UK’s ONS (Office for National Statistics) published yesterday GBP estimations for Q2, which show a probable increase of 0.7% compared to Q1’s 0.4% growth, the release marking the 10th milestone for the continued economic expansion. Also, the report compared Q2 2015 with last’s year Q2 and showed that the increase was of 2.6%, compared with 2014’s 2.9%. Services had the biggest impact in the GDP’s growth, adding almost 0.5 percentage points to 2015’s second quarter results.
In the US, consumer confidence turned up lower than expected, hitting a 10-month low. The volatility we see in the financial markets seems to have taken a toll on the average consumer. Expectations were of a consumer confidence index of 100.00. The Conference Board announced a much somber value, off with a wide margin, which is 90.9 for July. The revised value of June is 99.8. High-impact events such as the Greek crisis or the pendency of the Chinese equities seem have a big influence over the consumer behavior.
Canada released its IPPI (Industrial Product Price Index) for June. It seems that the index increase with 0.5% in June (after a 0.5% increase also in May), mainly because of the price hike in petrol products and energy (+2.0%) on one side, and motorized and recreational vehicles on another side. RMPI (Raw Material Price Index) remained at the same level in June, a balance being set between the low prices of concentrates, scrap and metal ore and the high prices for energy and crude. If we look at the most important 21 commodities, analyses estimate that 15 of them went up, 4 of them went down and 2 remained unchanged.
Gold is still out of shape, yesterday’s closing being near the $1.095 value per ounce. The better and better news received on the USD took a toll over Gold prices since the beginning of the Tuesday’s sessions, setting a cautious tone for today’s FOMC meeting. The rebound of Chinese stock markets from Monday’s crash also pushed down the demand for Gold.
Crude made a surprising recovery yesterday, before the session ending, when it bounced up almost a dollar from below $47, closing positive for the day. West Texas Intermediate crude traded at $46.807 bbl (lowest since March), finishing the day with a value above$48.50. This upset turned the tides around, crude getting back on track after a four session long loss rampage.
