25.10. Stability in Asian stocks; oil at multi-year highs due to lack of supply

News for today, October 25th:

Asian stocks rose on Monday in anticipation of publications of major quarterly earnings reports later this week. European stock markets are expected to open steadily; investors are tracking banking giant HSBC's strong performance, as well as the recent Covid-19 outbreak in China, with fears that the rise in Covid-19 cases in one of the world's major growth drivers will hit global demand.

Oil prices rose on Monday, climbing to multi-year highs, with global supply remaining tight and demand high as the economic recovery from Covid-19 continues. For           example, gasoline consumption in the United States, the largest consumer of fuel in the world, has returned to a five-year average after more than a year's fall in demand. Concerns over coal and gas shortages in China, India and Europe also contributed to the increase of oil prices, as these concerns spurred a switch to diesel and fuel oil in some places.

WTI crude oil futures rose 1.0% on Monday to reach $ 84.63 a barrel after rising 1.5% on Friday. Earlier in the session, they touched a peak since October 2014, $ 84.76. Brent crude futures rose 0.8% to $ 86.24 a barrel after rising 1.1% last Friday. Earlier, they hit the highest level since October 2018, being at $ 86.43.

At this moment, the price of Brent crude is $ 86,14 per barrel, WTI — $ 84,37. EUR/USD is at 1.1662, GBP/USD — 1.3788, gold is at $ 1,799.47 per ounce.­­­­