government report showed total petroleum stockpiles dropped last week, led by the biggest weekly decrease in distillate inventories since early March.
At the same time, retail gasoline prices in California rose to $4 a gallon for the first time in a year and a half as restrictions ease in the most-populous U.S.
The Energy Information Administration report also showed domestic crude inventories rose by 90,000 barrels last week, smaller than the 4.32 million barrel increase reported by the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday.
The structure of the Middle Eastern Dubai benchmark slumped on Wednesday to only a shallow backwardation — an indication that tightness in crude supplies may be easing.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index headed for its lowest close since late February, boosting the appeal of commodities priced in the currency.
The Dow and Nasdaq indexes fell on Wednesday as Amgen and Microsoft weighed, while investors focused on a Federal Reserve meeting for updates on monetary policy and waited for another batch of earnings from big technology firms. The U.S.
The benchmark index fell 0.1%Nasdaq 100 contracts rose 0.9% after the index fell 0.4%Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 0.3%South Korea’s Kospi Index rose 0.1%Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.6%China’s Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.2%Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.2%CurrenciesThe yen was at 108.62 per dollarThe offshore yuan traded at 6.4656 per dollar, up 0.2%The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was steady.The euro was at $1.2134, up 0.1%BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 1.61%.
OPEC+, comprising of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, on Tuesday decided to stick to plans for a phased easing of oil production restrictions from May to July, an indication that the group is confident that global demand will recovery.
China’s Huawei Technologies saw revenue fall 16.5% in the first quarter compared to a year earlier, hurt by a dip in sales after selling its budget smartphone unit Honor in November.
“And then he was resolute on that it was not time to talk about talking about tapering” asset purchases.The Fed held its main policy rate near zero and vowed to keep buying bonds at the current $120 billion monthly pace.The Fed meeting came amid a revival this week of bets on quicker inflation after a string of strong economic numbers and as President Joe Biden continues to lobby for an aggressive next round of fiscal stimulus.The 10-year breakeven rate, a proxy for where investors see annual inflation rates over the next decade, reached nearly 2.43% Wednesday — the highest since April 2013.
While the bank still had some exposure to Archegos, it was among a handful of lenders to Bill Hwang’s family office that were quick enough to exit those positions without losses, Bloomberg reported earlier.Von Moltke confirmed in the interview that the bank incurred no losses and was able to return excess collateral to Archegos.“We’re very pleased with the way our risk management functions functioned through the process, both in advance of the market events and then in the liquidation and managing through that event,” he said.On Tuesday, UBS Group AG announced a surprise $861 million loss from Archegos, while Nomura Holding Inc.
central bank’s policy statement is expected to largely follow the mold established in December, when the Fed said it would not change monetary policy until there was “substantial further progress” in meeting its maximum employment and 2% inflation goals.
Despite the improving economy, the Fed repeated the guidance it has used since December, saying it must see “substantial further progress” towards its inflation and employment goals before stepping back from its monthly bond purchases.