ForexMart's Forex News

**KostiaForexMart** · 03-01-2023, 10:03 PM

March 1. Oil began to decline on signals of rising stocks in the US

On the first day of March, oil quotes began to decline after the release of data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) on another increase in fuel reserves in the United States.

The price of Brent crude oil fell from the level of $84.10 to $82.70 per barrel. North American WTI oil shows similar dynamics: a decline to $76.20 after yesterday's growth to $77.65 per barrel.

According to API statistics, crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 6.2 million barrels last week. Today, we should pay attention to similar data from the US Department of Energy. Analysts assume that the official report will indicate an increase in reserves by about 500 thousand barrels.

Yesterday, oil showed strengthening amid optimism about the recovery of the Chinese economy. In particular, the Purchasing managers' Index (PMI) in the processing industry of China rose in February to 52.6 points (from 50.1 points a month earlier), reaching a record high since 2012. Analysts on average expected a more moderate increase, up to 50.5 points.

The PMI of the service sector in February rose to 56.3 points from 54.4 points in January. The indicator has updated the maximum since March 2021.

February 28. The IMF refused to ban cryptocurrencies

The International Monetary Fund intends to abandon the idea of a complete ban on cryptocurrencies. This was stated by the Managing Director of the IMF Kristalina Georgieva during her speech at the meeting of G20 finance ministers in Bangalore, India.

Instead of a ban, the fund plans to differentiate and regulate crypto assets. «We are in favor of regulating the world of digital money, and this is a top priority, despite the fact that there is still a lot of confusion in the classification of digital money,» Georgieva said.

To date, the IMF's first goal is to distinguish between government-backed digital currencies of central banks and publicly issued crypto assets and stablecoins.

The head of the fund also stated that fully secured stablecoins create a fairly good space for the economy, and unsecured crypto assets are speculative and high-risk assets that require more regulation. The IMF still believes that crypto assets cannot be legal tender, since they are not secured by anything.

Moreover, if states fail to develop a mechanism to combat money laundering through cryptocurrencies and protect investors, the IMF does not rule out a complete ban on the use of an innovative tool in the global economy.

**KostiaForexMart** · 03-06-2023, 05:53 PM

March 6. Gold is declining in anticipation of the speech of the Fed’s head

On Monday, gold prices are mostly declining, moving away from the maximum in 2.5 weeks. Pressure on the precious metal is exerted by expectations of the speech of the head of the US Federal Reserve System Jerome Powell, which will take place later this week. Market participants hope to clarify the prospects of the central bank's monetary policy.

The current quote of gold paired with the dollar is $1856.45. During the day, the asset fell from the level of $1863 to $1854 per troy ounce. At the same time, the dollar index increased by 0.1%, making dollar-denominated gold more expensive for holders of other currencies.

In addition to Powell's speech, investors are waiting for Friday's data on the US labor market. At the end of the week, the monthly Non-Farm Payrolls report on the number of new jobs in the non-agricultural sector will be published. A weaker than expected indicator will indicate that the US Federal Reserve rate will not rise too rapidly, and this will support gold.

Spot silver prices declined to the level of $21.17, recovering during the day to the current level of $21.23 per ounce. Platinum fell by 1% to $968.09, and palladium fell in price by 1.8% to $1,426 per ounce.

**KostiaForexMart** · 03-17-2023, 10:08 PM

March 17. Economists recorded a peak drop in oil amid banking turmoil

Analyzing the dynamics of oil prices in recent days, economists have come to the conclusion that oil has suffered the biggest losses in a week this year. The drop in raw materials is mainly due to significant shocks in the world markets in the banking sector.

Recall that on March 11, the 16th largest US bank Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was declared bankrupt. The bankruptcy of this major Silicon Valley bank was the second largest in U.S. history after Washington Mutual Bank, whose collapse in 2008 led to a drop in stock prices in Europe and the closure of another bank in the United States.

Today, futures for North American WTI crude oil fell below $68 per barrel. At the end of the week, the drop was about 10%. The current price of the asset is $67.17 per barrel. Brent oil is also showing a decline – to the level of $73.40 per barrel.

Market participants are waiting for a reaction to the current collapse in prices from OPEC+. However, there is an opinion that the cartel will not take any action until the price of Brent crude oil falls below $70 per barrel for a long period of time.

At the same time, the International Energy Agency predicts that the oil market will be in surplus in the first half of 2023, despite the reduction in oil production in Russia in March. The European Union expects that the average price of Brent crude oil this year will be $84.8 per barrel.

