Kuwait – Mubasher: Oil prices continued their prolonged slide reaching their lowest level in twelve years. Crude has tumbled by more than 30% since OPEC held its production ceiling at 30 million barrels per day last November in an apparent effort by Saudi Arabia to squeeze out shale producers in order to maintain market share, said National Bank of Kuwait in a report.
The dollar index started the week at 98.74 then dropped to a low of 98.04 after worse than expected manufacturing data. On Friday, the index strengthened broadly after the US Labor Department said the economy added 292.000 jobs in December, beating expectations for a rise of 200.000. However, the rally was short lived as the currency fell back again to close near its weekly lows of 98.377.
The Euro started the week at 1.0856 then dropped to 1.0709 marking its lowest level in more than one month, after China reported weaker than expected manufacturing data in December sparking fresh concerns of slowing growth in the economy. By the end of the week, the Euro recovered and rallied back to 1.0933, after the Eurostat reported that unemployment rate in the euro area fell to the lowest level in more than four years in November, dropping to 10.5% from 10.6% in October.
In the US, economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in December for the second consecutive month as lower oil prices undercut spending in the energy sector while construction-spending fell in November for the first time in nearly 1-1/2 years. The data suggested the economy ended 2015 with less momentum. The Institute for Supply Management also said its index of national factory activity fell to 48.2 from 48.6 the month before. The reading was just below economist expectations of 49, according to the report.
