The rise in inflation and the fluctuation in the price of the dollar before its stability, on Friday, contributed to severe fluctuations in the global financial markets.
Crude oil prices
Crude oil prices turned down by more than 2%, at the end of Friday’s trading (end of the week), to record strong monthly and quarterly losses.
The global oil markets are witnessing a state of anticipation, pending the next OPEC + meeting, whose speculations regarding its decisions are still somewhat confused, in light of the recent symbolic production cut, at the beginning of this month.
It is noteworthy that, this week, crude oil prices reached their lowest level in 9 months, due to the temporary decline of the US dollar.
At the end of the session, the prices of the futures contracts for the benchmark Brent crude – for delivery in November – decreased by 0.6%, to $ 87.96 a barrel, following exceeding $ 90 during trading Thursday.
The price of US West Texas crude futures – November delivery – fell 2.1% to $79.49 a barrel.
Brent crude achieved weekly gains of 2.1%, but recorded monthly and quarterly losses of 8.8% and 23.4%, respectively.
While US crude recorded weekly gains of regarding 0.2%, but it fell by 11.2% during September 2020, and 24.8% during the third quarter of 2022.
U.S. dollar
The dollar index – which determines the performance of the US currency once morest a basket of 6 major currencies – settled at 112.260 points, following it had fallen earlier in trading.
Crude oil prices witnessed noticeable fluctuations during today’s trading, affected by the US dollar’s swing between rise and fall.
New gains are being realized in crude oil prices, supported by the weakness of the US dollar, according to Archyde.com.
gold prices
Gold prices rose at the end of trading week (on Friday), supported by the decline in US bond yields, but recorded monthly and quarterly losses.
Prices of the yellow metal rebounded with the decline of US stocks and the dollar, although they were affected in recent days by the rise in US bond yields.
Gold prices recorded weekly gains of regarding 1%, but recorded monthly losses for the sixth time in a row, by regarding 3.1%, equivalent to $ 54.20 an ounce.
The metal lost 7.5%, equivalent to 135.3 dollars, of its value during the third quarter of this year (2022), which ended today.
At the end of the session, the price of gold futures contracts – for delivery in December (2022) – rose by 0.2%, to reach $ 1672 an ounce.
By 05:45 PM GMT (08:45 PM GMT), the spot price for the yellow metal rose by regarding 0.1%, to $1,662.23 an ounce.
other metals
The price of silver futures contracts – for delivery in December – increased by regarding 2% to reach $19.08 an ounce.
While the spot platinum price fell by 0.3%, to reach $865.03 an ounce, and the spot palladium price fell by 1.2% to $2177.14 an ounce.
European stocks
European shares closed higher on Friday (the end of the week), but suffered heavy quarterly losses, during a quarter that witnessed a sharp increase in interest rates and a significant decline in risk appetite, and data indicating a further increase in inflation on the continent caused investors to be nervous.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 1.3 percent higher, but lost some of its gains during the session following data showed that inflation in the euro zone quickly exceeded expectations, hitting 10 percent in September, hitting a new record.
The inflation data has fueled speculation that the European Central Bank will make another major interest rate hike.
All sectors on the Stoxx 600 ended higher on Friday, with bargain-hunting for shares that fell in the retail, oil and gas and banking sectors.
The Stoxx 600 index fell from July to September by 4.8%, marking the third consecutive quarter of losses in what may be the longest streak of such losses since 2011.
The FTSE 100 in London fell briefly before closing 0.2% higher.
And shares of the two German sportswear companies Puma by 5.7% and Adidas by 4.1%, following their American competitor Nike warned of pressure on profit margins.
US stocks
Stocks in the United States closed lower at the end of trading on Friday, as indices fell, posting losses in the sectors of consumer goods, public institutions and technology.
At the end of trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded a decline of 1.71%, and reached its lowest level in 52 weeks.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell by 1.51%, while the Nasdaq Index lost 1.51%.
