Written on: August 1, 2022
Monday, August 1, 2022
Energy futures are losing ground on Monday amid losses in US stock market index futures, despite strength in European shares and weakness in the US dollar index. Market participants are awaiting US economic data in the form of the S&P Global Manufacturing PMI, the ISM Manufacturing Index and construction spending for further direction.
Russian Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov has said that Russia cannot do much to help with urgent repairs required to malfunctioning Nord Stream 1 pipeline equipment after cutting gas supplies via the pipeline to just 20% of capacity last week. OPEC’s new secretary general has said that Russia’s membership in OPEC+ is important for the success of the agreement and that OPEC is not in competition with Russia.
The Japanese Jibun Bank Manufacturing PMI for this month came in at 52.1, down slightly from 52.2 in June and indicating growth in the country’s manufacturing sector slowed. The Nikkei closed 0.69% higher overnight. The Chinese Caixin Manufacturing PMI for the same month came in at 50.4, down from 51.7 in June and below the 51.5 expectation. Nevertheless, the Shanghai Composite closed 0.21% higher and the Hang Seng edged up 0.05%. The S&P Global/Nikkei Manufacturing PMI for India came in at 56.4 last month, up from 53.9 in in June.
In European news, the final S&P Global Manufacturing PMI for the Eurozone for July came in at 49.8, slightly above consensus at 49.6. The index for Germany also beat expectations (49.3), while the French Manufacturing PMI came in at 49.5, just below forecasts at 49.6. Retail sales in Germany were unsupportive, falling by 1.6% in June, against expectations calling for a 0.3% increase. The unemployment rate in the Eurozone remained at 6.6% in June, as expected. The CAC 40 was up 0.4% and the DAX had added 0.6% this morning. In UK news, the final CIPS/S&P Global Manufacturing PMI for last month came in at 52.1, just below expectations at 52.2. The FTSE 100 was up 0.5% as of this writing. US stock market index futures are trading just below the unchanged mark this morning. The US dollar index is down 0.2%.
Crude futures strengthened on Friday amid gains in equities and weakness in the US dollar. Brent crude added $2.87 to settle at $110.01 a barrel, and WTI crude gained $2.20 to settle at $98.62 a barrel, gasoline futures rose 2.35 cents to close at $3.4881 per gallon, heating oil dropped 6.16 cents lower to settle at $3.6247 per gallon and natural gas futures added 9.5 cents to settle at $8.229 per MMBTU.