traveling in the United Arab Emirates and the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port,
and was supposed to arrive at the weekend.

Iran has previously stated that it is ramping up production and boosting exports in anticipation of the Biden administration lifting the Trump-era sanctions.

“We set the highest record of exports of refined products in the history of the oil industry during the embargo period,” said Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said in January,

“I am not worried about regaining Iran’s lost portion in the oil market,
and oil buyers are not limited to one or two sellers,” the minister added.

He said that, “If the sanctions are lifted, we will return to the market stronger than before, and faster than expected,”

The sanctions lifting effort is expected to be complicated,
as both sides have stated that they will only act after the other side acts first.

The Libyan oil crisis continues

The continuation of the strike by the security guards of the Libyan Petroleum Facilities due to the delay in salaries,
as a ship loading oil was forced to leave the port of Harika for export in Libya without oil.

Only a few months ago, Libya was able to restore its oil production again to 1.25 million barrels a day,
before the oil port was closed for eight months in January 2020.

Libya has struggled to maintain this level over the last month,
due to strikes by the Petroleum Facilities Guard over non-payment of salaries
and shortage of funds to restore and maintain the oil infrastructure in Libya.

Despite the attempts, Libyan oil production was disrupted

High records for DAX and Bitcoin… Oil and gold continue positive trading

High records for DAX and Bitcoin… Oil and gold continue positive trading

High records for DAX and Bitcoin… Oil and gold continue positive trading:

Yesterday was a historic day for many instruments traded in the stock exchange as the German DAX index managed to record its highest level.

For the first time, Bitcoin exceeded the $ 47 mark, thanks to Tesla’s announcements.

Every day, Evest is following up with you on market developments and the most important news of trading.

 

Oil is rising supported by reducing production and vaccines

 

Today, Oil prices continue to rise amid expectations of a return to a consumption pattern similar to that one before the epidemic.

 

Brent crude futures for April rose by $ 0.49 at a rate of 0.81%, to record $ 61.05 a barrel. On Monday,
Brent crude rose by $ 1.22 or 2.1% to reach $ 60.56 a barrel.

 

At the same time, the price of Brent crude oil surpassed $ 60 a barrel for the first time since January 24, 2020.

This was according to Dow Jones market data.

 

On the other hand, March West Texas Intermediate futures rose by $ 0.47 or 0.81% to record $ 58.44 a barrel.

During the previous session, the contract rose by 1.12 or 2%, to trade at 57.97 a barrel.

This is its highest level since January 21, 2020.

 

signs of recovery in oil demand

 

Analysts are pointing to signs of recovery in oil demand around the world, according to what S&P Global Patts wrote.

Last week, imports to China recorded their highest level in 6 months.

In India, oil demand is returning to pre-pandemic levels thanks to increasing vehicle mobility.

Meanwhile, the United States became the largest buyer of oil in January.

 

According to Reuters, Edward Moyai, chief market analyst at OANDA said:
“There is great optimism that vaccines will play a major role in returning the global economy to normal”.

 

In addition, the market supports growing hopes for a new package of measures to support the United States economy.

Reduced supplies from both OPEC+ and United States oil producers also contributed to a rise in the oil market.

 

Currently, there is no risk from the supply side as Saudi Arabia has eliminated it,
while oil shale production in the USA is about 20% less than last year as well.

 

This also indicates that several drilling rigs in the United States remain 60% below the level observed before the outbreak of Coronavirus “Covid-19”.

This indicates the reluctance of companies to increase drilling.

 

The situation in the oil market.

 

However, some experts are concerned about the situation in the oil market.

They are warning that improvement in fundamentals may be exaggerated.

The rise in oil prices might come as a surprise, especially given the fact that in many countries we still have economic shutdowns.

This means that oil demand is also lower.

 

However, demand is only considered one side of currency, but the issue of oil supply is also important.

 

Crude oil sentiment has changed for the better. This is mainly due to one event:
Saudi Arabia’s decision to voluntarily reduce oil production by an additional million barrels a day, besides what is committed to in the oil deal.

 

It was an unprecedented and totally unexpected decision.

It seems that Saudi Arabia is the only one that can handle it.

Saudi declines are expected to continue throughout February and March.

This may contribute to creating a temporary deficit at least in the global crude oil market.

 

Gold is rising too

Today, the spot price of gold rose by 0.37% to record $ 1,837 an ounce,
as expectations of a major stimulus package in the United States strengthened metal’s appeal as a hedge against inflation.

