[Epoch Times January 01, 2022](The Epoch Times reporter Gao Shan compiled a report) On Thursday (December 30), global stock markets were basically flat, oil prices fell, and the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar against most major currencies fell. However, the dollar has risen by 6.7% this year, which is still its best year since 2015.
According to a Reuters report, on Friday (December 31), the last trading day of 2021, US stocks closed near record highs in light trading. Due to the closure of several major markets in Asia and Europe, the overall transaction was light, and most markets did not have a clear direction.
The Morgan Stanley Capital International Index (Morgan Stanley Capital International Index, MSCI Index) fell 0.07%. The index rose by 17% in 2021, and has achieved double-digit growth for the third consecutive year.
Analysts said that the U.S. economy has proven that it is resilient in the face of challenges related to the epidemic. Many people predict that the global economy will continue to grow at a rate much higher than the trend.
After the plunge began in December, global stock markets rebounded during the holiday period. Because investors are beginning to believe that economies can cope with the surge in infections caused by the Omicron variant virus, the stock market is returning to record highs.
Charalambos Pissouros, head of research at the Cyprus brokerage JFD Group, said: “As far as the current COVID (Chinese Communist virus) is concerned, market participants may still be willing to increase their risk exposure and may The stock index has pushed to a new high. Because in the past few days, on a global scale, although a record number of infections have appeared in many countries, they have not implemented new lockdown measures.”
The dollar index fell 0.418% on Friday.
On Wall Street, New Year’s Eve, Friday’s trading day closed close to all-time highs.
The three major U.S. stock indexes all recorded monthly, quarterly and annual growth, and set the largest three-year increase since 1999.
Investors have been hoping that the resilience of the global economic recovery will continue until 2022. And they believe that if financing costs can still be kept low, corporate profitability will still be high, and the global economy may rise further.
In this year’s “all things up”, the central bank’s distribution of large amounts of cheap money, the government’s stimulus measures, and the strong economic rebound that finally appeared after the outbreak made it difficult for people not to profit from soaring asset prices.
The U.S. stock market has promoted the rise of global stock markets. Investors are excited by the release of record earnings data by large technology companies. This week, the S&P 500 Index (S&P 500) hit a record high.
Commodity prices have also performed strongly this year, and as economies reopened, supply is often insufficient to meet the substantial increase in demand.
However, on the last day of 2021, the price of Brent crude futures fell by US$1.75, or 2.2%, to US$77.78 per barrel; while US West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures (US West Texas Intermediate , Referred to as WTI), the price fell 1.78 US dollars, or 2.31%, to 75.21 US dollars per barrel.
But overall, stimulated by the recovery of the global economy and production restrictions by producers, the prices of Brent crude oil and West Texas Intermediate crude oil have both risen by more than 50% in 2021.
As the demand for aviation fuel increases, global oil prices are expected to rise further next year.
An official survey showed that China’s manufacturing activity unexpectedly accelerated in December, but not much. Analysts expect that the Chinese economy will encounter more headwinds in the near future.
The Chinese stock market is one of the few stock markets in Asia to open on Friday. It closed higher on Friday, ending its difficult year. The blue chip CSI300 index has fallen 5.2% this year, its worst annual performance in three years.
This year, the euro has fallen by 7.4%. Investors believe that the European Central Bank will end its massive stimulus plan more slowly than other central banks. On Friday, the euro rose by 0.1% and remained above $1.13.
The yen-to-dollar exchange rate has fallen by more than 11% in 2021, and has now fallen to 115.1 yen to the dollar, not far from the four-year low hit this month.
The STOXX 600 index fell 0.19%.
The pound-dollar exchange rate is still falling this year, but the exchange rate against the euro is expected to hit the highest level since 2014. On Friday, the pound to dollar exchange rate rose and reached its highest level since February 2020.
In other currency markets, the Turkish lira-the largest devaluation currency so far in 2021-fell for the fifth consecutive day.
This week’s decline eroded the lira’s huge gains a week ago. Investors are worried about the country’s unorthodox monetary policy and rising inflation, and worry that the plan to “protect lira deposits” announced by President Tayyip Erdogan this month will not work. .
The government bond market was mostly closed on Friday.
Spot gold prices rose 0.8% to $1,829.04 per ounce.
Bitcoin fell 2.37%.
Editor in charge: Ye Ziwei#
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