Yesterday, relevant data about China's economic performance was released. The markets learned that China's gross domestic product increased by 3.2 percent (year-to-year) in the second quarter after contracting 6.8 percent on the previous one, the analysts expected a 2.1 percent growth. Quarter-to-quarter the GDP gained 11.5 percent, while the analysts expected a 9.6 percent expansion.
June's industrial production figure stood at 4.8 percent, slightly over the analysts' expectations as they foresaw a 4.7 percent increase, and after increasing 4.4 percent in May. On the other hand, consumer production continued contracting in June, falling 1.8 percent after falling 2.8 percent on the previous month, and way below the analysts' expectations, who foresaw a 0.3 expansion.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics released June's Unemployment Rate, which stood at 7.4 percent, remaining in line with the analysts' expectations and increasing from May's figure, which stood at 7.1 percent. The participation rate went up to 64 percent, advancing from the previous month's figure which stood at 62.7 percent, and slightly over the analysts' expectations who expected it to be at 63.6 percent. The country recovered over 210.8 K positions in June, which is over the analysts' expectations who foresaw that the economy would recover 112.5 K jobs.
“Domestic and Chinese data were a mixed bag this morning, although that does no harm to the overall risk-on tone,” commented an FX strategist at OCBC Bank.
By 7:17 GMT the Australian Dollar went down by 0.19 percent against the US dollar, falling to the 0.6994 level. Conversely, the New Zealand Dollar dropped 0.17 percent against the greenback, hitting the 0.6559 level.
Oil Markets Advance on OPEC+ Supply Cuts Easing
Yesterday, the Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil inventories decreased by 7.5 million barrels in the week that ended on July 10, confirming the claims of the American Petroleum Institute, who earlier this week said that crude oil inventories dropped by 8.322 million barrels.
The OPEC and Russia agreed to boost oil production next month, as they believe that the demand for oil already began to recover. The coalition will ease their supply cuts from 9.7 million barrels per day to 7.7 million barrels per day in August. The organization also claimed that according to its projections, demand will return to the pre-pandemic levels in 2021.
The West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures gained 2.26 percent, closing Wednesday's session at the 41.20 level. Conversely, Brent oil futures advanced 2.07 percent during the session, closing at the 43.79 level.
The American biotechnology company, Moderna reported that its coronavirus vaccine produced a robust immune response on 45 patients, which boosted the optimism for a functional coronavirus vaccine. At the moment there are around 13,706,299 confirmed coronavirus cases as well as a death toll of 587,144. The United States leads in the number of infections with 3,617,040 confirmed infections as well as a death toll of 140,150.
The US stock markets closed on the positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.85 percent, closing at the 26,870.10 level. The S&P 500 went up by 0.91 percent during the session, closing at the 3,226.56 level, while the Nasdaq 100 increased 0.11 percent, closing at the 10,701.68 level.