Both equities and oil struggled to make significant advances ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday. Financial data was a mixed bag with a somewhat negative slant. Buoyant US consumer spending and a fall in initial jobless claims mirror a solid economy.
Yesterday’s broadly unchanged settlement prices hide an eventful day, volatile price action with Brent moving in a range of $2.27/bbl. It is reasonable to assume that it was a day of assessing the potential impacts of recent events, namely the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah and Donald Trump’s latest salvo of threatening its closest trading partners with new tariffs.
Considering the almost immeasurable amount of uncertainty that keeps investors constantly on the edge of their seats, markets are susceptible to sudden reversals and twists of fate. Amongst the many factors that helped oil prices rally last week was the war Israel wages against Hamas and Hezbollah. In a somewhat sudden and unexpected U-turn, the news broke yesterday afternoon that a ceasefire agreement, initially possibly for 60 days, between the Jewish state and the Lebanese paramilitary group is within grasp and can be finalized in the next few days.
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