Prices have stayed stubbornly high even with mortgage rates near a two-decade peak, and mismatched supply-and-demand dynamics have sent conflicting signals about what comes next.

 

Conventional wisdom suggests that as rates rise, prices will fall. But that hasn't transpired, even after 10 rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, which have influenced the rate on all kinds loan products to march higher, including mortgages.

 

If experts can agree on one thing as it relates to housing, it's that the market has stayed surprisingly tight.

 

The explanation boils down to a unique set of circumstances that have unfolded in a distorted post-COVID world. A wave of people locked themselves into ultra-low mortgage rates, creating an inventory shortage. That's kept prices from falling, even as demand gets slammed by higher mortgage rates.

 

"The housing market is weird right now," LendingTree's senior economist Jacob Channel told Insider. "Relative to where we were during the pandemic, prices will probably stay high for some time compared to recent history."

 

Higher rates aren't just deterring new buyers — they're also scaring sellers from putting their homes on the market. Even if a seller is able to offload at a lofty price, they still have to navigate the tight market as they seek their new home. For many people, leaving a sub-3% mortgage behind and inking one around 7% is a non-starter, even if they get a big windfall from a sale.

 

This population makes up a significant portion of homeowners. Nearly one-quarter are sitting on a mortgage rate of less than 3%, close to the highest amount on record.

 

"A 3% difference on a mortgage is gargantuan," Channel said. "You'd have to buy a house worth tens of thousands of dollars less to pay the same monthly rate. We have a convoluted market where there's not a lot of demand and people aren't actively looking to sell, but prices are still up."

 

Typically, when demand drops, supply goes up and housing becomes more affordable. But that's not what's happened over the last year. The average seller today can still attract about three offers for a listed home, according to data from the NAR.

 

Nadia Evangelou, a senior economist at the National Association of Realtors, confirms there are still more buyers than available homes. Middle-income house hunters — who should make up the largest share of the market — have been hit particularly hard this year, she explained. It all comes back to inventory.

 

"Earners of about $75,000 should be able to buy about half of all listings, but currently they can only buy about 23% of them," Evangelou said. "Especially for those looking for affordable homes, homebuyers are facing a double-whammy of high rates and low supply, which means prices have to go higher."

 

Perhaps the most surprising development in the housing market has come in the form of recent increases in new-home sales and housing starts. Both are encouraging signs that homebuyer activity is headed for a rebound.

 

While existing home sales are down, sales of newly constructed homes jumped 20% year-over-year in May. When it comes to new construction, it's possible for homebuilders to offer buydowns that lower the overall mortgage rate for a buyers, according to Ali Wolf, chief economist for real estate firm Zonda.

 

As for housing starts, the resilience there offers a positive sign that construction is accelerating, having overcome years of difficult supply-chain issues

 

following the pandemic. This is crucial because it could alleviate the inventory shortage and, by extension, help balance out the affordability equation for buyers. Theoretically home prices will fall or at least stabilize as inventory is replenished.

 

"I think there's been such a huge discussion about the lock-in-effect in the housing market and how homeowners don't want to get rid of their low interest rates," Wolf said. However, if they want to move and can get a builder to buy their rate down, all of a sudden that "hurdle goes away," she said.

 

To Channel, there isn't a magic number that interest rates would have to fall to in order for demand to recover to previous levels. While mortgage rates aren't that high on a historical basis, the market is distorted in terms of supply and demand.

 

Channel says it's possible that demand could recover sharply if mortgage rates were to fall to around 5%, but that could also spur another jump in home prices as buyers rush back into the market. Lower rates could also unlock more inventory as homeowners come off the sidelines.

 

"On one hand, more demand puts upward pressure on home prices," he said. "But housing supply has decreased significantly, and that's also because it's become more costly to build and harder to get materials. But now supply chains are better and raw materials are decreasing in price. So we have two possible forces — demand could come back as rates decline, and supply could improve as the building comes back."

