Market Information Thursday 5 May 2022

The Federal Reserve (Fed) has raised the key interest rate by 50 basis points as expected. This was announced Wednesday evening by the U.S. central bank. The federal funds rate was increased by 50 basis points to a range of 0.75 to 1.00%. In mid-March, the U.S. central bank already raised the interest rate by 25 basis points. The discount rate was increased by 0.50 percentage points to 1.00%. Commenting on the decision, the U.S. central bank said that economic activity declined slightly in the first quarter, but households continued to spend and companies continued to invest. Inflation remains high due to supply and demand imbalances, the corona crisis, rising energy prices and general price pressures, the Fed said.

Inventories of crude oil in the United States rose slightly last week, while stocks of gasoline and heating oil declined. This was reported by the American energy agency EIA on Wednesday. In the week ending 29 April, crude oil stocks increased by 1.3 million barrels to 415.7 million. Economists had expected in advance a decrease of 0.2 million barrels. Gasoline stocks decreased by 2.2 million barrels to 228.6 million barrels. A decrease of 300,000 barrels had been expected. Fuel oil and diesel stocks decreased by 2.3 million barrels to 104.9 million. A decrease of 1.5 million barrels had been forecast. The refineries’ capacity utilisation rate was 88.4%. This was 90.3% a week earlier.

Private sector employment in the United States rose significantly weaker than expected in April. This was shown Wednesday by figures from payroll processor ADP. The number of jobs increased in April by 247,000 jobs. Economists had expected a growth of 390,000 jobs. In March, the number of jobs increased by 479,000, an upward revision of 24,000. Last month, ADP reported an increase of 455,000 jobs.

The 6M Euribor is unchanged at -0.20% compared to previous business day. The 10Y Swap is unchanged at 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.