Yesterday, the oil markets closed mixed after the markets confirmed an important drop in crude oil inventories.
The Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil inventories dropped by 4.7 million barrels in the week ending August 21, a figure that was over the analysts' expectations who foresaw an increase of 3.833 million barrels and over the previous week’s figure, which registered a drop by 1.6 million barrels. This data supports the recently released report by the American Petroleum Institute, which reported that crude oil stockpiles dropped by 4.524 million barrels at the end of that week, also over the analysts' expectations, who foresaw a draw of 3.694-million barrels and also over the previous week's figure, which showed a drop of 4.264 million barrels.
Regarding gasoline stockpiles, the organization reported that they fell by 4.6 million barrels, after falling by 3.3 million barrels in the previous week. The figure remained in line with the American Petroleum Institute data, which reported a 6.392 million barrels drop in the gasoline reserves.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures gained 0.09 percent during the session, closing at the 43.39 level. On the other hand, the Brent oil futures dropped 0.48 percent, closing the session at the 45.64 level.
The world continues to grapple with the pandemic. At the moment there are 24,082,651 confirmed cases around the world, as well as 823,900 total deaths. The United States leads in the number of infections, with 5,956,036 confirmed cases as well as a death toll of 182,412, followed by Brazil, India, and Russia.
The US stock markets continued rallying in yesterday's session. Recently released data increased boosted the positive expectations for the United States economy. The US Census Bureau reported that durable goods orders climbed 11.2 percent in July, after increasing by 7.7 percent in the previous month. The figure was remarkable since it was over the analysts' expectations, who foresaw a 4.3 percent increase.
The Chinese National Bureau of Statistics reported that China's industrial firms' industrial profits increased by 19.6 percent in July, after increasing 11.5 percent in June. In the first semester, industrial firms’ profits contracted by 12.8 percent, while including July they went down by 8.1 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.30 percent during the session, closing at the 28,331.92 level, while the S&P 500 gained 1.02 percent, closing the session at the 3,478.73 level. In the same way, the Nasdaq 100 went up by 2.13 percent during the session, closing at the 11,971.94 level, while the NYSE Composite gained 0.31 percent, closing the session at the 13,042.54 level.
In Germany, the Governing Coalition Party agreed on extending the measures to counter the effects of the sanitary crisis in the economy. The markets also expect France to present its economic recovery plan next month, which boosted optimism in the European stock markets.
The European stock indices mainly closed on the positive territory yesterday. The DAX gained 0.98 percent during the session, closing at the 13,190.15 level, followed by the CAC 40, which gained 0.80 percent during the session, closing at the 5,048.43 level. The IBEX 35 went up by 0.21 percent during the session, closing at the 7,123.00 level, while the Euro Stoxx 50 increased 0.81 percent, closing the session at the 3,356.76 level. The UK 100 climbed 0.15 during the session, closing at the 978.4 level, while the Italy 40 gained 0.46 percent, closing the session at the 1,968.6.