December 04. Crude Oil rises to eight-month high as OPEC + deal Brent oil prices jumped to $49.86 per barrel after the announcement of the results of the OPEC + meeting. Thus, the asset has renewed its maximum for the last eight months. The organization has decided to increase production by 500,000 barrels per day starting in January in response to rising prices and improved demand forecasts for 2021. The demand for hydrocarbons is expected to recover quickly thanks to progress in the development of a vaccine against COVID-19. However, this is only a quarter of the 2 million bpd increase the group originally expected in January. An additional stimulus for growth is the fact that OPEC keeps its plans regarding the need to further restrict oil production unchanged.
December 08. UK starts vaccination, US buys vaccines December 8 could be a historic day in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic as the United Kingdom officially began vaccination today. The UK uses a vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech and has reportedly purchased 40 million doses. Pfizer said it could produce 50 million doses this month; production volume in 2021 is not yet clear. Donald Trump's government purchased 100 million doses of Pfizer's vaccine in advance (enough to vaccinate 50 million people, since each person needs two doses every few weeks). Pfizer then offered a contract for the supply of more vaccines, which Trump refused. The current agreement between the US government and Pfizer allows for the purchase of up to 500 million doses in the second half of 2021. However, this number is optional. As other countries place their own vaccine orders and Pfizer has a production logistics scheme, the US may not be able to purchase another 500 million doses, even if it wants to. The question of when and how Americans will be vaccinated is critical, as the country has reached a record 102,000 hospitalizations and the highest weekly death rate. The United States has recorded over 15.3 million cases (200,000 new just yesterday) and over 290,000 Covid-19-related deaths. The situation with coronaviruses in Europe is starting to stabilize thanks to November lockdowns. France, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany are seeing significant declines in the number of Covid-19 cases. Russia is currently the largest coronavirus hotspot outside the US, outperforming even India in its daily statistics.
December 09. Brexit talks and coronavirus vaccinations The term of negotiations between the UK and the European Union is coming to an end, but the countries have not yet reached a new trade agreement. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson traveled to Brussels today to have a business dinner with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and try to find common ground. Meanwhile, the first alarming news of the effects of the coronavirus vaccine has arrived. Pfizer-BioNTech has begun to vaccinate UK citizens this week, and a couple of mild allergic reactions have already been reported. British health authorities are now reporting that allergy sufferers should refrain from vaccinations. In addition, a third vaccine from the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm has appeared, which claims to be highly effective (86%), which is confirmed by data from the UAE. The development of additional vaccines is likely to be an important step in the fight against coronavirus. As a reminder, the US and the European Union have already reserved drugs produced and planned for production in the coming months by Pfizer and Moderna. Thus, the rest of the companies that developed vaccines will meet the needs of other countries.
December 10.2020 - USA, coronavirus and latest economic reports In the US, the November inflation report was published, which beat the forecast at 0.2%, as well as weekly data on jobless claims, which disappointed investors. The labor market situation in the United States is deteriorating due to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak. By the end of the week, 70 million people infected with coronavirus will be registered in the world. In the United States, there are more than 15.8 million patients, of whom more than 296,000 have died. The number of hospitalizations in the country has reached the highest ever. In the EU, the number of new cases is gradually decreasing. A notable exception is Germany, which despite the lockdown, where more than 20,000 new cases of Covid-19 are detected daily. Brazil, India and Russia also continue to be hit hard by the virus.
December 16. Bitcoin price has updated a new all-time high The value of the most popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin, grows on Wednesday evening, exceeding the maximum level of December 2017 ($ 20,042) and updating a new all-time high at $ 20,535. Bitcoin, like other cryptocurrencies, has risen sharply since October. Digital currencies are rising in value amid optimism in global markets and expectations that the Covid-19 pandemic will be brought under control thanks to the emergence of vaccines against coronavirus infection. Additional support for Bitcoin is provided by a sharp weakening of the US dollar in the world market.
December 17. Bank of England has kept the rate unchanged The Bank of England at its meeting on Thursday kept its base interest rate at 0.1%, in line with analysts' expectations. Moreover, the regulator has kept the volume of asset repurchases from the market at 895 billion pounds. The redemption of government bonds at the same time is 875 billion pounds, and the volume of redemption of corporate bonds remained at 20 billion pounds. The Bank of England continues to monitor the situation around Brexit. London and Brussels are still trying to avoid a shock scenario with the introduction of import duties on January 1. Therefore, keeping the program for buying up government debt securities at the same level should provide the regulator with sufficient «firepower» until the end of 2021.