 

These expectations affected the dollar which retreated today,
as the dollar index which measures the performance of the green currency against a basket of major currencies,
declined from 0.091% to a record of 90.868 points.

 

The collective rise in Asian and American stock exchanges

Today, Asian stocks rose after Wall Street’s rallies yesterday.

MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose by 0.32% to a record 721.53 points, after rising to 730.16 at the end of last month.

South Korea’s Kospi rose at a rate of 0.92%, while China’s CSI 300 blue-chip index rose by 0.49%. In Hong Kong, Hang Seng rose to reach 0.24%.

 

Japanese Nikkei index rose by 0.36%, while US futures on S&P 500 rose by 0.5%.

 

Today, rising comes after yesterday which was the day of so-called deflationary deals,
like stocks, oil and gold were brought from global markets while US government bonds traded at their highest levels in nearly 11 months.

 

Inflation is expected to rise as governments and central banks continue in huge spending
in addition to a decrease in interest rates until economies recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Yesterday, Wall Street indices hit new records after Nasdaq Composite Index rose by 1%, while both S&P 500 and Dow Jones rose by 0.7%.

 

In Europe, after the high record of the DAX index at the beginning of the week, it is unlikely to move on Tuesday.

DAX index was evaluated 2 hours before the start of trading at a rate of 14069 points,
which are considered a few points for the previous day’s closing price.

On Monday, the DAX index hit the highest historical level of 14.170 points but it gave up almost all of its gains during the last trad

 

Thanks to Tesla, Bitcoin surpasses $ 47,000 for the first time

In more volatile cryptocurrency markets, Bitcoin price briefly crossed the $ 47,000 mark to record an increase of 20% higher before curbing its rally.

The most popular cryptocurrency was last traded at a rate of $ 45,669.

 

Yesterday, Tesla announced that it has invested about $ 1.5 billion in bitcoins and expects to adopt the digital currency against its cars in the future.

Since the start of the year, the value of cryptocurrency has increased by nearly 50%.

Tesla’s report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (Sec) demonstrates the company’s confidence in cryptocurrency
although regulators around the world are concerned about the potential for digital currencies to be used in illegal transactions.

positive week for oil… It reaches its highest levels in a year

Positive week for oil… It reaches its highest levels in a year

Positive week for oil It reaches its highest levels in a year: A series of positive data from the US Energy Administration,
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies OPEC+ helped support oil prices last week,
to close on a strong positive week in which prices reached their highest levels in more than a year.

 

Global oil prices started their trading week

Global oil prices started their trading week from February 1 to 5 through a downward trend as consumption in the market was
negatively affected by the CORONA VIRUS “COVID-19” epidemic, so the supply of oil is likely to be increased.

The price of US West Texas Intermediate crude oil was at $ 51.76 a barrel on the first of February. 

 

In the meantime, Brent oil was at $ 54.76 a barrel.

However, at the beginning of the second session of the week,
a series of positive data for supply and demand started to support and push prices higher.

 

Starting from the morning of February 2, West Texas Intermediate light crude futures for April 2021
delivery was approximately $ 53.38 a barrel an increase of $ 1.62 a barrel compared to February 1.

 

Meanwhile, the price of Brent oil which will be delivered in April 2021 stabilized
at $ 56.28 a barrel after rising by $ 1.52 a barrel compared to February 1.

 

On February 2, oil prices sharply rose in the context of betting on the possibility of improving demand for fuel consumption,
including crude oil, especially as countries suffering from Coronavirus have begun to intensify vaccination operations.

COVID-19 vaccines

Recently published data indicates that an increasing number of COVID-19 vaccines proved their successful results.
The number of COVID-19-infected cases has also shown a slight decrease in several places.

 

All over the week, West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices rose about 9%,
which is considered the largest range of increase since October of last year while Brent crude oil prices rose by 5% during the week.

 

This is partly due to last week’s decline in US oil inventories to levels lately seen in March.

On Friday, Crude oil prices rose by about 1% after reaching their highest level in a year, approaching $ 60 a barrel for Brent crude.

 

Saudi Arabia

Investors are optimistic that Saudi Arabia has entered a stage of fulfilling its commitment to decreasing an additional 1 million barrels a day.

Global oil prices were also driven by a downturn in stock markets as well as confidence in implementing OPEC+ commitments to reduce production.

