Oil prices started the trading week with significant increases. A barrel of North Sea Brent cost $ 73.48, 5.1 percent more. The US variety WTI rose 5.4 percent to $ 69.88. Market participants justified the price increases with news from Saudi Arabia. The state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco raised sales prices for its Asian customers, sending a signal of confidence in future crude oil demand. In addition, because of the faltering nuclear talks between the West and Iran, the prospect of a quick return of Iranian oil to the world market is dwindling, said stock exchange traders.
The increase in Italy’s credit rating from “BBB-” to “BBB” by the rating agency Fitch encouraged investors to buy bonds from the country. In return, this pushes the return on ten-year stocks to a two-week low of 0.895 percent.
Bitcoin’s downward slide continued. After the cyber currency fell to $ 47,111, it partially recovered from its losses and was most recently 1.2 percent in the red at $ 48,887. At the weekend, Bitcoin had temporarily lost 22 percent of its value. “The list of worries, consisting of the Coronavirus mutation Omikron, the financially troubled real estate company China Evergrande and the growing unease of the US Federal Reserve in the face of high inflation continues to hold cryptocurrencies in a tight grip,” says analyst Timo Emden from Emden Research.
The euro also fell. The common currency was 0.3 percent lower at 1.1280 dollars. At the end of the year, stock exchange traders are looking at the economy in the euro area with significantly less confidence in view of the fourth corona wave. The barometer published by the investment advisory firm Sentix fell in December by 4.8 to 13.5 points. That is the lowest value since April.