In the commodity market, oil prices hover over multi-week lows as investors are worried about decreasing demand as the recovery from the pandemic is not convincing. At the time of writing, WTI is down 0.17% while Brent has lost 0.29%.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that demand for gasoline had dropped last week to 8.78 million barrels per day from 9.16 million bpd in the previous week.
Investors fear that the upcoming refinery maintenance and the end of the summer season could put further pressure on crude demand.
Gold cannot leverage its safe-haven status amid signs that the economic recovery is lagging. The metal is now down 0.11% to $1,941 after a somewhat bullish start. On Wednesday, gold tumbled 1.73% amid appetite for riskier assets.
In FX, the US dollar suddenly turned bullish at the expense of the euro’s weakness. Earlier this week, the European Central Bank hinted that the bloc’s currency was too strong. ECB chief economist Philip Lane said that the euro versus dollar rate was important for monetary policy. For investors, the comment suggested that the ECB could take action on the rate in the foreseeable future. EUR/USD is down 0.40% to 1.1806, after breaking above 1.200 for the first time in two years.
By Strategy Desk
