Today there aren’t too many events and publications on the economic calendar to affect the financial markets. The most important report of the day is the Ifo business climate survey for February from Germany. It came in higher than the forecast at 92.4, indicating that Europe’s strongest economy is recovering well from the pandemic. Later in the day there will also be speeches by the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States.
Meanwhile, today the reflationary trades continue. In other words, investors have high hopes for inflation rising steadily in 2021 thanks to the United States being very close to adopting a $1.9 trillion stimulus package. In addition, Biden’s administration has proven capable of speeding up the vaccination process and keeping the coronavirus pandemic at bay, further fueling hopes of an economic recovery.
Thus, today we observe a lot of interest flooding back to commodities and away from company shares. Stock indices around the world are slightly down today due to investors preferring more cyclical assets. Copper is one of the most impressive assets at the moment, having increased to a nine-year maximum just a few days ago. Other industrial metals are also on the rise.
Crude oil prices are also moving up today because the recent weather problems in the United States dug deeper into the country’s reserves and interrupted oil production. The Brent crude today reached $63.33, while the WTI rose to $59.65 per barrel.
Today Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are down from the weekend maximums due to some profit-taking among investors. Bitcoin may remain slightly below its recent all-time highs beyond $58,000 for a few days as the markets adjust, but there is strong optimism that the novelty asset will remain strong in the medium term.
A company to watch out for in the stock markets today is Boeing. Though the aircraft maker has been through a lot trying to get back its confidence after a series of incidents with the 737 max model, now it is facing new challenges as one aircraft of the 777 line had its engine explode this weekend.