Oil prices also found support as the US stock market reached record highs amid indications of progress towards
further economic stimulus, while US employment reports also confirmed the stability of the labour market.

According to a Reuters survey, OPEC+ crude oil production rose during January 2021
for the seventh month in a row but this increase was less than expected.

 

OPEC continues to reduce its production

After the meeting on February 3, as it was planned,
OPEC+ continued to decrease production by about 7.15 million
barrels a day in February 2021 and by 7.05 million barrels a day during March 2021.

 

In addition, Saudi Arabia has voluntarily committed to reducing 1 million barrels a day in February and March 2021 to keep the market in balance.

Cold weather in the United States is also expected to boost heating oil consumption.

Meanwhile, according to American Petroleum Institute, US oil,
and fuel inventories for this week will be lower than expected.

This in its turn will push fuel imports to replace United State’s stocks, especially at a time when the US is currently witnessing cold weather.

 

According to the US Energy Information Administration, crude oil inventories in the county retreated by 994 thousand barrels,
in stark contrast to Reuters experts’ expectations for an increase of 446 thousand barrels.

 

A subsidiary of Libyan National Corporation, Waha Oil (WOC) announced the closure of a crude oil pipeline at Libya’s largest oil export in Sidr.

This led to an estimated loss of approximately 200,000 barrels in production a day.

 

Optimism regarding the stimulus package

New us stimulus and economic support packages used to be deadlocked.

This will take a long time before it is implemented.

Now, there are signs of optimism.

Specifically, the US Senate which is controlled by the Democratic Party
has voted to start the budget revision process which allows President Joe Biden’s
administration to publish a $ 1.9 trillion economic stimulus package.

At the end of the trading week, this positive information supported oil, as the price of West Texas Intermediate crude
recorded $ 56.92 a barrel, while the price of Brent oil crude reached $ 59.59 a barrel.

 

This week’s expectations

During a trading week from 8 to 12, analysts said that global oil prices will continue to gain strong support through
a series of positive data and are likely to continue to rise surpassing the highest level in more than a year.

Now, Brent crude is looking forward to a level of $ 60 a barrel after OPEC+ has managed to alleviate
most supply-side concerns in addition to increasing numbers of Covid-19 infections.

At the last time, Brent crude was traded at a rate of $ 60 a barrel, the pandemic was not present besides economy is still strengthening with the rising oil demand.

The launch of vaccines helped give hope for an increase in oil demand,
but even in case of optimism after decisions taken by OPEC+ regarding compensation for the decline
in oil demand, this year in particular reduced production levels,
but expectations indicate that oil consumption will not return to pre-pandemic levels till 2022.

The highest records of OPEC+ declines helped lift prices from their historic lows last year.

A jump in crude oil prices, reaching the highest level since January 2020

A jump in crude oil prices, reaching the highest level since January 2020

A jump in crude oil prices, reaching the highest level since January 2020: The American Petroleum Institute (API) announced yesterday,
Tuesday (February 2, 2021) that crude oil decreased by 4.261 million barrels from US crude oil inventories for the week ending January 29,
in addition to a decline in gasoline, distillates, and Cushing. Analysts expected an increase in stocks of 446,000 barrels this week.

The API had already reported a decline in the crude oil of 5.272 million barrels from US crude oil inventories
for the previous week ending January 22
nd, after analysts had expected a small increase of 430,000 barrels.

While the US Energy Information Administration recorded a decline in inventories by 9.9 million barrels.

Crude oil price Fluctuations for this week

Oil prices rose on Tuesday before the data was released, and traders were optimistic after OPEC had committed in the previous session to the promised production quotas.

Ahead of Tuesday’s data release, WTI for March delivery rose $ 1.20 per day (+ 2.24%) to $ 54.75, up to $ 2.25 since this time last week.

Meanwhile, benchmark Brent crude for April delivery rose $ 1.17 a day (+ 2.08%), reaching $ 57.52 – up to $ 1.70 over the course of the week.

 West Texas Intermediate price changes continued and rose by 1.21 dollars to settle at 54.76 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude rose $ 1.11 to close at $ 57.46 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange.

After the data release, at 4:33 PM. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading,
according to EDT, at $ 54.86, while Brent crude was trading at $ 57.62.

