Market News

Eurozone business growth ground to a halt this month amid a renewed downturn for the service industry impacted by a resurgence in the coronavirus cases that pushed governments to reintroduce restrictions and citizens to stay at home according to a survey.

As the Federal Reserve met for its two-day meeting global markets shifted their attention for clues on the monetary policy outlook after the world’s largest economy adopted a more accommodative approach to inflation.

The European Central Bank (ECB) kept the policy unchanged on Thursday. With this decision the ECB’s benchmark deposit rate remains at minus 0.5 percent while the main rate remains at 0 percent.

German Retail Sales fell unexpectedly in the month of July according to data on Wednesday dropping by 0.9 percent on the month in real terms after a revised drop of 1.9 percent in June, calendar adjusted data from the Federal Statistics Office showed.

The Kansas City Fed kicked off its annual economic symposium on Thursday morning, an event that is usually held in the mountain resort of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, but is being conducted virtually this year because of the pandemic.

The S&P 500 closed at record high on Tuesday rebounding from huge losses triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and resulting in a quick recovery in the index’s history.

Britain’s economy contracted by a record 20.4 percent between April and June, when the lockdown measures were tightest. This is the largest contraction reported by any major economy so far, official figures published on Wednesday showed.

Eurozone manufacturing activity expanded modestly last month. This is the first growth since early 2019, with factories playing an important part in this potential recovery.

The deteriorating relationship between the US and China and the low hope of quick economic recovery increased the demand of the safe-haven asset as it has risen nearly 28 percent so far this year.

European shares slid on Wednesday as escalating U.S.-China tensions as well as a surge in coronavirus cases dented sentiment after an EU-wide debt deal sent the region’s markets to four-month highs in the previous session.

Markets were eagerly waiting in the past week for news about the next level of production cuts. Meanwhile, Tuesday saw oil prices rising slightly as OPEC and its allies cut productions by more than it was agreed in June.

German exports rebounded less than expected in May amid lower demand despite the lifting of lockdown measures that were introduced to contain the spread of the coronavirus, showed data published on Thursday.