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Oil nears $120, following EU meeting to discuss Russian energy embargo
Oil prices rose to a fresh two month high to start the week, as EU members met to find an agreement on a Russian oil embargo.
So far, a deal has yet to be reached, as Hungary continues to hold out until it can get a financial deal from the union that would assist it in moving away from Russian oil.
Heading into the meeting, Hungary’s President stated that, “There is no compromise for this moment at all”.
Despite this, many still expect a deal to be done in the next two days, and this was reflected in the price of oil today.
WTI closed at $117.17 per barrel in shortened trading due to the U.S. Memorial Day holiday.
DAX 30 higher, despite inflation hitting nearly a 50-year peak
Germany’s DAX 30 was also marginally higher on Monday, despite data showing that the country’s inflation rate had once again risen.
Data released on Monday showed that consumer prices in Germany increased to 8.7% in May.
source: tradingeconomics.com
| 💡 More on this The main upward pressure should come from the prices of energy products (38.3 percent vs 35.3 percent in April) which increased considerably since the war started in Ukraine. Also, the food inflation is set to surge to 11.1 percent (vs 8.6 percent), while services are expected to rise 2.9 percent (vs 3.2 percent). On a monthly basis, consumer prices are expected to rise 0.9 percent in May. source: Federal Statistical Office |
This was up from 7.8% a month earlier and is higher than the 8% increase which markets had forecasted.
Overall, this is the highest rate of inflation in Germany since 1973, and as a result the pressure has been placed on the ECB to hike more than the 0.25% expected in coming months.
“In the short run, a market is a voting machine, but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.”
-Benjamin Graham.
