Forex Marketz Daily Forex News – Fully Markets Update
The international benchmark for crude oil, Brent futures contract, slipped lower this morning during the Asian trade hours. Economic data out of China showed that weakening imports as well as exports was the effect of the trade war between the United States and China. The Brent contract is trading back below $60 per barrel.
As of 3:15 am GMT, the international benchmark, Brent crude oil futures were trading at $59.78 per barrel. This is down 70 cents, or 1.2 percent from their settlement on Friday.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures, for front month delivery, also fell lower. This contract lost 63 cents, or 1.2 percent, to trade at $50.96 a barrel.
Regional stock markets, throughout the Asian and Pacific Rim were all trading lower on the weaker than expected Chinese economic data.
Traders Eye Weak Chinese Economic Data and send Crude Oil Prices Lower
Looking at economic data, out of China this morning, December exports were down 4.4 percent from last year. This is the largest monthly drop since 2017. This was official data released today. This further worried traders as they see even more weakening in China’s economy. The Chinese economy is the world’s second largest economy. Imports also contracted. They ended up contracting by 7.6 percent. This was their largest fall since July 2016.
Traders said the economic data pulled down oil futures and regional Asian equity benchmarks today. Both were higher earlier before the data was released.
