S&P 500

Yesterday, the United States published its Q1 GDP report. The US economy expanded by 6.2% in the first quarter. At the same time, the GDP deflator increased to 4.1%. Meanwhile, the number of jobless claims stabilized at 550K, and continuing jobless claims were at 3.6 million. US stocks increased on a strong GDP report: the Dow and the S&P 500 gained 0.7%, NASDAQ climbed 0.2%.

Asian stock markets: Japan's and China's stocks fell by 0.8% and 0.9% respectively.

China's manufacturing PMI decreased to 51.1 from a month earlier.

In Japan, unemployment declined to 2.6%, beating market expectations. Housing starts unexpectedly surged by 1.5%. All in all, Japan's economic data turned out to be quite positive.

COVID-19 worldwide: 899K new cases were registered yesterday. The third wave is at its peak. India reported recorded 387K new cases and 3.5K deaths yesterday. In Brazil, daily infections fell to 69K, but deaths hit 3K. The situation remains alarming in the leading EU countries: Yesterday, Germany and France reported on 28K and 27K new cases respectively.

WTI: the price has fallen by 0.6% to 64.40 today. The price reached the April high amid a strong US GDP report yesterday. The upward potential looks limited. The benchmark is expected to be trading in the 63.50–65.50 range.

BRENT: the price has dropped by 0.6% to 68.10 today. It is likely to be in the 67.00–69.00 range. The price is increasing amid growing global demand and price forecasts from large banks.