Minus sign for oil
Oil is still weak following the decision of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies to ratify an increase in production of 400,000 barrels per day for March, without changing the policy agreed so far.
Tokyo closes down 1.6% amid Omicron fears and US data
The Tokyo Stock Exchange closed down after a series of four growth sessions. The financial center was weighed down by profit taking but also by concerns over the health situation in Japan. The leading Nikkei index lost 1.06% to 27,241.31 points and the broader Topix index fell 0.86% to 1,919.92 points. The number of daily Covid-19 cases has also continued to increase in Japan, where the Omicron variant is on the rise, yesterday exceeding the threshold of 90,000 cases nationwide for the first time, according to local media calculations. According to some analysts, the increase in the number of serious cases (of Covid-19) will favor the sale of the securities of companies concentrated on the local market. The surprisingly declining US employment results released yesterday also negatively impacted the market.
The appointments of Thursday 3 February
Many macroeconomic indicators will also be released during the day, capable of providing additional indications on the health of the economy and on possible future moves by central banks. First of all, the final indices of the purchasing managers of the companies (the so-called SME index) will be published in France (9.50 am), Germany (9.55 am), Eurozone (10.00 am) and Great Britain (10 am, 30). At 11 will arrive the data on producer prices for December in the Eurozone: after the leap of inflation on Wednesday, this is another very important indicator for understanding the dynamics of prices.
Then, in the afternoon, it will be the turn of the United States: weekly subsidy requests (2.30 pm), unit labor costs in the fourth quarter (2.30 pm), productivity in the fourth quarter (2.30 pm), Markit index Final composite SMEs in January (15.45) and finally industrial orders in December (16.00).