Market Information Thursday 28 July 2022

The Federal Reserve has raised the key interest rate by 75 basis points. This became apparent from the interest rate decision of the American central bank on Wednesday evening. The federal funds rate was increased by 75 basis points to a range of 2.25 to 2.50%. The decision was adopted unanimously. In mid-June, the US central bank also raised the interest rate by 75 basis points, after a rate increase of 50 basis points in May and 25 basis points in mid-March. The Fed previously cut interest rates to near zero per cent and started buying bonds in 2020 to support the US economy during the corona crisis, which led to a deep but short recession. Central bankers then agreed to keep interest rates around zero until inflation was just above 2% and the labour market returned to full employment. The Fed said at the end of January that all these conditions had been met.

The price of a barrel of crude oil closed higher on Wednesday, after the latest data from the US energy agency EIA showed that US crude oil inventories fell last week. The data showed that US crude oil inventories fell by 4.5 million barrels to 422.1 million in the week ending July 22. Gasoline stocks fell by 3.3 million barrels to 225.1 million barrels. Fuel oil and diesel stocks fell by 0.8 million barrels to 111.7 million. The capacity utilisation rate of refineries was 92.2% compared to 93.7% a week earlier.

The confidence among Dutch manufacturers increased in July. This was shown Thursday by figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). The confidence index went from 8.1 in June to 8.4 in July, according to the CBS. This is because the opinion on stocks of finished products improved. Producer confidence was well above the long-term average of 1.0 in July. Manufacturers were more positive about their stocks of finished products than in the preceding month. Their opinions on expected activity remained stable, whereas their opinions on their order books were slightly less positive than in June.

The 6M Euribor decreased with 1 basis point to 0.62% compared to previous business day. The 10Y Swap increased with 2 basis points to 1.76% 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.