Market Information Friday 4 February 2022

The ECB announced yesterday that it would not change its monetary policy. The deposit rate will therefore remain negative at 0.50%, the policy rate at 0.00% and the marginal lending rate at 0.25%. In March, the ECB will decide on the policy rates again. The ECB has announced that it will be scaling back its buying policy. The Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program (PEPP) will stop at the end of March and the Asset Purchasing Program (APP) will serve as a bridging measure. Under the APP, EUR 40 billion per month of bonds will be purchased in the second quarter of 2022, EUR 30 billion per month in the third quarter and up to EUR 20 billion in the fourth quarter. Thereafter, this rate will be maintained as long as necessary.

Between January 22 and January 29, 238,000 initial jobless claims were filed in the United States. As a result, the number of new applications fell by 23,000 from a week earlier. Analysts had previously predicted a decline of 16,000. Last month, applications rose weekly due to the rapid spread of the omicron variant, but the number of new infections in the U.S. is now steadily declining. The four-week moving average also fell, by 7,750 to 225,000 applications.

The price for a barrel of crude oil closed higher than USD 90 per barrel yesterday for the first time since October 2014. The explanation for the price increase may be the fact that OPEC+ has stuck to its plans to increase oil production by 400,000 barrels each month. However, OPEC+ has not yet been able to achieve the intended increase. Another explanation for the price increase is the increased tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

The 6M Euribor is unchanged at -0.50% compared to previous business day. The 10Y Swap increased with 8 basis points to 0.58% 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.