The rates of energy production for this week

According to Energy Information Administration data, US oil has dropped from 100,000 barrels a day to 10.9 million barrels a day,
after the end of the six-week consecutive plan of the rate of 11 million barrels a day.

Some opinions signal that the market is in shortage of oil, but few of them expect a rapid recovery in US crude oil production.

The API also announced that gasoline inventories decreased by 240,000 barrels for the week ending January 29,
compared to last week’s increase of 3.058 million barrels. While analysts had expected an increase of 1.134 million barrels this week.

Distillate stocks decreased by 1.622 million barrels for the week, adding to last week’s increase of 1.398 million barrels,
while Cushing’s inventories fell by 1.885 million barrels.

OPEC commits to 99% of the cuts

According to Bloomberg, OPEC members almost fully committed to production cut quotas last month at 99%,
also, the compliance level was based on preliminary estimates and will be reviewed by the Group’s Joint Technical Committee (JTC) tomorrow.

OPEC also agreed to cut 7.2 million barrels a day from combined production in January.

The decision is seen as a compromise decision by Saudi Arabia and Russia,
which proposed adding 500,000 barrels a day to the group’s production per month in February and March.

The organization agreed to keep the production cuts. At 7.2 million barrels per day.

It is expected that these decisions will be confirmed or canceled after tomorrow’s meeting.

Global demand for oil has been improving but supply has also increased.

OPEC will likely stick to current production cuts, with Saudi Arabia cutting an additional 1 million barrels a day to keep prices in the market up.

OPEC’s total oil production increased in January, for the seventh month respectively.

This happened in spite of the significant cuts made by Saudi Arabia and the compensatory production cuts in Iraq,
which the state declared to implement in January and February to compensate for its lack of commitment last year.

Some specialists believe that the increase has been expected and natural, with the production ceiling rising since January.

The largest additions to OPEC total last month were from Saudi Arabia and Iraq despite their commitments.

The third-largest output growth came from Iran, which is ramping up production and exports lest the lifting of sanctions by the Biden administration.

Iraq has now said it will cut an additional 250,000 BPD from December 2020 levels in January and February to make up for last year’s surplus.

That would make it 3.6 million barrels per day.

Increase in Iraq’s exports of crude oil in January

Data from the Iraqi Ministry of Oil showed a slight increase in Iraqi’s oil exports in January 2020 compared to December 2020,
referring that Iraq is once again looking to maximize oil revenues with the risk of breaching the OPEC agreement.

Iraq’s oil revenues increased in the first month of 2021, thanks to high oil prices. Iraq generated $ 4.74 billion in oil revenues in January,
at an average oil price of $ 53.294 per barrel.

Reuter’s data showed that the price rose by more than five dollars a barrel from the average price of $ 47,765, at which Iraq sold its oil in December.

Iraq, which is the second-largest producer in OPEC, saw its crude oil exports increase to 2.868 million barrels per day in January,
up from the 2.846 million barrels a day exported in December 2020, according to Iraqi Oil Ministry data.

According to oil ministry data, last month, Iraq’s average exports from southern export ports in Basra reached 2.77 million barrels a day,
up from 2.75 million barrels a day exported from the south in December.

Exports of Kirkuk through the Ceyhan pipeline averaged 98,000 barrels a day in January 2021,
which is also slightly up from the previous month.

Some statements of Iraqi officials

Ali Nizar, vice president of the Iraqi Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) in Baghdad, previously stated that Iraq would pump less oil in January and February to make up for last year’s surplus.

“In January and February, Iraq plans an average daily production of 3.6 million barrels. This compares with 3.85 million barrels a day for December,” Ali Nizar said to Bloomberg.

Nizar also said that exports would drop to about three million barrels a day from 3.3 million barrels a day in December as long as the Kurdistan Regional Government agreed to reduce its oil production as well.

Positive mood for oil, silver, and stock markets

Positive mood for oil, silver, and stock markets

Positive mood for oil, silver, and stock markets:

Hopes for more US stimulus packages were boosted after a two-hour meeting on Monday
between US President Joe Biden and a group of Republicans in the Senate for discussing the reducing the size of Biden’s proposed Covid-19 stimulus package.

Although the meeting was “very fruitful”, Biden said that if the stimulus package was curtailed it would not be sufficient in solving the Covid-19 crisis.

Biden stressed his determination to maintain the $ 1.9 trillion package he proposed in January.