**KostiaForexMart** · 04-17-2023, 08:52 PM

April 17. The oil market is unstable at the beginning of a new trading week

Oil quotes show high volatility at the beginning of the new trading week in the price range of $85.65-86.50 per barrel.

The current Brent quote is $85.67 per barrel, WTI oil is trading in the range of $81.70-82.60 per barrel. Last week, Brent rose by 1.4%, WTI – by 2.3%, and both types of oil rose in price for the fourth week in a row.

The market was supported by the forecast of the International Energy Agency published on Friday, according to which the supply deficit on the world market in the third quarter will amount to 2 million barrels per day. The IEA noted that another reduction in production by OPEC+ countries threatens a further decline in supply and an increase in oil prices at a time when inflationary pressure is already damaging consumers.

In the second quarter, the deficit will be 400 thousand b/d. Previously, the IEA expected demand to exceed supply only in the third quarter. The average deficit in 2023 is estimated at 800 thousand b/d.

At the same time, OPEC, which published its monthly forecast the day before the IEA, still expects an increase in oil demand in 2023 by 2.3 million barrels per day (up to 101.89 million b/d) – above the pre-Covid level.

Also today it became known that the countries of G7 intend to maintain the ceiling of prices for Russian oil at $60 per barrel.

**KostiaForexMart** · 04-24-2023, 09:25 PM

April 24. Binance allowed deposits with Russian cards

The Binance crypto exchange has returned to users from Russia the opportunity to replenish deposits using Qiwi wallets and Russian bank cards.

The Binance support service states: «You can make a deposit on our platform using a Russian card via Qiwi. At the same time, all Visa, Mastercard and other cards issued in Russia are supported.»

Among the currencies that can be used to replenish the deposit, rubles, Turkish lira, British pounds, euros, Kazakhstani tenge, Australian dollar, Ukrainian hryvnia, Czech crown and a number of others are offered. At the same time, there is no US dollar.

Recall that in March last year, against the background of events in Ukraine, the crypto exchange announced the suspension of operations using Mastercard and Visa bank cards issued in Russia. In 2023, Binance also banned Russian citizens and persons residing in the country from making transactions with dollars and euros through the money transfer service between individuals (P2P) in connection with the tenth package of sanctions adopted by the EU.

**KostiaForexMart** · 05-17-2023, 09:40 AM

May 5. Apple's profit in the first half of the year fell by 9%

The manufacturer of phones and smart devices Apple has presented a profit report in the first half of the 2022-2023 fiscal year, which ended on April 1.

The company's net profit decreased by 9% year-on-year and reached $54.158 billion. Diluted earnings per share were $3.41 compared to $3.62 a year earlier. The company's revenue for the reporting period increased by 4% to $211.99 billion.

In the second quarter of fiscal year 2022-2023, Apple's net profit decreased by 3.4% to $24.16 billion. Diluted earnings per share were $1.52, the same as a year earlier. The company's revenue for the reporting period decreased by 2.5% to $94.836 billion.

At the same time, revenue from iPhone sales in the second quarter increased by 1.5% y/y and amounted to $51.334 billion, Mac – decreased by 31.3% to $7.4168 billion, iPad – by 12% to $6.67 billion.

Sales of devices in the Wearables, Home and Accessories segment (which includes Apple Watch and AirPods) showed a decrease of 0.6% to $8.757 billion, and sales of the Services division rose by 5.5% to $20.907 billion.

**KostiaForexMart** · 05-18-2023, 11:16 AM

May 17. The pound remains under pressure after the speech of the head of the Bank of England

The British pound sterling has been showing a significant drop in recent days in a pair with the US dollar, falling to the level of 1.2422. On Wednesday, after a speech by the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, who said that the central bank expects price pressure to ease in April, the pound remains under pressure.

Speaking at the annual world conference at the UK Chamber of Commerce, Bailey said that if price pressures prove more sustainable, further policy tightening will be required. At the same time, he added that there were signs of some weakening of the labor market.

Yesterday, data on unemployment in the UK were published: it rose to 3.9%. However, the growth rate of wages, including bonuses, remained unchanged, and this forced market participants to moderate expectations for further rate increases.

The current quote of the GBP/USD pair is 1.2477. The EUR/GBP pair also shows a drop during the day – to the level of 0.8677.

The Bank of England began tightening monetary policy at the end of 2021. Since then, the British central bank has raised its key interest rate by 400 basis points in total. However, to date, market opinions regarding the next step of the central bank are divided.

Thus, the probability of a rate hike at the June meeting of the Bank of England by 25 basis points is 66%. Analysts note that the further steps of the regulator will depend on the incoming macroeconomic data, while the inflation report for April, which is expected next week, will be important.