The commodity market has halted its upsurge after the United Arab Emirates proposed the OPEC+ alliance to increase oil production. Although UAE energy minister Suhail al-Mazrouei have downplayed the statement, crude oil prices fell below $110 per barrel.
On Wednesday, a top foreign policy aide to Ukraine's president stated that Ukraine was open to discussing its neutral status, giving some optimism to market players.
Afterwards, gold decreased by $70, while oil fell by $22.
Equities continued its upwards bounce on Thursday, as traders with long positions assumed the economic impact of the war in Ukraine was finally priced in after weeks of market fluctuations. Oil prices have stabilized after dropping sharply earlier
The MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index gained more than 2% in one of the biggest jumps since November 2020. European index futures have advanced, and US futures were mixed after main indexes in the USA and Europe made the biggest intraday gains since 2020. Amazon.com Inc. gained 10% at the end of the session after the company announced a 20-1 stock split and a $10 billion share buyback.
The STOXX 50 has made the biggest 3-day jump since the beginning of 2022:
Yesterday, the US House of Representatives voted in favor of banning Russian energy imports, passed the $1.5 billion spending plan and approved granting Ukraine a financial aid package of $13.6 billion. In Asia, Rio Tinto Group announced it would join other corporations and sever all ties with Russia.
However, the market rally could be short-lived, as investors are gauging the risks of an inflationary shock that could jeopardize worldwide economic growth. Furthermore, the Federal Reserve System is set to raise interest rates next week. It is expected to be the first rate hike out of several. US CPI index is likely to reach another high on Thursday. While the commodity price upsurge seems to be stalled at this point, the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia continue to influence markets.
"It's going to be a persistently higher inflation environment for the rest of 2022," Erin Browne, multi asset portfolio manager at Pacific Investment Management Co., told Bloomberg. "What you're starting to see is not only the first-degree hit of commodities, but the feed-through with some of the supply-chain challenges to be exacerbated because of the conflict."
In South Korea, conservative candidate Yoon Suk-yeol won the presidential election. The return of conservatives to power signals South Korea would follow a more hawkish foreign policy towards China and North Korea.
Today's main event on the economic calendar is the release of US inflation data.
