Weekly Oil Report: Pfizer Come Into Play

After the last week anxiety about another global lockdown, Pfizer and Biontech declared their positive prospect toward the future. They believe their vaccine can adjust to the new variant of coronavirus and protect the receivers. The news made the market more confident, and it brought a better sentiment for stability. However, the United Kingdom is still undergoing a severe lockdown, and vaccination is not happening fast enough. COVAX program, GAVI and WHO alliance to provide vaccines for poor income countries, accelerates the vaccination. It seems these countries may get the vaccines in February. Joe Biden’s inauguration took place on 20 January, and he had a strong approach in the first days. He signed many executive orders including expanding stimulus package of American households and getting back to Paris agreement. Having America in Paris alliance means it will take decarbonizing programs more seriously. It can lead the investment toward renewables in long term. The number of individuals who requested for unemployment insurance for the first time during the past week decreased, compared to prior report.  

 

The market volatility started high at the first of the week as you can see in the picture above. However, it stabilized at a reasonable rate of 21.9. The decreasing rate of VIX indicates a generally calmer market. If we do not have any disappointing report for the upcoming week, it can have a neutral trend. Consequently, we saw Dollar decreasing in value nearly 50% which was expected according to expansionary policies and a more promising overall sentiment.

As Infinity Galaxy reported in the last weekly oil report on Monday, commodities had a couple of fluctuating days. The Brent oil declined to $54.76, and the WTI closed at $52.06 by the end of the week. However, they have not broken the rising trend out. Generally, oil and the stock market have a positive correlation. Therefore, if the demand and the stock keep rising, we can expect higher oil prices. Otherwise, the prices may stay in the current zone. Do not forget that global industrial activities are fundamentally important for the oil price as well. We shall see how the economies will deal with the current situation.