Statements by US Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell supported the dollar and thus put the euro under pressure in the evening. After the common currency had risen sharply to $ 1.1382, it was recently quoted 0.4 percent higher at $ 1.1336. In view of the high inflation, the US Federal Reserve is looking to reduce its bond purchases more quickly on the way to a rate hike. It is appropriate to think about completing the process known as tapering a few months early, Fed chief Jerome Powell told a congressional committee. The economy is very strong and inflationary pressure is high at the same time. “And I think the risk of higher inflation has increased,” Powell said. The fear of slowing down the economic recovery by Omikron made investors resort to investments that were regarded as safe. Government bonds, for example, were in demand. In return, this pushed the return on ten-year federal securities down to minus 0.363 percent, the lowest level in almost three months. Their US counterparts yielded 1.419 percent, as low as they were last three weeks ago. Investors also drove into the Swiss franc, which is considered safe, on a large scale. The currency rose against the main export currency, the euro, to its highest level in more than six years. At 1.0444 francs, the common currency was at times as low as it was last in July 2015.
In the oil market, investors fear new restrictions in the fight against the pandemic and thus a decline in demand for crude oil. The price of a barrel of North Sea Brent fell 3.9 percent to $ 70.57. US light oil WTI fell 4.8 percent to $ 65.60. On a monthly basis, oil prices recorded the sharpest slump since the early phase of the Corona crisis. Since the beginning of November, the price of US oil has plummeted by 20 percent and that of Brent by around 16 percent.