Oil Declines as Iraq Signals Output Gain to Offset Price Plunge

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Oil fell as Iraq said it needs to boost crude output and exports to compensate for collapsing prices, exacerbating a global supply glut.

Futures declined as much as 1 percent in New York. Iraq has lost about 50 percent of its revenues because of the price decrease, Rowsch Nuri Shaways, the deputy prime minister of OPEC™s second-biggest producer, said in Davos, Switzerland. U.S. crude supplies probably expanded a second week through Jan. 16, according to a Bloomberg News survey before a report from the Energy Information Administration on Thursday.

Oil slumped almost 50 percent last year as the U.S. pumped crude at the fastest rate in more than three decades and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries resisted calls to cut output. Prices will rebound rather than extend their decline to as low as $20 a barrel, according to Abdalla El-Badri, the secretary-general of the 12-member OPEC.

West Texas Intermediate for March delivery fell as much as 47 cents to $47.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $47.39 at 10:46 a.m. Sydney time. The contract gained $1.31 to $47.78 on Wednesday. The volume of all futures traded was about 77 percent below the 100-day average.

Brent for March settlement rose $1.04, or 2.2 percent, to $49.03 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange on Jan. 21. The European benchmark crude ended the session at a premium of $1.25 to WTI.

Source : Bloomberg

Gold loses steam above $1,300 as ECB stimulus measures loom

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Gold lost some of its earlier momentum to snap a seven-day winning streak Wednesday, unable to defend its first foray above $1,300 an ounce since August.

Gold for February delivery relinquished its earlier high to dip 50 cents to settle at $1,293.70 an ounce after settling at its highest price in five months.

Despite Wednesday™s retreat, the precious metal is still up about 9% year to date.

March silver futures meanwhile, advanced 24 cents, or 1.3%, to $18.19 an ounce in electronic trading.

Gold™s recent rally was fueled by investors seeking havens amid ongoing troubles in Ukraine, political uncertainty in Greece, turmoil triggered by the Swiss National Bank, and some bargain hunting on the heels of depressed prices at the end of 2014.

Source : MarketWatch

Japan Stocks Swing as Insurers Drop, Communications Shares Rise

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Japanese stocks swung between gains and losses as insurers fell and communication stocks rose amid speculation the European Central Bank will stimulate growth through asset purchases.

The Topix slipped 0.1 percent to 1,388.76 as of 9:07 a.m. after rising less than 0.1 percent. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 0.2 percent to 17,312.

The ECB announces it policy decision later today. An Executive Board proposal foresees asset purchases of as much as $1.3 trillion through the end of 2016, according to two euro-area central-bank officials who have seen the document.

The Bank of Japan kept its target for the monetary base unchanged yesterday after it boosted an already unprecedented bond-buying program in October. The central bank cut its inflation forecast for fiscal 2015 to 1 percent from 1.7 percent previously amid plunging oil prices.

Source : Bloomberg

Asian Stocks Fall Before European Central Bank Stimulus Decision

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Asian stocks fell even amid speculation the European Central Bank will boost stimulus through a sovereign-bond purchase program under the quantitative-easing strategy.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.1 percent to 134.46 as of 9:05 a.m. in Tokyo before markets open in China and Hong Kong. An ECB Executive Board proposal calls for as much as $1.3 trillion in asset purchases through the end of 2016, according to two euro-area central-bank officials who have seen the document. The Standard & Poor™s 500 Index added 0.5 percent and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.6 percent to extend a seven-year high yesterday.

Japan™s Topix index slid 0.1 percent. Australia™s S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 0.5 percent and South Korea™s Kospi index added 0.4 percent. New Zealand™s NZX 50 Index added 0.2 percent after yesterday closing at a record high.

The ECB proposal could still be changed significantly, the people said, asking not to be identified as it is confidential. Purchases won™t start before March 1, one of the people said. The central bank will announce its policy decision today.

Source: Bloomberg

U.S. Stocks Advance for Third Day Amid Earnings, ECB Speculation

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U.S. stocks rose for a third day as energy shares rallied and speculation grew that the European Central Bank will provide more stimulus.

Netflix Inc. jumped 17 percent as it posted subscriber growth that beat projections and said it will complete its global expansion within two years. Energy companies climbed 1.8 percent for a third day of gains. International Business Machines Corp. slipped 3.1 percent after its earnings forecast trailed some estimates.

The Standard & Poor™s 500 Index rose 0.5 percent to 2,032.31 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 39.11 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,554.34. The Russell 2000 Index dropped 0.3 percent. Trading in S&P 500 companies was 6.9 percent above the 30-day average for this time of the day.

Two euro-area central-bank officials said the ECB™s Executive Board has proposed quantitative easing of 50 billion euros ($58 billion) a month until the end of 2016.

Source: Bloomberg