- Oil Markets Await OPEC Decision
- Eurozone Manufacturing PMI Breaks Record Again İn June
- World Bank To Finance 500 Million Doses Of Vaccine in SA
Oil Markets Await OPEC Decision
Oil rose to $74 a barrel in Asian trading ahead of the OPEC+ meeting. Futures continued their gains on Thursday after rising 0.7 % in the New York market on Wednesday.
In the OPEC+ coalition, Russia and Kazakhstan advocate increasing production, while Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries take a more cautious approach.
While countries are expected to increase production in August, increasing delta variant cases may halt the rise in oil prices.
OPEC+, the organization of oil-producing countries and its allies, is expected to consider adding between 500,000 and 1 million barrels per day. Still, analysts said there is some talk it may consider no increase.
Reuters reported that an internal OPEC report points out that the market could fall back into an oil glut after the group reverses its 6 million barrels a day of production cuts by April 2022. The report gave a boost to oil prices Wednesday.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, were trading just over $75 a barrel Wednesday.
Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude futures for August were just under $74 a barrel, around their highest level since the fall of 2018.
Eurozone Manufacturing PMI Breaks Record Again İn June
Euro Area Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), announced by IHS Markit, rose to 63.4 points in June from 63.1 points in May, breaking a new record.
“Eurozone manufacturing continued to grow at a rate unbeaten in almost 24 years of survey history in June as demand surged with the further relaxation of Covid-19 containment measures,” said Chris Williamson, a chief business economist at IHS Markit.
The Netherlands reached the highest PMI value in the Euro Zone, even though it fell to the lowest level in two months with 68.8 points after the record level in May.
Austria was the second-best performing country with 67 points, breaking its own PMI record in June.
Germany saw the index strengthen marginally, while Spain and Greece – despite being the weakest performers overall – saw their growth rates reach their highest levels in several years.
Overall output growth in the euro area’s manufacturing sector remained high in June, up slightly since May, close to levels seen earlier in the year. Production continued to increase at particularly strong rates in both Germany and the Netherlands.
Chris Williamson, Chief Economist at IHS Markit, stated that production to the Eurozone, increased demand as Covid-19 measures are gradually relaxed, and advances in vaccination have fueled renewed optimism about the future. Furthermore, Williamson pointed out that as capacity and transportation constraints limit the availability of inputs to factories, this situation increases highly.
World Bank To Finance 500 Million Doses Of Vaccine in SA
The World Bank will provide $712 million in financing to produce 500 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine in South Africa by the end of 2022.
According to Bloomberg’s report, the World Bank announced a $712 million financing package to produce the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in South Africa. Within the scope of this support, it is aimed to produce 250 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine by the end of the year, with 30 million doses to be used in South Africa by the South African pharmaceutical company Aspen.
A total of 500 million Johnson & Johnson vaccines are planned to be produced in the country by the end of 2022. The intellectual property rights of Johnson & Johnson vaccines will not be shared with Aspen.
In the Republic of South Africa, where the Delta variant of Covid-19 was encountered, on 27 June, the measures were raised to level 4. As part of the new measures, the sale of alcohol and all kinds of social, religious, and political gatherings were prohibited in the country.
According to the Ministry of Health data, the total number of cases increased to 1 million 973 thousand 972, with 19 thousand 506 people caught Covid-19 in the last 24 hours.
Due to the epidemic, 383 people died in the last 24 hours, and the total number of deaths reached 60 thousand 647.
