It’s another quiet day for economic and corporate news, keeping the Ukraine War in the spotlight. Truce talks between Ukraine and Russia are scheduled to resume today and ahead of this meeting, stocks have been on the rise this morning while commodities have been retreating again.
US index futures are up 0.8% to 1.0%, building on yesterday’s gains of 0.2% (Dow) to 1.3% (NASDAQ) for US indices. European indies are also on the rise this morning with the Dax up 3.1% and the FTSE up 1.4%. Currency action also suggests war related fears are easing and confidence returning with the Euro up 1.2% this morning and gold down 2.4%.
Energy trading today finds WTI crude oil down 6.1%, adding to yesterday’s losses but holding above $100.00/bbl. Brent crude is down another 6.0% sitting on $110.00/bbl, while natural gas is down 3.2%. The bulk of these losses have come in the last half hour. Metals are also under pressure with copper now down 0.3%, silver down 4.1% and platinum down 3.1%.
This week’s economic calendar is heavily weighted to the back half of the week and picks up tomorrow with US ADP payrolls and an update on US Q4 GDP. Thursday brings an OPEC meeting while Friday finishes the week with Manufacturing PMI reports and US nonfarm payrolls.