 

Evangelou expects mortgage rates to stay above 6% through the end of the year before falling to about 5.6% in 2024. She expects home prices next year will rebound after cooling in the interim, coinciding with declining rates.

 

"We do need more homes on the market," she said. Evangelou expects the supply shortage to continue well into next year as low inventory fuels competition among homebuyers.

 

There's no immediate solution to inventory snags, as a home shortage would take many years to address, and there won't be anything like a 2008-style crash in home prices.

 

"People should just buckle in and expect the market to remain tough in terms of affordability," Channel said.

Asia-Pacific markets largely fell as investors digest the release of private surveys on services activity from the region.Services activity in Japan and China remained in expansion territory for the month while the pace of growth softened.

 

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.25% to end its session at 33,338.7 and the Topix slid fractionally to 2,306.03. South Korea's Kospi also lost 0.55% to 2,579 while the Kosdaq rose 0.13% to 891.18. Greater China markets were lower, with the Shanghai Composite down 0.6% and the Shenzhen Component lower by 1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.63% while the Hang Seng Tech index also traded 1.87% lower.

 

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.35% to close at 7,253.6 after the Reserve Bank of Australia held rates at 4.1% on Tuesday. U.S. markets were closed for the Independence Day holiday, but U.S. futures were all lower ahead of Wednesday's session. Traders will be watching closely for minutes from the Federal Reserve's June meeting, after Chairman Jerome Powell said last month to expect more rate hikes ahead.

 

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.11, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite futures declined 0.9% and 0.17% respectively. — CNBC's Sarah Min contributed to this report. The music industry is set for a radical shift due in part to generative AI, according to Goldman Sachs, which described the new technology as providing "significant opportunities" for the sector.

 

It named five buy-rated stocks to play the trend. All of the stocks are on its conviction list of top stocks. China's service sector activity remained in positive territory for a sixth straight month, according to a Caixin/S&P Global survey released on Wednesday. The Caixin services purchasing managers index for June came in at 53.9, a slower rate of expansion than the 57.1 recorded in May. The survey said "business activity and new orders both expanded at notably slower rates than seen in May, as some firms reported softer than expected market demand." — Lim Hui Jie

 

The Philippines' headline inflation rate slowed for a fifth straight month to 5.4% in June, down from May's figure of 6.1%. This was also lower than the 5.5% expected by economists polled by Reuters. Core inflation, which strips out volatile prices of food and energy items, surged 7.4% year-on-year, slightly lower than the 7.7% recorded in May. — Lim Hui Jie

 

Services activity in Japan remained in expansion territory in June on strong demand conditions in the economy. The final au Jibun Bank Japan Services purchasing managers' index (PMI) fell from a record high of 55.9 in May to 54 in June, both well above the 50-mark that separates contraction and growth. "The Japanese services economy signaled that demand conditions remained positive during June," Usamah Bhatti, Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said in a Wednesday release. Both business activity and new business were among the highest in the series history, Bhatti noted. — Jihye Lee

 

Fast Retailing sank Wednesday touched its lowest since June 12 after Uniqlo reported a 3.4% drop in same store sales in its home Japan market in June from a year earlier. Its Tokyo-listed shares declined by as much as 3% in early trade, before paring losses to trade down 2.75% at about 36,660 yen per share. — Clement Tan

 

The U.S. economy has shifted from a "rolling recession" to a "rolling recovery," according to market veteran Ed Yardeni. Speaking to CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia," the president of Yardeni Research said he has upgraded his U.S. GDP forecasts for this year and next as one unique factor was softening the impact of rising interest rates on the U.S. economy. — Ganesh Rao

 

Goldman Sachs is positive on a number of Asian markets right now, despite what it expects to be a "subdued" third quarter of the year. The bank screened for global stocks with improving earnings growth momentum, stable earnings per share revisions, and reasonable valuations. May factory order data is set to release Wednesday after the opening.

