Business news: British GDP seen flat, natural gas in a temper
By Hanna Paul
Updated
The markets are quiet with British gross domestic product data expected to be flat and Italian producer prices soft while natural gas fell into a tussle losing about 1.8% in early trade ricocheted after skyrocketing, European gas prices leaping up 20% from December 2020.
Bitcoin on a high today while commodity markets have taken up their places in the red.
Stock market index movement around the world
Europe
Index | Country | Change | % Change | Level |
England | +99.38 | +1.38% | 7,297.41 | |
Europe | +22.99 | +1.76% | 1,325.62 | |
France | +94.89 | +1.38% | 6,964.99 | |
Germany | +207.77 | +1.36% | 15,447.44 | |
Switzerland | +92.64 | +0.74% | 12,682.53 |
US
Index | Country | Change | % Change | Level |
United States | +560.54 | +1.60% | 35,492.70 | |
United States | +81.21 | +1.78% | 4,649.23 | |
Brazil | -2,826.45 | -2.61% | 105,499.88 | |
Canada | +22.11 | +1.77% | 1,270.45 | |
Chile | +54.23 | +1.33% | 4,142.49 | |
Mexico | +461.42 | +0.89% | 52,085.28 |
Asia
Index | Country | Change | % Change | Level |
Australia | +15.90 | +0.21% | 7,682.60 | |
Shanghai SE Composite Index | China | -1.65 | -0.05% | 3,623.48 |
Hang Seng | Hong Kong | +51.56 | +0.22% | 23,022.89 |
Mumbai Sensex | India | +337.56 | +0.60% | 56,656.57 |
Nikkei 225 | Japan | +44.62 | +0.16% | 28,562.21 |
Taiwan TSEC 50 Index | Taiwan | +37.56 | +0.21% | 17,826.83 |
Top business and economic news
- UK Bank NatWest agreed to pay the US authorities about $35m after pleading guilty to conducting fraud schemes in the country’s Treasury bond and futures markets.
- UK competition watchdog launched an in-depth probe into a tie-up between Veolia and Suez, the world’s largest waste and water groups, after the companies did not offer any remedies to resolve concerns regarding the merger of the two, which could potentially lead to loss of competition, which created a rise in prices because of the contracts they already have in existence.
Markets today
- Stocks: All Asian bourses in the green except China's Shanghai Composite Index. The story is quite different on the other part of the world. Wall Street and all European indices in the green, except for Brazil.
- Oil: Oil price up while natural gas loses over 1%, bouncing down after jumping yesterday.
- Gold: Gold and silver trade in the green today.
- Forex: US dollar retreats along with yields, risk mood to drive markets as US weekly jobless claims set to release today.
- Crypto: Volumes in the global crypto verse jumped 12.3% to $83.54bn while prices soared in the last 24 hours of digital coins including bitcoin up over 1.2%.
What to watch today
- British gross domestic product expected to be flat both year-on-year and month-on-month.
- Japan foreign bond investments expected today.
- Italian Producer Price Index expected to be soft.
- Paychex earnings: 0.7974 earnings per share expected.
- Other earnings: Other income releases expected today includes Cintas, Medallia and many smaller stocks like Rosetta Genomics.