Oil futures rallied yesterday and were close to multi-year peaks, as the global power crisis continues and cold temperatures in China rekindle concerns on whether the world's largest energy consumer will be able to meet domestic heating needs. Electricity shortages that are driving the prices up also hurt China's economic growth, which fell to its lowest level in a year, as official data showed on Monday.
However, oil prices eased slightly on Wednesday after the Chinese government started putting efforts to contain record coal prices and keep coal mines running at full capacity, and Beijing took action to reduce power shortages. Chinese coal and other commodity prices fell sharply in early trading, which in turn drove oil prices lower after rising earlier in the day.
US bonds boosted currencies on Wednesday, with a rise in long-term rates pushing the dollar to a nearly four-year high against the yen, but declining yields on shorter-term bonds shift it away from the forefront compared to most other major currencies. The dollar climbed to 114,585 yen for the first time since November 2017, with the 10-year Treasury yield hitting a new five-month high of 1.6630% in Asia.
The price of Brent crude is $ 84,15 per barrel, WTI — $ 82,33. EUR/USD is at 1.1626, GBP/USD —1.3779, gold is at $ 1,777.01 per ounce.
