Fears of a recession that flared up again and the US Federal Reserve’s forthcoming interest rate decision hit the euro on Tuesday. The dollar, on the other hand, was in demand as a safe haven in times of crisis. In return, the European common currency slipped by a good one percent to $ 1.0120. With the renewed reduction in Russian gas supplies, fears of a global recession grew. In addition, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) again lowered its forecasts for the global economy in view of the escalating inflation. The three major economic powers – the USA, China and the euro zone – are all weakening. “The outlook has darkened significantly since April,” said IMF economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas. The global economy may soon be on the brink of recession again, just two years after the crash that followed the outbreak of the corona pandemic.
As a result, many investors turned to European government bonds, with yields falling accordingly. The trend-setting ten-year German government bond yielded again below the one percent mark at 0.911 percent. This is the lowest level in two months.
The forthcoming further reduction in gas supplies from Russia drove the gas price up further. The European gas future rose at its peak by almost 15 percent to 202 euros per megawatt hour, after having risen by around 12 percent the previous evening.
The prospect of higher supply ended the oil price rally for the time being. The North Sea variety Brent was 0.9 percent cheaper at $104.20 per barrel. The US variety WTI cost 1.8 percent more. In the fight against high energy prices, the US wants to throw 20 million barrels of oil from its strategic reserve onto the market. In the past few months, the country has already sold 125 million barrels of state-held barrels