Market Information Friday 21 June 2024

While Israel has been at war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip for over eight months, the country exported $13 billion worth of defense equipment, mainly air defense systems, in 2023. This marks a record for the third consecutive year. Air defense systems accounted for 36% of the exports, largely due to the sale of the Arrow 3 missile system to Germany. Asia was the largest market with 48%, followed by Europe with 35%.

Crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 2.5 million barrels to 457.1 million barrels last week, according to EIA data released on Thursday. Gasoline and heating oil/diesel inventories also declined, by 2.3 million barrels to 231.2 million barrels and 1.7 million barrels to 121.6 million barrels, respectively. Refinery utilization dropped from 95.0% to 93.5%.

The Bank of England maintained the official interest rate at 5.25% and is considering a possible rate cut in August. The decision was made with a 7-2 vote, with two policymakers advocating for a reduction to 5.00%. Following the decision, the British pound traded at 1.2705 USD and later fell to 1.2690. This was revealed on Thursday in the central bank’s rate decision.

The 6M Euribor is unchanged at 3.70% compared to previous business day. The 10Y Swap increased with 2 basis points to 2.76% compared to previous business day.

In the attachment, today’s market data on money and capital market rates as well as other rates are presented.