Category Archives: Weekly Outlook

On Wednesday evening (GMT+3), the US Federal Reserve announced a rate hike of 0.75% or 75 basis points, up from the last rate hike of 50 points. This is the largest Fed interest rate hike in 28 years, and brings the benchmark interest rate to between 1.50% – 1.75%, a number last seen just beforeContinue Reading

To boost the slowing US solar industry, Biden has ordered that regulators turn a blind eye to potential trade regulation violations by Chinese solar panel manufacturers and let them go unpunished for the next two years. This is with the hopes that an influx of cheap, foreign solar panels into the US will speed upContinue Reading

On Wednesday evening (GMT+3), the US EIA Crude Oil Inventories data was released. For the Week of 3 June, US inventories of crude increased by 2.025 million barrels. This is compared to the forecasted draw of 1.917 million, and the previous week’s draw of 5.068 million.  Meanwhile, distillate inventories saw a rise of 2.592 millionContinue Reading

On Wednesday evening (GMT+3), the US ISM Manufacturing Purchasing Managers‘ Index (PMI) figure for May was released. May showed a reading of 56.1, higher than the forecasted 54.5 and the previous month’s value of 55.4. The ISM Manufacturing PMI measures product demand from over 300 key manufacturers in the US and is considered a majorContinue Reading

Joining the list of countries – like Poland and Bulgaria – affected by retaliatory sanctions from Russia is Finland. The country’s supply of Russian natural gas has been cut off after Helsinki officially applied to join NATO. Gasum, Finland’s state-owned gas distributor, announced that while imports had halted, they were “prepared for it”. The disruptionContinue Reading

On Wednesday morning (GMT+3), Germany released its quarter-on-quarter GDP figures. The 0.2% increase was exactly in line with forecasts, while an increase from the previous quarters -0.3%. Year-on-year growth for Q1 stands at 3.8%, up from the forecasted 3.7%. Earlier in the week on Tuesday, European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde gave the indicationContinue Reading

US shares saw their largest rout in almost two years as investors exited equities on the back of poor retailer earnings results and inflation fears. Trading hours on Wednesday saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average lose 3.57% to close at 31490.07, the S&P 500 drop 4.04% to close at 3923.68, and the Nasdaq Composite plummetContinue Reading

The EU has announced a new series of sanctions in their latest proposal. Included is a plan to phase out Russian crude imports in a span of six months. This means a ban on all Russian oil, crude and refined. Enacting the sanction will be a major challenge given that Russian oil accounted for 25%Continue Reading

On Wednesday afternoon (GMT+3), the US ADP Nonfarm Employment Change figures were announced, revealing that employment in the US rose by 247,000, lower than the forecasted increase of 395,000 and the previous month’s increase of 479,000. Markets were largely unmoved by the ADP Employment figures as participants awaited the Fed’s interest rate decision. For theContinue Reading

Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled energy giant, has announced that it has cut off supplies of natural gas to Poland and Bulgaria. The move is the first of its kind to result from the Kremlin’s insistence that “unfriendly countries” pay for Russian energy in rubles. Russia’s currency plunged into freefall at the onset of the Russia-UkraineContinue Reading