Covid will continue to hit economies

News of the day, Thursday, April 14

Stock markets of Europe made gains today as investors are in wait for the soon ECB meeting which can result in monetary policy tightening. The Euro STOXX 600 gained 0.1%, where French shares were up 0.4% and German stocks increased by 0.2%. 

Dow Inc. announced the new $3 billion share repurchase program. The company states: "The $3B share repurchase program announced does not have an expiration date and is additive to the current outstanding program, which has approximately $775M of authorization remaining that the Company intends to repurchase by mid-2022."

The GDP growth in China is likely to slow down to 5.0% in 2022, as new COVID-19 outbreaks are pressuring the economy.

"March activity data is likely to have seen a notable deterioration, but that would just be the tip of the iceberg as the economically damaging lockdowns only started in mid-March," analysts at Societe Generale said in a note. 

"However, real GDP growth might avoid falling below 4%, thanks to the infrastructure push, the reporting methods and the surprisingly strong data seen in January and February."

The price of Brent crude is $107.28, WTI — $103.00, GBP/USD — 1.3133, EUR/USD — 1.0916, and gold costs $1968.40 per ounce.