European & US Markets Climb As Oil Prices Fall

LONDON: European and US shares rose on Monday as investors hoped for progress in peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, but oil prices fell on the news of a COVID shutdown in China’s innovation capital Shenzhen.

Before Monday’s newest round of peace negotiations, Europe was able to wiggle off prior setbacks in Asia.

Frankfurt’s stock market closed the day up 2.2%, while Paris’ was up 1.8% and London’s was up 0.6%.

Wall Street’s condition was more sombre on the other side of the Atlantic, as traders expected an interest rate rise by the Federal Reserve later in the week.

The S&P 500 index was unchanged, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 0.7 percent, and the Nasdaq lost 1.2%.

Oil prices fell because of both supply and demand concerns being eased.

Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson claimed that “Moscow claims great progress in peace negotiations as the violence escalates, but that is plenty for traders clutching onto any nice news.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has authorized his troops to invade pro-Western Ukraine over two weeks ago, prompting the most recent round of negotiations.

Investors in Asia were concerned that China’s coronavirus lockdowns, which have been expanding across the country, will reduce demand for crude oil in the Asian giant.

As the Shenzhen lockout fuelled a tech sector meltdown, Hong Kong’s stock prices took a beating.

Susannah Streeter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said that the fast expansion of COVID across China is causing investors to worry about mass lockdowns.

If China’s economic production declines, oil consumption is projected to decline, she warned.

After a near 14-year high of close over $140 per barrel last week, crude oil has continued to fall.

Inflation is being fuelled by a high oil price, whereas oil is also essential to the global economy’s continued operation.

For the first time in almost three decades, the USA’s Federal Reserve is likely to raise interest rates at its next monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, to deal with ever-high inflation.

With many fearing another recession because of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the US Federal Reserve must walk a tight line between reigning in inflation and maintaining the world’s largest economy.