 

Economists polled by Dow Jones are anticipating a rise of 0.6%, which would be greater than the 0.4% increase the previous month. — Sarah Min

 

U.S. stock futures were little changed on Tuesday night as Wall Street looks to resume a holiday-shortened week. Markets were closed Tuesday for the Fourth of July holiday. They closed early Monday. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 31 points or 0.09%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.05% and 0.11%, respectively. — Sarah Min

The basic materials sector closely follows economic trends. As fundamental macro factors play such a crucial role in driving the group, one needs a keen eye to identity top investment opportunities among the many chemical, steel, mining and other stocks that make up the sector.

 

TipRanks recognized the 10 best analysts in the basic materials sector who delivered noteworthy returns and whose recommendations outperformed their peers.

 

TipRanks used its Experts Center tool to identify analysts with the highest success rates. In the process, it analyzed every recommendation by analysts in the basic materials sector over the past 10 years. Then, TipRanks' algorithms calculated the statistical significance of each rating, analysts' overall success rate and the average return.

 

Dan Payne tops the list. Payne has an overall success rate of 64%. His best rating was on Birchcliff Energy (TSE:BIR), an intermediate oil and natural gas company. His buy call on BIR stock from Oct. 6, 2020 to Oct. 6, 2021, generated a return of 373%.

 

Leo Mariani is second on the list, with a success rate of 62%. Mariani's top recommendation was Permian Resources (NYSE:PR), an oil and gas company. The analyst generated a whopping profit of 800% through his buy recommendation on PR stock from Oct. 20, 2020 to Oct. 20, 2021.

 

Raymond James analyst John Freeman ranks No. 3 on the list. Freeman has a success rate of 56%. His best recommendation was on Vital Energy (NYSE:VTLE), an oil and gas explorer in the Permian Basin. The analyst generated a return of 738% through a buy recommendation on the stock from Oct. 23, 2020 to Oct. 23, 2021.

 

Poe Fratt bags the fourth spot on the list. The analyst has a 54% overall success rate. Fratt's best recommendation was on Gevo (NASDAQ:GEVO), a company focusing on renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company. Based on his buy recommendation, the analyst generated a profit of 800% from Aug. 11, 2020 to Aug. 11, 2021.

 

Fifth-place analyst Elvira Scotto has a success rate of 64%. Scotto's best recommendation was Crestwood Equity Partners (NYSE:CEQP), an owner of midstream assets that gathers, processes, stores and transports natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil. Based on this pick, the analyst delivered a profit of 437% from March 16, 2020 to March 16, 2021.

 

Taking the sixth position is Vincent Lovaglio. The analyst sports a 66% success rate. Lovaglio's top recommendation was for Comstock Resources (NYSE:CRK), a natural gas producer. Through his buy call on CRK stock, the analyst generated a return of 270% from April 20, 2021 to April 20, 2022.

 

RBC Capital analyst Scott Hanold is seventh on this list, with a success rate of 58%. The analyst's best call was a buy on the shares of Matador Resources (NYSE:MTDR), and oil and gas explorer and producer. The recommendation generated a return of 389% from Oct. 1, 2020 to Oct. 1, 2021.

 

In the eighth position is Michael Harvey of RBC Capital. Harvey has an overall success rate of 55%. The analyst's top recommendation was for Seven Generations Energy, a Canada-based oil and gas company. Through this buy call, the analyst generated a return of 412.1% from March 16, 2020 to March 16, 2021. Seven Generations Energy merged with ARC Resources (TSE:ARX) in 2021.

 

Dalton Baretto ranks ninth on the list. The analyst sports a 52% success rate. His top call was made on Capstone Copper (TSE:CS), a Canada-based copper producer. The buy recommendation generated a return of 800% from May 27, 2020 to May 27, 2021.

