Summary:
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Oil posts new 3-months highs but supply cuts issues in focus
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Pound looks to add to recent gains
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DE30: Fresenius surges on dividend increase plans
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Elon Musk say Bitcoin far better than paper money
The crude markets remain well supported and close to their highest level in 3 months, with the cuts amongst OPEC members seemingly achieving the target of stabilising the market. Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the organisation, went beyond the pledged output cuts in January, but it is worth pointing out that only 10 of the 21 OPEC+ coalition fully complied with the agreed cuts. Oil.WTI has recently broken above its highs, with price still above the breakout level seen around 55.65. Price is riding the upper Bollinger band but unless there’s a drop back below the 55.65 level then the market remains well supported.
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Open real account TRY DEMO Download mobile app Download mobile appThe pound is trading close to its highest level in a fortnight against the US dollar and near a 3 week peak against the Euro with the currency looking build on yesterday’s impressive gains which were in fact the largest of the year so far. Elsewhere on the political front we’ve got confirmation that more MPs are joining the independent party with 3 former Tory ministers defecting. The resignations come hot on the heels of the Labour MPs who broke away from their party, and the former are expected to join the latter in the “Independent Group”. For now, these resignations aren’t game-changing in themselves, although they could make for a lively PMQs this lunchtime, but they may well trigger a sequence of events that would have far greater implications and could feasibly lead to a General Election.
Stocks associated with Fresenius brand can be found among DAX leaders today. Fresenius Se (FRE.DE) published earnings for the 2018 today. The company managed to generate better-than-expected revenue of €33.53 billion. On the other hand, earnings disappointed with EPS of €3.368 coming in 2.2% below median estimate and net income missing forecasts by 1.1%. While this paints a mixed picture it should be said that the company managed to deliver on its targets in the previous year. However, what is probably the main cause behind today’s rally is the fact that the company proposed to increase dividend payout for the 26th year in a row.
The CEO of Tesla (an innovative tech company producing electric cars) and SpaceX (a company focused on space flights) Elon Musk belongs to a group of people whose remarks are usually widely observed by media. This time Musk produced some remarks on virtual currencies. The Tesla’s founder said in a ARK Invest’s podcast published yesterday that Bitcoin had a “brilliant” structure. Moreover, Elon Musk remarked that “paper money is going away and crypto is a much better value for a transfer of value than pieces of paper”. However, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO ruled out that Tesla would be involved in cryptos. Let us remind that there were not the first crypto-related remarks of Musk. The CEO published an enigmatic crypto-related post on its Twitter account some time ago. Musk explained during a podcast that he “was just joking”.