Yesterday the oil futures barely moved after the markets learned that gasoline inventories increased significantly, which signals problems in the demand side.
The American Petroleum Institute reported that crude oil inventories dropped by 4.264 million barrels for the week of August 14. The figure exceeded the expectations of the analysts, who foresaw a draw of 2.670-million barrels. Gasoline inventories increased on the week ending on August 14, rising by 4.991 million barrels after falling by 1.310-million-barrel on the previous week. Analysts expected it to decrease by 1.057-million-barrels.
The OPEC+ Technical Committee is set to meet today, mainly to discuss compliance issues. Reuters reported that according to OPEC+ sources and a draft report, the compliance level is between 95 and 97 percent and that the committee recommends focusing on countries that don't comply with the restrictions instead of attempting to make changes on the current production agreement.
The West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures remained steady during the session, closing at the 42.89 level, while the Brent oil futures gained 0.20 percent, closing the session at the 45.46 level.
Currently, there are 22,309,795 confirmed coronavirus infections in the world, as well as 784,380 total deaths. The United States leads in the number of infections, with 5,655,974 confirmed infections as well as a death toll of 175,074, followed by Brazil, India, and Russia.
The US stock markets closed mixed during yesterday's session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.24 percent during the session, closing at the 27,778.07 level, while the NYSE Composite dropped by 0.20 percent, closing the session at the 12,910.33 level. On the other hand, the S&P 500 gained 0.23 percent, closing the session at the 3,389.78 level, while the Nasdaq 100 advanced 0.98 percent during the session, closing at 11,399.03.
European markets dropped during the session. The DAX went down by 0.30 percent during the session, closing at the 12,881.76 level, while the CAC 40 dropped by 0.68 percent, closing the session at the 4,938.06 level. In addition, the IBEX 35 lost 0.66 percent during the session, closing at the 7,043.50 level, while the Euro Stoxx 50 dropped by 0.49 percent during the session, closing at the 3,289.64 level. The UK 100 went down by 0.83 percent, closing the session at the 982.2 level, while the Italy 40 dropped by 0.55 percent during the session, closing at the 1,940.5 level.
Japanese Exports Dropped in July
Japanese exports decreased in July, according to data released by the Finance Ministry. Nevertheless, it was the gentlest fall in four months, as shipments to China helped to counter the fall in exports to Europe.
Overseas shipments went down by 19.2 percent (year-to-year), which was slightly better than the analysts' forecasts, who foresaw a 20.9 percent drop. Cars exports went down by 30 percent, followed by auto parts shipments which dropped by 32.5 percent. Imports went down by 22.3 percent during the month and the trade balance stood at a $110 million surplus.
Exports to the United States went down by 19.5 percent, while exports to the European Union dropped by 30.5 percent. On the other hand, exports to China rose 8.2 percent.
“Looking ahead, we expect exports to continue their recovery in Q3. Imports will probably recover at a more or less similar pace,” commented analysts at Bloomberg.
By 8:28 GMT the US dollar remained almost steady against the Japanese Yen, gaining 0.04 percent during the session and hitting the 105.47 level.