A trade deal between the United Kingdom and the European Union
a trade deal between the United Kingdom and the European Union and new obstacles in the US stimulus package
A new strain of Corona virus, an agreement between the UK and the EU, Issues in the US stimulus package, and Bitcoin continues to break records.
Article supplied by Evest.com
Last week was full of current events that affected the markets, through a week with great volatility.
At the beginning of the week, the UK announced the emergence of a new strain of Corona virus, Civid-19,
and its outbreak in the country, especially in London and the northeast of the United Kingdom.
This strain is more than 70% more contagious than the recognized virus.
Many countries, Whether European or others around the world, have stopped air traffic to and from the United Kingdom, fearing that the new strain will reach them, but the new strain has already spread and reached countries such as Lebanon in the Arab world.
On the other hand, the European Union and the UK have finally reached an agreement,
and the British House of Commons is supposed to vote on this agreement during the 30th of the current December.
Within the scope of the stimulus package, US President Donald Trump threatened to reject the relief package of Covid-19,
demanding that the amount of money which would be paid to most of Americans to overcome the consequences of the epidemic should be raised from 600 to $ 2000, but this was rejected by the Republicans.
Most of markets stopped trading on last Friday due to the Christmas holidays, and this can’t give us expectations of how the performance will be this week, especially that many markets will also close their doors this week to complete the holiday season.
Oil declines for the first week since October
This news affected Oil market, making it retreat again after a great recovery driven by hopes of a near economic recovery with the support of vaccines, but all this turned back, and oil fell to $ 46 a barrel.
Oil fell for the first week since last October, as the new strain affected the decline in sentiment about oil demand,
especially with the imposition of tougher measures in many countries, in an attempt to contain this situation.
West Texas crude futures fell to 1.8% this week, but closed higher in the last trading session on Thursday, last week, as the decline in US oil inventories, in addition to reaching a trade agreement between the UK and the EU, supported prices to rise again.
The oil gains extended for 7 consecutive weeks, as the euphoria of the announced group of vaccines was great,
and the decision by OPEC and its allies to increase the current production by half a million barrels per day instead of two million barrels,
which was supposed to be increased, also raised sentiments.
But now, the negative news about the epidemic, and the spread of the virus of whether Covid-19 or the new strain,
hopes for economic recovery, trade openness and travel again between countries have faded.
This effect on the markets which have been suffering since the emergence and spread of the pandemic last spring.
Gold traded in a mixed way
As for gold, it has witnessed bouts of decline and rise, as the emergence of the new strain exhausted it,
the weakness of dollar on some trading days pushed it higher.
Overall, gold remained stable, but rose on Thursday with the support of developments regarding the final announcement of a trade agreement between the UK and the European Union.
Friday witnessed narrow and weak trades during the holiday,
as prices took advantage of the decline of dollar after the announcement of the trade deal,
but it is also expected that gold will get more gains in the event that the Republicans and Democrats
reach a new agreement on the US stimulus package, especially after Republicans rejected to Trump’s proposal,
which makes doubts that the package will soon be approved.
It is assumed that the Democrats will introduce a new bill similar to the one that was adopted by the House of Representatives tomorrow,
if it has been approved, we may see new heights of the precious commodity.
In general, gold has increased by 24% so far, during 2020, which makes it one of the best years for the yellow metal benefiting from the Corona epidemic.
Bitcoin records the highest level at all
On the other hand, Bitcoin is trading in another world uninterested in what happening in the world,
as it has risen by more than 250% so far this year, because many traders consider it as a hedge tool.
The price of the digital currency, Bitcoins, surpassed the US $26.000 barrier on Saturday,
for the first time in its history, to become the highest level ever.
In December, the performance of the Crypto
Currency became incredibly positive, as it set great records by passing the psychological barrier of $ 20.000 for the first time current December.
** Mixed trading of the foreign currencies market
In the foreign exchange market, dollar index ended by 0.23% higher over last week, recording 90.223,
while euro declined at the rage of 0.52% during the week, recording $ 1.2193.
The sterling rose 0.27% to $ 1.3560 supported by the trade agreement.
The European market concentrates this week on the British House of Commons vote on the agreement on 30th December,
while the market in general witnesses weak and scanty trading because of the holiday season.
The Canadian dollar fell against the US to 1.2865 by 0.6% and the Australian dollar against the US by 0.22%,
to trade at $ 0.7605. So was the case for the New Zeeland dollar against the US dollar, which ended the week down 0.27% at 0.7117.
The Japanese Yen fell against the US dollar by 0.13%, with the dollar trading at 103.43 Japanese yen.
The Chinese Yuan also ended lower against the dollar by 0.03%, as the dollar trades at 6.5418 Yuan.