All eyes on US | Calamatta Cuschieri

The result of the US presidential election is undoubtedly the week’s highlight and markets will be feverishly waiting for the results which will start pouring in on Wednesday morning.

The polls have tightened in anticipation of a seemingly tight race, and turnout in key states and among minority groups is expected to have a huge bearing on who will become President (or President-Elect, as a keen-eyed reader pointed out last week).

Oil wars?

There’s been no shortage of talks about freezing or cutting oil supply in recent months. But, if unnamed and unofficial OPEC sources are anything to go by, another price war might be in the offing.

Sparked by Iran’s refusal to cap or decrease its production, Saudi Arabia allegedly threatened to increase its already record-breaking daily production to new highs. Officials for Saudi Arabia predictably denied the comments, but any sort of capping agreement is far from being a done deal.

Similar negotiations have a history of failing, and judging from the price action in oil it looks like traders are pricing in just that. Crude has logged one of its worst weeks since the massive drops of January this year.

In other news

US jobs data released last Friday showed the economy added 161,000 jobs in October, besides revisions upwards of 40,000 for the previous 2 months. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.9% and average hourly earnings accelerated by 0.4%. All-in-all, a good report which ‘endorses’ a rate hike in December – indeed the probability that the Fed will bump up interest rates next month is now over 80%.

Another recall

No exploding phones this time, but Samsung Electronics will be recalling 2.8 million washing machines after the Consumer Product Safety Commission in the US received more than 700 reports of tops detaching while the machines were in use.

Sounds like Samsung are going to have another couple of ‘extraordinary cost’ line items in their next set of financial statements.

This article was issued by Andrew Martinelli, Trader at Calamatta Cuschieri. For more information visit, www.cc.com.mt. The information, view and opinions provided in this article is being provided solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice, advice concerning particular investments or investment decisions, or tax or legal advice. Calamatta Cuschieri Investments Services Ltd has not verified and consequently neither warrants the accuracy nor the veracity of any information, views or opinions appearing on this website.