The US market showed a slight increase yesterday, right after the release of a rather weak report on orders for durable goods. The DJIA climbed by 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 jumped by 0.8% and 0.2%, respectively.
Asian markets, meanwhile, saw the opposite and declined this morning. Japan indices slipped by 0.2%, while China indices dropped by 0.5%. Apparently, this happened partly because the Bank of Japan kept the interest rate at minus 0.1% as expected.
With regards to the epidemiological situation, a decline occurred in terms of incidence rate. India saw a decrease in daily infections from 350,000 to 320,000, but the situation remains critical. Accordingly, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for developed countries to help India.
In Europe, the number of new COVID-19 cases dropped, thanks to the strict quarantine measures. France and Germany saw a massive decline to 10,000, while Turkey saw a decrease to 37,000.
In the US, the rapid vaccination of the population has helped curb the spread of the virus. Now, the country lists approximately 50,000 new cases, which is obviously lower than its previous records.
All in all, global incidence has slipped to 700,000.
On a different note, OPEC did not change its forecast for oil demand this year, retaining it at 5.95 million barrels per day. They also refused to hold a meeting, which suggests that the current prices are convenient for both suppliers and buyers. As a result, Brent grew 0.75% this morning, trading at $ 66.14. It should close around $ 63.00 - $ 67.50 today.
As for WTI, it rose by 0.7% this morning, hitting a price of $ 62.30. It is projected to range around $ 61.00 - $ 64.00 today.
Conclusion: The market is calm at the moment. Obviously, it is waiting for the Fed decisions on Wednesday, as well as on the Q1 GDP report on Thursday.
