European equities initially chased their US and Asian counterparts higher but have pared back some gains. The FTSE is leading its German counterpart, benefiting from the strong performance in the materials sector after China’s strong January trade report overnight. Elsewhere, oil prices have rallied in the wake of the IEA monthly report, in which they raised their global oil demand and highlighted that OPEC made production cuts in January equal to 90% of the agreed volumes. In fixed, c…
Continue Reading →It appears OPEC has finally agreed to cut production in a drive to end global surplus Bloomberg News has reported that OPEC clinched a deal to curtail the global oil supply today, surprising many, in a bid to clear a record global crude glut thus going a long way to prove the group’s credibility; this will be its first cut in 8 years, . OPEC will reduce production by 1.2m barrels a day to 32.5m a day, a delegate said this afternoon in Vienna, however he has asked not to be…
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Since plummeting to 13 year lows in February oil prices have seen a big bull market with prices nearly doubling to its level of 50.70 for Brent & 50.30 for WTI Crude. This has been aided by either production declines or supply glitches in many oil producing countries. Nigeria for one have been experiencing big problems with a militant group calling themselves Niger Delta Avengers. For the last 4 months they have been prowling the swamps of Nigeria’s petroleum-rich…
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Hi all, Please find this link on the Bloomberg website, containing many interesting links on the 2016 World Economic Forum which took place in Davos, Switzerland last week http://www.bloomberg.com/news/special-reports/davos-w-e-f-2016 Kind Regards Abshire-Smith Dealing Desk…
Continue Reading →Oil prices have plummeted again (below $40 for WTI Crude & $43 for Brent) despite an initial surge of 3% late Thursday last week on the news that OPEC would increase output. The outlook, however, grew more confusing as the seven hour Friday OPEC meeting progressed; it eventually resulted in OPEC delaying its scheduled news conference and then ultimately failing to confirm the news reports of a production increase. WTI closed the Friday session 2.7% lower and was actually 3.8% down…
Continue Reading →Oil prices have flattened over the last couple of days, halting a huge sell-off from Monday; investors are still cautious as fears remain over China's economic slowdown and hefty global supplies. The sell-off on Monday came after news that Chinese industrial profits slumped in August, with the biggest drops concentrated in producers of coal, oil and metals. Commodity and equity traders will get more evidence about China's economic performance tomorrow when final manufactu…
Continue Reading →The US Dow Jones Index dropped over 1000 points on the open today amid extreme volatility in the markets as the Shanghai Composite Index finished it's trading session down 8.5% at 3209.91. The slowdown in the Chinese economy is having huge repurcussions not only in equities which have seen a massive correction across the board in commodities too. Both Europe and the US are feeling the heat; FTSE100 is currently down 4.5%; CAC down 7% & Dax off 6%. US Crude Oil has extende…
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The PBoC’s overnight move to weaken its national currency, the RMB (Chinese Yuan), shows a significant shift in policy. They confirm they are to play a greater role going forward in the management of the exchange rate, sending ripples through the foreign exchange market. The move certainly comes at an opportune time for them following a series of weak macro trade data out of the country recently; exports have tumbled 8.3% in July from a year earlier and there has been a severe sl…
Continue Reading →The Federal Reserve kept interest rates at near zero once more last night but continued to fuel the ever intensifying fire of speculation concerning when the first rate hike in nine years will be. Chairman Janet Yellen primed the markets in her Statement with positive US economy sentiments, primarily citing progress in the US job market as the main instigator. The US unemployment rate has decreased from 10% in 2009 to 5.3% in July of this year. Yellen’s wording of ‘hiring g…
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After sliding on Friday Gold took massive dive overnight, plunging as much as 5.5% in morning trading, hitting a low of around 1072. This dragged a majority of commodities the same way as the dollar strengthened across the board as investors focus on the timings of a US rate rise. It was the first time Gold traded below $1,100 since early 2010 and its lowest mark since November 2009. Other precious metals subsequently followed suit; platinum down 3.8%, silver 1.8% and palladium trading…
Continue Reading →Crude prices have move higher from the low 40 dollars in March, with WTI now stabilising around $60/barrel. The market has found support after the sustained and dramatic freefall, with the shift after the oversupply. Over the weekend there were reports that Islamic State (IS) had seized the city of Ramadi, previously a report that the group had expanded their grip within the volatile region would have pushed oil prices significantly higher. Though the announcement put a slight bid in…
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Guest Blog, Abshire-Smith Iraq Country Manager The oil price surged nearly 4% as crunch talks aimed at settling a dispute over a nuclear weapons programme for Iran appeared to stall and official figures showed that stockpiles of U.S. crude had risen by less than had been feared by 4.8 Million Barrels. This is a day after crude prices slid for a third day on fears of a nuclear deal between Iran and major world powers that would allow the Islamic Republic to release more than 1 mil…
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The crisis in Yemen has escalated towards an all-out civil war. The president of Yemen, Abdrabbuj Mansour Hadi is reported to have fled the country as forces attempt to fight back against Shia rebels known as Houthis. The Houthis are reportedly backed by Iran and been extending their control over the country since September. On Wednesday Saudi Arabia launched air strikes against the Houthis in support of the “legitimate government,” which has subsequently been condemned by…
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The final trading session of 2014 is upon us; the year finishes with record highs for US indices, and a bear market in Oil. As the year ends, there has been resurgence in instability in Libya, a near collapse of the Russian Ruble and heightened tensions from North Korea. These are individual views, and shouldn’t be taken as investment advice; Abshire-Smith provides execution only trading. Trading leveraged products such as FX and CFDs, is a high risk and you may lose more than yo…
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The Russian Ruble’s recent moves have hit the financial headlines, after wild swings, interest rate increases and market intervention. The value of the Ruble has moved dramatically this week, being deemed “untradeable” by some analysts. USDRUB trade to 80 Rubles to the US Dollar on Tuesday, currently the pair is trading around 62 Rubles to the USD. The rapid depreciation was meant to be curbed by a bold move by the central bank, a 650bps increase in interest rates, ho…
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