Global markets on Thursday made partial gains on sentiments that the COVID19 pandemic is nearing a peak and that governments across the globe would roll out more stimulus measures to shield their domestic economies.
The United States unemployment claims soared to record high for the second-week matching last week’s 6.6 million bringing total claims in the past three weeks to more than 16 million. The Department of Labor statistics says that American firms are forced to cut jobs or reduce the working hours during this pandemic. The unemployment rate is expected to soar higher than the 4.4% recorded in March 2020.
Across Europe, markets remained positive with Stoxx600 climbing by more than 1% in midday sessions with travel and leisure stocks also recording gains in the day. As Prime Minister Boris Johnson ‘continues to recover’, the Bank of England (BoE) remains committed to temporarily finance the UK government should it fail to meet borrowing targets in the debt markets.
Crude oil prices extended their bullish run after reports that the OPEC+ meeting held later Thursday had agreed to cut output. According to media reports, Saudi Arabia agreed to reduce its production by four million barrels per day, while Russia’s output would decrease by two million barrels per day. In this case, WTI crude rose to $25.86 a barrel recording a 3.07% gain while Brent crude rose to $33.49 per barrel. U.S. crude rose 3.07% to $25.86 a barrel. Brent crude rose 1.98% to $33.49 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the price of gold hit a seven-year high on Thursday’s trading session with an ounce of the precious metal soaring by 2.08% to sell for $1,680.16. Silver prices rose by 2.7% to more than $15.36 per oz while platinum rose 1.3% to $742 per oz.
