Summary:
- Large DOE draw (-6.9M) sees Oil rise after earlier moving lower
- Ripple looks to lead Crypto recovery
- USD remains squeezed; Mixed US data
- Chinese full-year growth accelerates by most in 7 years
- Active recommendations from Banks
After earlier moving lower, Brent Oil has recovered into the European close after a larger than expected drawdown was seen in the weekly DOE inventories. The headline DOE number showed a weekly decline of 6.9M against a consensus forecast of -1.4M and a prior reading of -4.9M. The drop was also larger than last night’s API number of -5.1M and marks a 9th consecutive drawdown.
The start of the week saw crypto markets hit with waves of selling but after finding some support yesterday they are attempting to recoup some of the losses today. Ripple is leading the way higher, rallying more than 33% on the day and trading back above the 1.60 handle once more. One possible fundamental reason behind the rebound is comments from the French finance minister calling for an increase in regulation, but it could equally just be buyers rushing back in after the major sell-off.
A batch of economic data from the US has failed to provide an overriding signal on the world’s largest economy, with jobs numbers dropping to multi-decade lows but a larger than expected fall in building permits is keeping the good news in check. The US dollar has been having a tough time of it of late and even though the USD index managed to post a daily gain yesterday it remains under pressure.
The long-awaited Chinese GDP data for the whole past year was finally released earlier today showing the higher than anticipated rate of growth which seems to confirm that the second-largest economy in the world has yet to witness a so-called ’hard landing’ (a sharp slowdown of growth). The release could have been a reason behind a quick jump in the Hang Seng (CHNComp on xStation5) while the Australian dollar, being one of the most correlated major currency to the Chinese economy, stayed broadly muted.
Finally, the active trade recommendations from major banks that we have previously posted can be found here.