Yesterday, oil markets advanced on signs of the coronavirus crisis dwindling in the United States, after Saudi Aramco released a positive assessment regarding the situation of the market.
According to recently released data, the number of Covid-19 infections dropped below 50,000 for the first time in a month. At the moment, the United States leads in the number of infections, with 5,251,446 confirmed infections, as well as a death toll of 166,192, followed by Brazil, India, and Russia. On Monday, the total number of infected individuals in the world went up over 20 million, with 20,256,562 confirmed coronavirus cases as well as a death toll of 738,937.
Saudi Aramco's Chief Executive, Amin Nasser recently expressed the company's optimism about the pace of oil demand recovery in Asia, as the restrictions on their economies are being lifted up. Due to the situation of the oil markets, the company expressed its optimism regarding what they call a "partial recovery in the energy market" which, just as the Asian market recovery, is being pushed up by the decision to ease the restrictions.
Regarding the company, Aramco also reported that its profits went down by 73 percent in the second quarter mainly due to a considerable fall in the global oil demand, though highlighting that the company piled up solid earnings given its decision to cut production costs.
The West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures closed yesterday's session on the positive territory, going up by 0.77 percent and closing at the 41.94 level. Conversely, the Brent oil futures gained 0.63 percent, closing the session at the 44.99 level.
The US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin recently expressed the White House's willingness to resume its negotiations with the Democratic party. Currently, the dialogue about additional coronavirus stimulus packages stalled mainly due to the disagreements between US lawmakers, as they couldn't reach an agreement regarding the price tag of the aid, as the Republicans prefer the amount of aid to be below 1 trillion.
“We’re prepared to put more money on the table,” commented Mnuchin, commenting that the White House is willing to agree on a pandemic aid package as long as the Democrats offer a fair deal, “We’re not going to go to unlimited amounts of money to do things that don’t make sense,” he added.
At the end of last week, the media reported Trump's decision to sign four executive actions that would provide extra unemployment benefits, among other measures that would help US citizens to face the financial consequences of the crisis.
The markets are now expectant regarding the upcoming trade talks between the United States and China, which are set to take place this weekend. Recently the situation worsened, as US President Donald Trump announced his intentions to ban the Chinese social media platforms, TikTok and WeChat.
The US stock markets were mixed during yesterday's session. The S&P 500 gained 0.27 percent during the session, closing at the 3,360.47 level, while the Dow Jones industrial average advanced 1.30 percent, closing the session at the 27,791.44 level. On the other hand, the Nasdaq 100 went down by 0.49 percent during the session, closing at the 11,085.17 level.
Main European indices managed to close mainly in the positive territory. The DAX gained 0.10 percent during the session, closing at the 12,687.53 level, while the FTSE 100 advanced 0.31 percent, closing the session at the 6,050.59 level. Conversely, the Euro Stoxx 50 went up by 0.22 percent during the session, closing at the 3,259.71 level.
The Asian stock markets closed mixed yesterday. On one hand, the Nikkei 225 went down by 0.39 percent during the session, closing at the 22,329.94 level, while the Hang Seng index closed at the 24,377.43 level, dropping 0.63 percent during the session. On the other hand, the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.75 percent during the session, closing at the 3,379.25 level.