The oil market will be one of the most volatile ones today as North America braces for extreme weather conditions. The tropical storm Marco is no longer a threat to the Gulf of Mexico, but the storm Laura has been officially upgraded to a Category 4 Hurricane, similar to Hurricane Katrina which devastated the US south more than a decade ago.
Laura will most likely affect the south of the United States, especially the states of Texas and Louisiana, where all sorts of trouble is expected. This is also interfering with the United States’ ability to produce oil for the time being. Close to 90% of all the oil facilities in the region have been closed down as people prepare for an evacuation.
As of this article’s writing, the Brent crude is trading at $46.18, while the WTI is at $43.19.
Though US stock indices performed quite well yesterday, today they are dragged down due to an unexpected decrease in consumer confidence in the United States, which in itself results from the lack of new stimulus from the government.
Europe appears to be doing better on the stimulus front. France is currently preparing a new plan that will reportedly inject another 100 billion euro into the country’s coronavirus-ravaged economy. Germany has also announced it will continue its current unemployment stimulus arrangement into 2021, signaling to investors that the crisis is expected to last a while yet.
Last but not least, we need to also take a look at the coronavirus situation today. The world officially surpassed 24 million cases. The United States has not reached 6 million cases yet but is very close after another 40,000 new Covid-19 cases confirmed yesterday. The situation remains dire in Brazil and India.
In South America, Peru and Colombia have also seen a dangerous expansion of their daily numbers, as has Argentina.
Europe is also a source of concern, as coronavirus cases are once again trending upward in countries such as Spain, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. The new trend of increasing cases each day began in August, after months of decline and the near-eradication of the virus.
