Markets Remain Quiet During US, UK, and Chinese Holidays; Oil Prices Continue to Slump
Published May 29, 2017
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
