Moody's Upgrades Argentina's Credit Rating Amid Economic Reforms 
US Futures Rise as Investors Eye Earnings, Inflation Data, and Wildfire Impacts 
China’s Growth Faces Structural Challenges Amid Doubts Over Data 
Oil Prices Dip Slightly Amid Focus on Russian Sanctions and U.S. Inflation Data 
Indonesia Surprises Markets with Interest Rate Cut Amid Currency Pressure 
S&P 500 Relies on Tech for Growth in Q4 2024, Says Barclays 
Lithium Market Poised for Recovery Amid Supply Cuts and Rising Demand 
Goldman Predicts 50% Odds of 10% U.S. Tariff on Copper by Q1 Close 
Geopolitical Shocks That Could Reshape Financial Markets in 2025 
Mexico's Undervalued Equity Market Offers Long-Term Investment Potential 
Gold Prices Slide as Rate Cut Prospects Diminish; Copper Gains on China Stimulus Hopes 
US Gas Market Poised for Supercycle: Bernstein Analysts 
Urban studies: Doing research when every city is different 
UBS Predicts Potential Fed Rate Cut Amid Strong US Economic Data 
Energy Sector Outlook 2025: AI's Role and Market Dynamics 
Moldova Criticizes Russia Amid Transdniestria Energy Crisis 
Bank of America Posts Strong Q4 2024 Results, Shares Rise 
The U.S. stockpiles and U.S. crude oil production's return to its record 12.3 million barrels per day.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported crude-oil inventories dropped by around 300,000 barrels last week, to 476.49 million barrels.
As a result, the crude prices have gone under pressure from a much smaller-than-expected decline, Brent crude has dropped to $63.09, and is currently pairing those loses to the current $63.72 level, while WTI is attempting to bounce back at $55.41 levels.
The other driving forces of crude prices are:
Trump’s administration has pulled off a shocker by choosing not to renew any waiver on Iranian oil sanctions, while most of the market analysts expected quite a few other sanctioned countries to receive an upliftment of waivers.
Iran exported 1.3m bpd in March – the onus is now on the likes of Saudi Arabia and Russia to pick up the slack.
Contemplating the recent development, the odds of OPEC + continuing its supply curtailing program into 2H’2019 looks very slim.
Updates on crude oil derivatives trades: In crude oil segment, we initiated a risk reversal strategy by going long in Brent Dec’19 10D call versus short Dec’19 10D put. They also went tactically short Brent-Dubai Q3’19 swap spread due to mounting risks from Iran sanctions.
Currently, at spot reference of WTI: $55.25 levels, as the market tone is troublesome, we note that the continued decline in crude oil with WTI testing fresh lows in the minor trend and threatening below $55/bbl that makes the commodity-driven currencies also vulnerable.
Hence, we wish to activate WTI crude directional hedge, by adding shorts CME WTI futures for June delivery for arresting downside risks in short-run, simultaneously, go long in CME WTI futures of August’2019 month deliveries. Courtesy: JPM
Currency strength index: FxWirePro's hourly EUR spot index is inching towards 23 levels (which is mildly bullish), while hourly USD spot index was at 70 (bullish) while articulating (at 10:29 GMT).
For more details on the index, please refer below weblink: http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex
