In this column we talk about the news that has influenced financial markets last week. The first week of July turned out rather quiet for capital markets: the end of June was too busy for investors. However, market players found room for movement even in such calm settings.

Oil: The Market Goes Bullish

brent

By the end of last week the number of derricks in the USA has reduced by 4, the total number now being 963 derricks. Oil-derricks in particular now amount to 788, last year’s maximum being 888. The reduction of the number of derricks is normally taken as a bullish signal. Price of Brent oil grew significantly last Friday after the publication of the statistics. Currently a barrel of North Sea oil is trading at 64.63 USD, having a chance for a short-term rise up to 65.00 USD.

EUR/USD: Greenback Has Played On The Employment Statistics

EUR/USD

Friday block of statistics of the labour market in the USA turned out rather patchy; anyway, dollar fans found a foothold in the stream of heterogeneous data. The unemployment rate grew up to 3.7% during the last month, compare to the previous 3.6%, though there were no forecasts of a revision. This might be due to the disastrous data of May. Average wage grew only by 0.2% (counted for a month) in June, though the market had been expecting a growth by 0.3%. This made little impression on investors; however, counted for a year, this index manages to stay around 3.1%, which is not bad. Non-Farm Payroll has changed the market mood completely: the index has risen by 224,000 against the forecast 162,000. This has reinforced the position of the dollar and contributed to the decline of the major currency pair EUR/USD to 1.1206, which is the fortnight’s minimum.

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