The clouded mood in the German economy only weighed on the euro for a short time on Wednesday. By late evening, the common currency recovered from initially slight losses and rose to $ 1.1767. It was around one US cent above its nine-month low marked a few days ago. Delivery bottlenecks and rising corona numbers clouded the mood in the boardrooms of German companies. The Ifo business climate index fell in August by 1.3 to 99.4 points, more sharply than expected and at the same time for the second month in a row, as the Munich institute announced for a survey of around 9,000 managers. “Worries are growing, especially in the hospitality industry and tourism,” said Ifo President Clemens Fuest. Because of the shortage of materials and rising costs, many companies want to raise prices for their part. This applies to industry, retail and construction, for example. The managers assess their situation a little better than before, but assess their business prospects much more skeptically.
Oil prices rose for the third day in a row. The quotation for the North Sea variety Brent rose by 1.7 percent to 72.23 dollars per barrel. The US variety WTI rose by 1.2 percent to 68.63 dollars. The trigger for the new price hike were data on US crude oil inventories, which fell by three million barrels in the past week, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Inventories were about six percent below the five-year average for that time of year. The total gasoline stocks also fell significantly. The balance on the oil market has been clearly positive since the beginning of the week. However, the spread of the more contagious delta variant of the coronavirus remains a constant stress factor. However, it is hoped that there will be no major restrictions on public life in countries with high vaccination rates.