 

T J Schultz has the 10th spot on the list, with a success rate of 63%. The analyst's best call has been a buy on shares of Targa Resources (NYSE:TRGP), a provider of midstream services. The recommendation generated a return of 243% from March 16, 2020 to March 16, 2021.

 

Retail investors can leverage TipRanks' Experts Center tool to keep track of the recommendations of top analysts and make informed investment decisions.

Tether Operations Limited, the American tech company powering the most widely used stablecoin Tether (USDT), has joined forces with Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange to support the development of a privacy-focused operating system (OS) dubbed Qubes OS for personal computers. According to the announcement, the two blockchain powerhouses will offer a public grant of up to $100k in USDT to enable the open-source development of Qubes OS.

 

The Qubes OS has been in operation for a while and attracted the support of notable figures in the society including whistleblower and privacy advocate Edward Snowden. However, it is the financial support from Tether and Bitfinex that could propel the adoption of Qubes OS to mainstream adoption. According to Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether and Bitfinex, there is a growing need for privacy and security in the digital age.

 

“Therefore, we are pleased to support the development of Qubes OS, which is a cutting-edge operating system renowned for its iron-clad security. This grant represents our dedication to fostering open-source initiatives that drive innovation and empower individuals to take control of their digital lives,” Ardoino noted. The move comes amid the push by the United States federal government to roll out a digital dollar that is said to have a huge lapse in privacy. Moreover, some of next year’s US presidential candidates are against the adoption of a CBDC in favor of stablecoins.

 

Meanwhile, the Qubes OS team has welcomed the financial grant and noted that it will significantly help in its linear growth. “We greatly welcome the grant that has been gifted by Tether and Bitfinex. Their support of our open-source software development is critical to the continued growth of our operating system, and ensuring it remains the best-in-class secure platform for all users,” said the Qubes OS team.

 

The Tether and Bitfinex team has commended the Qubes OS development team for providing a much-needed security-oriented operating system. According to Tether, the Qubes OS has gained huge popularity among Bitcoiners and freedom enthusiasts lately. Moreover, the Qubes OS can isolate the different tasks and applications within a separate virtual machine called Qubes by leveraging Xen-based virtualization. As a result, Qubes OS users are guaranteed high security while performing sensitive tasks such as financial transactions.

 

According to Micah Lee, Director of Information Security at The Intercept, and advisor to DDoSecrets, the use of Qubes OS gives users the ultimate control they need to perform sensitive operations. Similarly, Let’s Encrypt, a non-profit leading certificate authority, reiterated that Qubes OS is a huge reinvention of software development toward the security of data.

In a recently unearthed video from a 2018 crypto-themed event hosted by Bloomberg and Fidelity, Gary Gensler, the current chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), made statements that contradict his current position on digital assets regulations in the country.

 

The video, which started circulating on Twitter on June 12, shows Gensler addressing institutional investors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked as a professor before joining the SEC in 2021 after he was nominated by President Joe Biden, asserting that four major cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (Ether), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) are not securities.

 

At the time, the SEC chairman highlighted that these four digital assets accounted for approximately 75% of the market, emphasizing their exclusion from the securities category. “Over 70% of the crypto market is Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. Why did I name those four? They’re not security. Three-quarters of this market are not securities,” the SEC chair said in the video. Gensler’s remarks in the video have sparked controversy, as the comments contradict his recent suggestions that most cryptocurrencies, aside from BTC, may be considered securities. Although legal experts such as crypto lawyer Preston Byrne have clarified that Gensler’s 2018 comments were made in a personal capacity, the remarks have raised concerns within the crypto industry.

 

Critics argue that his lack of clear guidance on the legality of specific tokens before initiating a “regulation by enforcement strategy” without a clear path for compliance has created uncertainty and frustration among the crypto community. Last week, the market regulator labeled 19 more crypto assets as securities, including Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC), Flow (FLOW), and Near (NEAR), making it a total of 68 digital currencies the Commission has identified as security under Gensler’s leadership. However, none of the crypto assets mentioned in the 2018 video have yet made it to the SEC’s list.

