Oil prices continued to fall as the US market opened on Friday, due to profit-taking from a 13-month high, and fears over a rise in the US crude inventories after the cold weather conditions in country suspended demand from refineries.

US crude fell 2.5% to $58.60, after opening at $60.09, and hit a day high at $60.16, and Brent crude fell 2.3% to $62.12, after opening at $63.60, and hit a day high at $63.60.

US crude lost 2.3% yesterday, on profit-taking from a 13-month high $62.25 a barrel.

While Brent crude futures fell 2.0%, after hitting the highest since January 2020 at $65.49 a barrel.

Energy experts are concerned about a possible build-up in the US crude stocks during the next few weeks due to weak demand from refineries, especially in Texas, due to the cold weather conidiations.

Despite the suspension of about 3.5 million barrels per day of the US oil production, the lack of demand will likely lead to a build-up in stockpiles during the next few weeks, and may lead to another storage problem like the one that was the reason for the prices collapse in April 2020.

The US Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that crude inventories fell 7.3 million barrels during the week ending February 12, beating forecasts of a drop by 2.1 million barrels.

The total commercial inventories fell to 461.8 million barrels, the lowest level since the week ending March 20, 2020, in a positive sign of the US domestic demand.

The US production fell 200K bpd last week, to the lowest level since the week ending October at a total of 10.8 million barrels per day.

European stocks rose on Friday, to head for the first daily gain in 4 sessions, after strong data in Europe and Britain raised optimism about the global economic recovery and rising US bonds yield.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.4% as of 11:15 GMT, after it closed lower by 0.8% yesterday on profit-taking from a 1-year high of 420.6 points.

The travel and leisure sector saw the largest gains in Europe today, rising around 1%, thanks to the positive news about Covid-19 vaccines.

The German authorities announced on Thursday that AstraZeneca-University of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine is highly effective, and its negative side effects are short-term.

Investors are focusing on the US 10-year Treasury bonds yield, after its jumped near a 1-year high of $1,331.

Analysts say that the rising bond yields could make investors shift to into bonds from, which foreshadows a sell-off move in Wall Street in the near future.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.4%, after the index closed lower by 1.1% yesterday at Wall Street in the third straight daily loss on profit-taking record high of 3,950.43 points.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.5%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.6%, and Germany DAX index rose 0.5%.

The UK's FTSE 100 fell 0.2%, as the pound sterling rose above $1.4 for the first time since April 2018, which weighs down on exports.

Gold prices rose on Friday, to deepen losses for the seventh straight day, and hit a 7-month low while on track for the largest weekly loss in 2021, due to rising US bonds yield.

Gold prices fell 0.9% to the lowest since July 2020 at $1,760.68 an ounce, after opening at $1,776.51, and hit a day high at $1,777.55.

The yellow metal closed lower by 0.1% yesterday, in its sixth straight daily loss and the longest losing streak in 2021, in the longest losing streak since November 2011.

Gold prices lost around 3.5% so far this week, to head for the biggest weekly loss in 2021, as the yield of the 10-year US Treasury bonds rose.

The 10-year US Treasury bonds yield rose 1.0% to 1.311%, extending its gains for the second day near the 12-month high of 1.331%.

This jump in the US bond yields comes after the US inflation expectations rose to the highest level in six years, especially after energy prices rallied, in addition to massive stimulus measures, which indicates that the global economy has entered a more solid phase on the road to recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic after the launch of many vaccination campaigns in most parts of the world.

Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF remained unchanged yesterday, with the total at the lowest level since June 10 of 1,132.89 metric tonnes.

Silver prices edged higher on Friday, to rebound from the 2-week low that was hit earlier, while the US dollar against its peers.

Silver prices rose 0.5% to $27.18 an ounce, after opening at $27.04, and hit a session-low and the lowest since February 4 at $26.07.

The precious metal fell 1.25% yesterday, and posted the second daily loss in 3 days due to weak safe haven demand.

The dollar index fell more than 0.4% today, to deepen its losses for the second day, which lifts the prices of dollar-denominated metals.

The US dollar fell due to weak demand, after strong data in Europe and Britain raised optimism about the global economic recovery.

Silver prices lost around 1% so far this week, to head for the second weekly loss in 3 weeks, as the yield of the 10-year US Treasury bonds jumped to nearly a 1-year high.