Last week oil markets ended the week in the negative territory mainly due to concerns for a fall in demand, now there are fears that the current economic recovery could be affected by a second wave of the coronavirus.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures ended up on the negative territory on Friday's session, going down by 1.74 percent and closing the session at the 41.22 level. Conversely, the Brent Oil futures dropped by 1.53 percent during the session, closing at the 44.40 level. On Sunday, the Crude Oil WTI Futures gained 0.97 percent, closing the session at the 41.73, while the Brent oil futures advanced by 0.70 percent, closing the session at the 44.80 level.
The coronavirus crisis continues advancing, infecting about 20,024,263 individuals and killing 733,995 of them. The United States leads in the number of infections, with 5,199,444 confirmed infections as well as a death toll of 165,617, followed by Brazil, India, and Russia.
The conversations regarding the additional US stimulus package are now essentially stalled since both Democrats and Republicans couldn't agree on whether extending the unemployment aid by $600, an alternative backed by the Democratic party, or by $200. This pushed US President Donald Trump to sign an executive action that would provide an extra $400 in unemployment benefits, asking the states to cover 25% of the cost of implementing this measure. Other actions that Trump's government approved was a memorandum on deferring student loan payments as well as one on a payroll tax holiday for Americans earning less than $100,000 a year.
"That's generous but we want to take care of our people," commented Trump about the extra unemployment stimulus.
The labor department reported on Friday that the unemployment rate fell to 10.2 percent in July, which is below April's figure which stood at 14.7 percent but still far over the pre-coronavirus crisis levels. The economy added 1.8 million jobs during the month as well, far below June's figure which showed a gain of 4.8 million jobs.
The US stock markets were mixed during Friday's session. The Nasdaq 100 went down by 1.13 percent during the session, closing at the 11,139.39 level. On the other hand, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.17 percent during the session, closing at the 27,433.48 level, while the S&P 500 remained almost steady, adding 0.06 percent and closing the session at the 3,351.28 level and the NYSE Composite increased by 0.29 percent during the session, closing at the 12,765.84 level.
European markets were also mixed at the end of the session. The DAX gained 0.66 percent during the session, closing at the 12,674.88 level, while the CAC 40 gained 0.09 percent, closing the session at the 4,889.52 level. Conversely, the Euro Stoxx 50 gained 0.38 percent during the session, closing at the 3,252.65 level, while the UK 100 advanced by 0.05 percent, closing at the 972.0 level and the Italy 40 gained 0.21 percent, closing the session at the 1,907.0 level. On the other hand, the IBEX 35 dropped 0.11 percent, closing the session at the 6,950.50 level.
Asian stock markets mainly closed on the negative territory. The Nikkei 225 went down by 0.39 percent, closing the session at the 22,329.94 level, while the Hang Seng dropped 1.60 percent during the session, closing at the 24,531.62 level. Conversely, the S&P/ASX 200 went down by 0.62 percent, closing the session at the 6,004.80 level, while the IDX Composite dropped by 0.66 percent, closing the session at the 5,143.89 level.