Thank you for your participation. Oil prices are on their worst decline in five years, indicating that gasoline prices should fall.
Brent crude has been on a weekly decline for the seventh straight week, to its worst level since 2018, on concerns about global demand and doubts about promises by OPEC+ cartel members to cut supply.
5 things to start your day
1) OBR chief says Mr Hunt and Mr Sunak are responsible for prediction errors | Richard Hughes warns economic forecasts could be off by as much as £30bn
2) Labor declares it ‘no longer takes business lightly’ and recruits city privilege | Move aims to erase anti-business era and strengthen support in the Square Mile
3) MPs say Hunt’s Edinburgh reforms are ‘wet criticism’ | Prime Minister’s efforts to defend post-Brexit regulatory reform remain ‘unpersuasive’
Four) Saudi Arabia looks to UK expertise to turn oil-rich kingdom into the next Dubai | Gulf countries rush to build infrastructure and tourist attractions needed to attract tourists
Five) Half of first-time buyers in their 20s are supported by their mom and dad’s bank | Young people getting on the property ladder will receive an average of £25,000
what happened overnight
Asian stocks were mostly higher on Friday ahead of the U.S. government’s jobs report, after Wall Street rose on Thursday to end a three-day losing streak for the first time since Halloween.
In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei stock average fell 1.7% (550.45 points) to close at 32,307.86 as investors speculated whether the Bank of Japan would end its negative interest rate policy.
Ahead of Thursday’s meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda told parliament that the central bank will face “even more difficult” conditions from the end of the year to early 2024.
The pound fell 0.2% to 181 yen. In late November, it was trading at a level exceeding 188 yen.
According to the latest data, Japan’s economy contracted by 2.9% in the July-September period compared to the same period last year, worse than initially expected.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.3% to 16,394.90, and the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.4% to 2,977.83.
Seoul’s Kospi rose 1% to 2,519.07. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.2% to 7190.70. India’s Sensex increased by his 0.4% and his SET in Bangkok increased by his 0.2%.
In the US, the S&P 500 rose 0.8% to 4,585.59, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 major US companies rose 0.17% to 36,117.38. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.37% to 14,339.99.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury rose 3 basis points to about 4.15%. This came amid cynicism on Wall Street that markets were overestimating the idea that major central banks were preparing to cut interest rates. This was spurred by statements made by Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda on December 19, hinting at the possibility of interest rate hikes.