Week in a Glance: Biden's plan, OPEC +, NFP, Archegos Scandal

5 apr 2021

The past week was extremely eventful with the fundamental events of exceptional importance. These aren't only the Biden plan or the OPEC Plus decision, but also the Suez Canal unblocking. Besides, the world was almost covered by a wave of panic due to the scandal with the hedge fund Archegos, and the data on the US NPF surprised even optimists. But first things first.

Belief in a fast US economic recovery received significant support last week. First from Biden and his more than $2 trillion infrastructure plan. And then from the almost millionth value of the NFP indicator. Republicans have already said they will never support Biden's plan. And it means that it may have to be split into parts and its individual components must be dragged through the Congress, which will greatly delay the process (at least until autumn).

The main event of the week for the oil market yesterday was the results announcement of the OPEC Plus meeting. OPEC Plus members have agreed to increase production by 350,000 bpd in May and June and 400,000 bpd in July. Given the full third wave of the pandemic in Europe and the world, this is a bearish signal for the oil market. And the unblocking of the Suez Canal is also a sales reason.

The news that rocked the financial markets in the last week was the default of the hedge fund Archegos. Archegos' total losses may have exceeded $50 billion. As a result, some well-known banks suffered. Credit Suisse and Nomura reported significant losses. But a full-fledged financial contamination was avoided. At least for now. But it was a good reminder to the markets of leveraged trading The past week turned out to be extremely eventful with all sorts of fundamental events of exceptional importance. What is only the Biden plan or the OPEC + decision, and after all, the Suez Canal was unblocked this week, the world was almost covered by a wave of panic due to the scandal with the hedge fund Archegos, and the data on the US NPF surprised even optimists. But first things first.

Belief in a fast US economic recovery has received significant support last week. First from Biden and his more than $ 2 trillion infrastructure plan. And then from the almost millionth value of the NPP indicator. And although everything, as usual, is not as unambiguous as it seems at first glance. Republicans have already said they will never support Biden's plan. And this means that it may have to be split into parts and its individual components must be dragged through the Congress, which will greatly delay the process (at least until autumn).

The main event of the week for the oil market yesterday was the announcement of the results of the OPEC + meeting. OPEC + members have agreed to increase production by 350,000 bpd in May and June and 400,000 bpd in July. Given the full third wave of the pandemic in Europe and the world, this is a bearish signal for the oil market. And the unblocking of the Suez Canal is also a sales reason.

The news that rocked the financial markets in the last week was the default of the hedge fund Archegos. Archegos' total losses may have exceeded $ 50 billion. As a result, some well-known banks suffered. Credit Suisse, Nomura reported significant losses. But a full-fledged financial contamination was avoided. At least for now. But it was a good reminder to the markets of the price of leveraged trading price.

After such a busy previous week, the current one promises to be much calmer. It means you can focus on existing trends and their development.