Market Information Thursday 21 March 2024

The American Federal Reserve, as expected, left interest rates unchanged, maintaining the level at 5.25 to 5.50 percent. The decision was taken unanimously yesterday evening. In July of last year, the Fed last raised the rate and since then the rate has been at 5.25 to 5.50 percent. Just before the interest rate decision, the euro/dollar was quoted at 1.0864, this morning the euro/dollar is quoted at 1.0936.

The European Central Bank may lower the policy rate in June if the upcoming figures on inflation and wages meet the ECB’s expectations. This was stated by President Christine Lagarde on Wednesday. ‘If these figures sufficiently correspond with the trajectory of underlying inflation and our forecasts, and if we assume that the transmission of monetary policy remains strong, we will be able to move to the phase of downscaling in our policy cycle and make the policy less restrictive,’ said Lagarde.

Consumer prices in the United Kingdom rose slightly less than expected in February. On an annual basis, prices increased by 3.4 percent, while economists had anticipated an increase of 3.5 percent. In the preceding month, the price level had increased by 4.0 percent on annual basis. On a monthly basis, prices rose by 0.6 percent, after a 0.6 percent decrease in January. An increase of 0.7 percent had been expected.

Stocks of crude oil in the United States decreased last week, as did gasoline inventories, according to figures released by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) on Wednesday. In the week ending March 15, crude inventories fell by 2.0 million barrels to 445.0 million barrels. Gasoline inventories decreased by 3.3 million barrels to 230.8 million barrels. However, inventories of heating oil and diesel increased by 0.6 million barrels to 118.6 million barrels. Refinery utilization rose from 86.8 percent to 87.8 percent.

The 6M Euribor decreased with 1 basis point to 3.91% compared to previous business day. The 10Y Swap decreased with 1 basis point to 2.71% 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.