An opportunity for oil

Today’s news headlines:

• ‘China starts buying oil for state reserves after price crash’ – China, the world’s biggest importer of oil, is planning on taking advantage of oil’s price crash by increasing emergency reserves. Government agencies have been asked to quickly prepare filling tanks and use tools to lock in low oil prices such as option contracts. (Bloomberg)

• ‘Job losses in Europe and US hit financial crisis levels’ – According to initial releases of labour market data, as many people have lost jobs in the first weeks of the coronavirus as the entire global financial crisis. The figure suggests the number of people out of work has risen to around 10% in both Europe and the US, suggesting unemployment is rising 20 times faster than the financial crisis over a decade ago. (Bloomberg)

Today's events, rates, and data 

• US and European equity futures rose as appetite for riskier assets creeped back after yesterday’s equity sell off. Oil prices are up over 5% after China’s plan to boost reserves, supporting NOK and RUB in the process.

 

Today's events

US Initial Jobless Claims is expected to show over 3 million people out of a job while the US Trade Balance is forecast to show a further narrowing of its trade deficit. US Factory Orders and Durable goods orders are both expected to show expansion later this afternoon.

Interbank rates:

GBPUSD: 1.2415

GBPEUR: 1.1350

EURUSD: 1.0940