Oil markets advanced yesterday in light of an increase in energy demand. Recent data shows a higher crude oil demand from the United States and a huge decline in gasoline inventories, which suggests an increase in energy demand.
The Energy Information Administration claimed that U.S. crude inventories increased by 5.7 million barrels during the week that ended on July 3. Net petroleum imports went up to 5.01 million barrels per day, increasing significantly from the previous week figure. Gasoline inventories shrunk by 4.8 million barrels, on the other hand, distillate stockpiles increased by 3.1 million barrels.
This information sets up an optimistic tone in the markets. The West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures advanced by 0.69 percent during Wednesday's session, closing at the 40.90 level. Conversely, Brent oil futures gained 0.49 percent, closing the session at the 43.29 level.
The novel coronavirus continues expanding around the world, infecting 12,170,845 individuals and killing around 552,129. The United States leads the world in the number of infections, with 3,158,932 confirmed cases as well as a death toll of 134,862. Other heavily affected countries are Brazil, India, and Russia, while several places around the world are already reporting a peak in the daily cases.
The US stock markets also advanced during the session. The S&P 500 gained 0.78 percent, closing the session at the 3,169.94 level. Conversely, the Dow Jones industrial average advanced 0.68 percent, closing at the 26,067.28 level, while the Nasdaq 100 increased by 1.36 percent, closing at the 10,666.70 level.
European indices closed yesterday's session in the negative territory. The DAX index lost 0.97 percent on yesterday's session, closing at the 12,494.81 evel. Conversely, the FTSE 100 dropped 0.55 percent, closing at the 6,156.16 level while the Euro Stoxx 50 went down by 1.07 percent, closing at the 3,286.09 level.
According to the German statistics office, exports increased by 9 percent in May, after falling 24 percent in April. Conversely, imports gained 3.5 percent in May after dropping 16.6 percent on the previous month. The foreign trade balance gained 7.1 billion euros, in seasonally adjusted terms it stood at a gain of 7.6 billion euros.
The United Kingdom's Finance Minister, Rishi Sunak commented that they're looking forward to re-establishing a sustainable position in terms of the country's public finances, but that would depend on how clear is the path towards recovery.
“We can’t sustainably live like this, of course, we can’t, and over the medium term we can and we will return our public finances to a sustainable position,” he said during an interview with the BBC, “It’s difficult now to get exactly the right trajectory on that because we have an uncertain path ahead. But as soon as we have a clearer path... we can look at the situation and make sure that our public finances are back on a sustainable footing over a reasonable period of time,” he added.