Initial Weekly jobless claims increased from 209,000 to 219,000, but most of the jobless claims have been ascribed to Hurricane Ian wreaking havoc on the state of Florida. The interesting data set of the release was the announced job cuts jumped 46% to 29,989 in September. We did see the US dollar briefly losing some steam, but it has roared back with a vengeance and is currently trading at 0.9830 against the Euro. This has meant that the Rand has shifted weaker a little to trade above R17.90 after spending most of the day trading around the R17.80 level. This is merely a taster of the market reaction we could expect tomorrow with the US non-Farm payroll number.
Brent Crude is trading above $90 per barrel after OPEC announced a 2 million barrel per day supply cut. The question remains whether the supply cut will matter should demand to falter if recessions become the norm in economies worldwide. This could put further pressure on the oil price to fall further. Brent Crude is currently trading at $93.50 per barrel. Gold is also trading weaker at $1,709 per ounce after surging the last couple of days.
#Markets #OilPrice #USDollar #HurricaneIan
