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Crude heads for biggest weekly drop in a month

ecPulse

2013-05-24 07:05AM UTC

Crude oil fell for a fourth day on Friday, extending the biggest weekly drop in more than a month, amid continued worries over demand following the rising U.S. fuel inventories and the global economic slowdown, stoking worries over the demand outlook. “The tone of the market remains soft… Growth in oil demand has been very moderate. This week’s figures in the U.S. were a bit disappointing with a big build-up in gasoline inventories”, said Ric Spooner from CMC Markets in Sydney. Moreover, China’s manufacturing unexpectedly shrank in May for the first time in seven months, darkening the outlook for demand on oil from the world’s second largest oil consumer, while in Germany, the manufacturing remained contracted in May. - Crude is trading around $93.92 a barrel with the highest at $94.40 and the lowest at $93.74 - Brent is trading around $102.28 a barrel as of this writing after falling 0.16% or $0.16 In the U.S., the strong U.S. housing data renewed worries the Fed would cut back its bond-buying program earlier than previously thought. Bernanke said earlier this week that the central bank could scale back the pace of bond purchases “in the next few meetings”. Data from the Energy Information Agency showed this week gasoline stockpiles in the U.S. rose 3 million barrels last week to 220 million, near the highest for this time of year since 1999, showing a well-supplied market and sparking expectations of a drop in prices. In Europe, the European Central Bank`s president Mario Draghi said on Thursday that the eurozone’s economy is “more stable than a year ago but economic conditions remain challenging and governments must push on with reforms and banking union plans”. - Natural gas is trading at $4.281 per cubic feet after rising 0.47% - Gasoline is trading at $2.8272 a gallon after falling 0.03% - Heating oil is trading at $2.8527 a gallon after falling 0.26%

Gold rises on expectations Fed will stand pat on stimulus

Fx News Today

2013-05-24 07:15AM UTC

Gold rose on Friday heading for its strongest week in a month after a U.S. Federal Reserve official said the central bank is in no hurry to start winding down its economic stimulus, increasing the metal`s appeal as a hedge against inflation. Gold extended gains on Friday, drawing support from the weakening dollar and the fall in equity markets on weak manufacturing data, which reflects a stagnant global economic growth. As of (10:08 GMT+3) gold for immediate delivery gained 0.15 percent or 2.04 points to trade at $ 1,390.31 after opening at $1,390.74, having earlier hit a high of $1,398.09, and a low of $1,387.02. Data released on Thursday showed Chinese manufacturing sector slowed during May, adding to signs that the world’s second largest economy faces many challenges. The Eurozone PMI data released recently showed the business activity has slowed in May, indicating that the overall growth may fall to another contraction in the second quarter of 2013. Among other commodities: - Silver rose 35% to $ 22.55 - Platinum dropped 0.03% to $ 1,4570.35 - Palladium inched 0.01% down to $ 738.90 Spot gold rose 0.8 percent to $1379.38 on Thursday after St. Louis Federal Reserve’s president James Bullard said he did not think the Fed was "that close" to starting the process of winding down its stimulus. Bullard’s comments came a day after Fed’s president, Ben Bernanke said the U.S. economy had to show more signs of progress before the Fed would make that move. However, he also added that a decision to adjust it could come in the "next few meetings" if the economy looked set to maintain momentum. The USDIX is currently trading around 83.79 after opening at 83.92, after hitting a high of 84.02 and a low of 83.71.

Germany GFK consumer confidence rises in May

Fx News Today

2013-05-24 06:34AM UTC

German consumer confidence rose in June to 6.5, the market research company GFK AG in Nuremberg said on Friday, up from the previous reading of 6.2. Analysts had expected a steady figure.

Germany Q1 GDP unrevised at 0.1%

Fx News Today

2013-05-24 06:27AM UTC

Germany`s gross domestic product rose in the last quarter to a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent, the final reading from t he Federal Statistics Office Wiesbaden showed Friday, in line with the advanced estimate.

Year on year, the GDP was at an unrevised 1.4 percent contraction in non-seasonally adjusted terms, and adjusted for working days was also steady at 0.2 percent contraction.

Exports fell 1.8 percent on the quarter following 2.0 percent drop, revised to a drop of 2.4 percent in the last quarter of 2012. The actual exports figure missed analyst’s expectation of 0.6 percent drop.

Also imports took the drop of 2.1 percent in the first quarter after a revised previous of 1.3 percent drop originally reported at a drop of 0.6 percent; analysts expected a loss of 0.9 percent.

Capital investments fell on the quarter, edging 1.5 percent lower from a previous drop of 0.7 percent revised to 1.1 percent in the previous quarter, missing expectations of 0.7 percent decline.

Investments in construction also fell 2.1 percent after a revised drop of 0.7 percent, originally reported at 0.1 percent. Analysts called for a 1.2 percent decrease in investments.

Government spending declined 0.1 percent after a revised 0.1 percent originally reported at 0.4 percent, trailing expectation of 0.3 percent gain. Domestic demand remained flat on the quarter at 0.0 percent, missing forecasts of 0.1 percent.

Private consumption improved in the first quarter of the year, where it rose to 0.8 percent following a revised drop of 0.3 percent originally reported at 0.1 percent, beating expectations of 0.3 percent gain.