Market Information Tuesday 1 February 2022

Figures from the German statistics office showed that German retail sales decreased significantly in December. Adjusted for inflation, sales decreased by 5.5% in December. This is considerably more than expected, as economists predicted a decrease of only 1.3%. On a year-to-year basis, sales remained constant.

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s interest rate decision showed that the Australian central bank will stop buying bonds and will keep the policy rate at 0.10%. The Australian central bank’s balance sheet increased threefold to a total of AUD 640 billion as a result of the buyback program. The decision to keep the policy rate at 0.10% is independent of the ending of the buyback program. The bank only expects to adjust the interest rate when the inflation rate will be between 2% and 3% for a longer period of time. Currently, inflation stands at 3.5% due to increased prices for new homes and fuel, and disruptions in the supply chain.

On Monday, oil prices rose to a settlement of USD 88.15 for a barrel of West Texas Intermediate, which is an increase of about 1.5%. For the entire month of January, the WTI price is up 17%, and a barrel of Brent oil is up 13% in price. Tensions between Ukraine and Russia are supporting oil prices in the big increase.

The 6M Euribor is unchanged at -0.52% compared to previous business day. The 10Y Swap increased with 4 basis points to 0.46% 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.