However, Democrat lawmakers submitted the $ 1.9 trillion budget to Parliament on Monday in a step towards
bypassing Republicans to pass the package to Congress, ahead of the formal meeting.

Evest is following up effects of these moves on financial markets.

Oil is rising supported by good sentiment

Oil prices rose today for continuing positive movement since this week’s start.

A barrel of Brent North Sea reached $ 56.89, rising by 54 cents from Monday’s close.

The price of a barrel of US West Texas Intermediate rose by 57 cents to record $ 54.12.

Since the beginning of the trading week, the price of US oil has increased by more than 4%.

Markets observers indicated that the general mood in international financial markets has recently been positive.

This by its turn led to an increase in oil prices this morning.

As risk appetite increased, dollar demand also decreased affecting the price of the green currency.

Since crude oil in US currency, a weak dollar makes raw materials decrease.

Thus, demand strengthens.

In addition, demand forecast by Saudi oil company “Aramco” supported oil prices.

World’s largest oil company assumes that global demand for crude oil is likely to return to the level it was before the Corona crisis in recent years.

OPEC group had decreased a total of 7.2 million barrels of its production a day in January in order to support the market
as oil demand was weak because of a new strain of Coronavirus “Covid-19”.

Saudi Arabia’s voluntary decrease to produce 1 million barrels of oil remains effective in raising prices.

Expectations for an accelerated stimulus package in the United States of America and developments
in vaccine supplies in Europe supported rising in oil prices.

On the other hand, a number of Coronavirus “Covid-19” cases and deaths which continue to rise all over the world put pressure on prices.

The number of cases of the Covid-19 epidemic exceeded 103 million worldwide, while the number of deaths exceeded 2 million.

Gold is retreating… Silver is near its highest levels at all

On Tuesday morning, Gold fell in Asia but the focus remained on silver as investors gained profits from Monday’s rally.

Gold futures declined by 0.28% to record $ 1,858.65 an ounce.

During the previous session, silver prices rose by about 11.2%,
near their all-time highs which were recorded in February 2013.

The price of the precious metal rose after retail investors piled into the market so as to raise prices.

Positive performance in World Stock Exchanges.

On Monday, in the United States, stock indices rose by 08-2.5%
to offset most of last week’s losses which were fuelled by fears
regarding the market bubble on the back of GameStop and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.

Last week was the worst for the market since last October.

Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose by 3,773.86 points.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.8% to reach 30,211.91 points.

Nasdaq Composite Index rose by 2.5% to record 13,403.39 points.

Hopes for economic aids besides the Federal Reserve’s pledge to maintain ample low-cost credit have pushed Standard & Poor’s and other major indices to record levels.

On Monday, GameStop stocks were down by 30.8% after rising at a rate of 400% last week.

On Friday, the Robinhood trading platform announced that it is allowing limited purchases of the company’s shares.

The day before, Robin Hood banned trading shares of GameStop and other companies whose shares had begun to be bought by individual investors.

Investors continue to monitor progress in negotiations on a new package of measures to support the US economy.

Market focus is remaining on corporate reports as 100 companies included in Standard & Poor’s Index
such as Amazon and Alphabet are expected to announce their financial results this week.

In Asia, markets followed the rise in Wall Street after President Joe Biden called Republicans to a meeting for discussing economic aids
and positive dynamics of stock indices prevailed as the Japanese Nikkei index rose at a range of 0.9% while the Chinese Shanghai Composite rose by 0.8%.

In Hong Kong, Hang Seng rose by 1.5%.

Kospi in Seoul rose at a rate of 1.4%.In Sydney, S&P-ASX 200 rose by 1.5%.

Indian Sensex opens 2% higher. New Zealand’s stock market retreated while it rose in both Singapore and Bangkok.

It has not significantly changed in Jakarta.

Reserve Bank of Australia kept its benchmark interest rate at a low record (0.1% annually) after its meeting on Tuesday.

This indicates the need for more support to the economy amid Coronavirus “Covid-19” pandemic.

Reserve Bank of Australia also announced an expansion of its quantitative easing program by another 100 billion Australian dollars (76.4 billion US dollars).

The current program of $ 100 billion will end in half of April.

In Washington, Biden invited 10 moderate Republicans to the White House so as to discuss his proposed $ 1.9 trillion economic aid plan.

Earlier, Republicans responded with an offer of $ 600 billion, or less than a third of the amount Biden had proposed before.

 

Positive mood for oil, silver, and stock markets