Boiling Oil makes Markets Jump

The European and Asian market saw a spike on Monday, with a lower U.S. Dollar, after a weaker than expected U.S. Non-Farm payroll figures. This gave markets an excuse to push back the Federal Reserve interest rate rise expectations. European shares touched a four-month high led by a positive session in the commodity markets. The U.S market is a no-show today due to a Public Holiday.

Mining and oil firms were up more than 3% as crude prices soared. Futures of crude jumped despite a fresh commitment by Iran to drive production back to pre-sanction levels. This happened after Russian president Vladimir Putin called on major producers to cap output limits when meeting with Saudi deputy crown prince Mohammad bin Salam. They announced working on stabilizing the market but did not reveal anything to support oil prices. This strategic energy partnership between the two states led West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent to jump around 5%.

However, in the U.K the FTSE 100 was trading in the red led down mainly by Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). Deutsche bank downgraded the shares to adjust for ‘lower-for-longer’ interest rate environment. RBS was downgraded from a ‘Hold’ to ‘SELL’ position with the price target cut to 170 pence due to a higher medium risk, downgrades to loan growth and likely lack of dividend until 2018. On the other hand, Lloyds was down from ‘Buy’ to ‘Hold’ and its price target trimmed to 59 pence, as there is a risk in the medium to long term re-mortgaging.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May said during a press conference in Hangzhou, China that she plans to be “ambitious” and try to keep the country in the single market, while still introducing migration control following Britain's departure from the European Union. The U.K goal would be getting a deal good not only for Britain but also for the rest of Europe and hence this would make Britain a ‘Global leader in free trade’. May also announced that the negotiation process on leaving the EUR would not begin before the end of next year.

Other news:

Marks and Spencer’s Head Office will be making 525 workers redundant in a bid to cut costs. The company will also be reducing the number of contractors it works with. This news comes less than two months after the retailer chief executive Steve Rowe said it was ‘unacceptable’ after sales plummeted 8.9%. The job cuts would result in significant savings, which could amount to 1% of its UK operating costs per year. Its shares price closed at 350.07 pence, down 1.14%.

On the positive side, Snapchat Inc. has plans to launch its own hardware, for the augmented reality (AR) gear. The photo-sharing company has recently joined Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), an industry association gathering companies to create products using the Bluetooth technology. The messaging service has a technology called "lenses" built into its app that users employ to create custom animations, which would be suitable for an AR integration. The informally called "Snapglass," will be competing with Microsoft's HoloLens and Samsung's Gear VR. It would likely use the latest Bluetooth 5 technology announced for late 2016.