December 18. Brent and WTI: What to Expect from the Oil Market? Global oil prices are moderately lower on Friday as investors continue to assess the outlook for demand amid news of vaccinations in many countries. The price of Brent crude oil dropped today to $ 51.17 per barrel, while the price of WTI oil - to $ 48.15. Note that the quotes moved down after four days of growth. However, despite the optimism associated with the start of vaccination against coronavirus, the epidemiological situation in the world leaves much to be desired. Against this background, an increasing number of countries are introducing additional quarantine measures, which puts pressure on demand. We can say that the news about vaccines is too overestimated, which does not exclude the possibility of an imminent correction in prices from the highs. Recall that Brent quotes reached $ 51.80 at the moment, which was the maximum since mid-February of this year. WTI climbed to $ 48.60 per barrel, which also became its highest value in 10 months. Additional risks to oil risk are posed by divisions within OPEC + as every exporter would like to take advantage of higher hydrocarbon prices. Do not forget that the organization has decided to increase oil production by 500 thousand barrels per day from January 1, 2021.
December 23. Great Britain is on the verge of a trade blockade UK industrialists fear that the country could face the threat of a food crisis. In particular, the country is facing an impending shortage of fruits and vegetables, and shoppers are lining up at supermarkets in London. The fact is that due to the mutating coronavirus, a number of European countries have suspended transport links with Great Britain. And now, with food supply chains disrupted, London is on the verge of a trade blockade. Analysts note that the volume of supplies from the European Union amounted to a quarter of the total volume of the previous year. In addition, port disruptions mean that British meat and fish exporters are unable to ship their goods to Europe. As it is known, the European Union is highly dependent on supplies from Britain. For example, in France there may not be enough fish for Christmas due to blocking of cargo.
December 24. US stock exchanges are growing on expectations of state support Major US stock indexes on Thursday are growing moderately on expectations of market participants for additional measures of economic support in the US. At the same time, the trading volume today is not large, since most exchanges today close earlier than usual in connection with the celebration of Catholic Christmas. Tomorrow is a day off in the USA and Europe. In particular, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) grew by 0.13%, to 30169.5 points, the NASDAQ high-tech index – by 0.41%, to 12822.01 points, the broad market S&P 500 index – by 0.26% , up to 3699.5 points. Earlier, US President Donald Trump refused to sign the $ 900 billion package of economic assistance adopted by Congress on the eve of Congress, demanding a revision in order to increase payments to the population from $600 to $2,000 per person. At the same time, markets are watching with concern the news of the mutation of the coronavirus in the UK, as fears about new serious restrictive measures are growing against this background. And this, in turn, can exert strong pressure on economic activity in Europe and the world.
December 25. What awaits the oil market in 2021? The outgoing year will be remembered for numerous anti-records: a fall in demand by 25%, overcrowding of oil storage facilities and a drop in prices for the first time in history. The reason for such events was the coronavirus pandemic in the world, which led to an unprecedented drop in oil prices: Brent collapsed to the level of $15 per barrel, and for the first time in history, WTI completely went into negative territory, reaching minus $40 (suppliers paid extra to buyers for oil export). However, experts believe that next year will be more successful for «black gold», and the price of a Brent barrel will remain in the region of $45-55 per barrel. By the end of 2020, OPEC's coordinated efforts to balance the oil market, as well as news of the successful testing of vaccines against COVID-19, helped the oil rise to $50 per barrel. The demand for oil products in the outgoing year is gradually approaching 97-99% of 2019, but air traffic has not yet been restored. Moreover, the new mutation Covid casts doubt on the imminent opening of borders. At the same time, the world economy continues to grow, which was facilitated by the stimulating programs of central banks. In such conditions, an optimistic scenario for further dynamics of the oil market is still more likely, experts say. It should be added that the negative effect on demand from the pandemic will come to naught by the end of the first half of 2021, and the OPEC+ deal will remain in one form or another. However, in the unlikely scenario of canceling the agreement to cut oil production, the price of «black gold» may fall to the range of $35-45 per barrel. But, again, this is extremely unlikely.
