Markets Remain Quiet During US, UK, and Chinese Holidays; Oil Prices Continue to Slump

• Global trading is off to a slow start this week as US, UK and Chinese markets are closed for regional holidays; currency markets are subdued as global flows and transactions remain limited
• Oil prices are down slightly this morning as investors weighed rising US shale oil production against last week’s OPEC announcement; the Baker Hughes rig count showed that the number of active US oil rigs rose by 2 last week to a total of 722 live rigs
• This marks the 19th week in a row for an increase in active oil rigs in the US; it is also the highest level of drilling activity since April 2015
• Investors remain disappointed that OPEC and other producing nations opted to not deepen supply cuts along with the cut extension; the market now awaits data on US oil inventories to test the effectiveness of this new cut
• European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is set to speak about the euro zone economy with the Economic & Monetary Affairs Committee in Brussels today; Draghi mentioned last week that there was “no reason to deviate from the indications” and suggested there would be no changes in the next ECB meeting on June 8
• Upcoming data from this week’s economic calendar will be certain to move markets with releases on Canadian GDP, Canadian & US trade balances, and US unemployment and non-farm employment change