Kaohoon Morning Brief – 13 December 2021

1) U.S. inflation in November rose at fastest pace since 1982

U.S. inflation accelerated to 6.8% on a year over year basis, the fastest pace since 1982 in November, according to the report from the Labor Department last Friday. The consumer price index rose 0.8% for the month. The headline CPI in November was higher than the Dow Jones estimate of 6.7% gain.

 

2) U.K. raised Covid-19 amid omicron concerns

The British government on Sunday raised the coronavirus threat level from 3 to 4  on a 5-point scale, while warning that the highly contagious Covid-19 omicron variant is likely to replace the current strain, delta variant, as the dominant strain in the U.K. within days.

Level 4 of Covid-19 threat means a high or rising level of transmission with some requirement of social distancing rules to manage the spread.

 

3) Oil extended gains, shaking off omicron fear

Oil prices extended gains in the early trading session of the Asian market on Monday as traders relaxed on the Covid-19 omicron concerns after early studies showed that a booster shot gives higher protection to this new strain.

As of 9:37 local time in Thailand on December 13, 2021, Brent crude rose 1.08% to trade at $75.96 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate rose 1.26% to $72.57 per barrel.

 

4) Economists expected ECB to cut QE by half from April 2022

The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to cut the amount of assets purchased each month from April by half, estimated by economists while viewing that a reprieve from high eurozone inflation by late 2022 would mean that interest rate hikes are years away.

Policymakers will meet on December 16, 2021.