 

Is Ethereum a Security or Not?

 

The SEC chair previously indicated that all cryptocurrencies apart from BTC are securities. On that note, the Commission has sued many crypto companies, including Coinbase, Ripple Labs, Binance, Gemini, and Genesis, for violating federal securities laws by selling unregistered securities in America. In April, Patrick McHenry, chairman of the US House Financial Services Committee, requested that Gensler provide a clear answer as to whether Ethereum is a security. Still, the SEC chair failed to answer the question definitively.

 

That same month, another video of Gensler from 2019 emerged before his time at the SEC. In the video, he praised the smart contract platform Algorand for its underlying technology before declaring its native token ALGO security in a lawsuit against the crypto exchange Bittrex.

Oil prices climbed 3% on Tuesday, recovering from steep losses the previous session, after China's central bank lowered a short-term lending rate for the first time in 10 months. The rate cut, aimed at adding momentum to a hesitant post-pandemic recovery in the world's second-largest economy and biggest crude importer, is likely increase oil demand.

 

Brent crude futures climbed $2.18, or 3%, to $74.02 a barrel by 11:34 a.m. EDT (1534 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up $2.04, or 3%, at $69.16 a barrel. Prices on Monday fell by about 4%, in part because of concerns about the Chinese economy after disappointing economic data last week. "The market is showing a rebound from yesterday," Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures group, said. "It was overdone with doom and gloom on Monday." Equities, which often trade in tandem with oil, also rose on Tuesday.

 

Meanwhile, Brent's six-month backwardation, a market structure whereby shorter-dated futures trade above longer-dated ones, has fallen to its lowest since March at around $1.30, indicating faltering confidence that demand will exceed supply over the year. "For market participants to start building up long positions again, they likely need to see larger inventory declines," said UBS strategist Giovanni Staunovo, adding he expected this to happen within weeks. A rise in global supplies is weighing on the market, along with concerns about demand growth, ahead of a U.S. Fed monetary policy meeting concluding on Wednesday. Most market participants expect the Fed to leave interest rates unchanged, especially after data showed U.S. consumer prices barely rose in May.

 

The Fed's rate hikes have strengthened the dollar , making dollar-denominated commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies and weighing on oil prices, so a rate hike pause could be bullish. The European Central Bank is expected to hike interest rates on Thursday. Worries about demand have unraveled the temporary boost in oil prices from Saudi Arabia's pledge announced early this month to cut more production in July.

 

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) kept its forecast for 2023 global oil demand growth steady for a fourth month on Tuesday, slightly increasing expectations of Chinese demand growth. Another monthly report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) due on Wednesday will provide further trading cues. Investors await industry data on U.S. oil inventories on Tuesday, followed by government data on Wednesday. Five analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories fell by about 1.3 million barrels in the week to June 9.

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has confirmed the listing of Floki Inu (FLOKI) and PEPE in the innovation zone on its platform. According to a statement from the company, a listing fee of 0 BNB applies to trading pairs involving the FLOKI and PEPE duo.

 

In line with the statement released, Binance also confirmed that the exchange will open trading for spot pairs FLOKI/USDT, FLOKI/TUSD, PEPE/USDT, PEPE/TUSD in the second half of today. This way, users are encouraged to start funding their account with either or both memcoins in advance of trading. FLOKI and PEPE deposits will be available starting today, but users will not be able to withdraw until May 6. Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, chief executive (CEO) of Binance, previously hinted that the exchange was skeptical about listing PEPE, citing that memcoin lacks transparency and has high risk. During one of its "Ask Me Anything" sessions, CZ showed its approval of Shiba Inu over the PEPE meme coin.

 

"We don't like coins that have a very small supply in circulation, but they have a large total supply," he said on Twitter Spaces earlier this month, adding that "when there is a small supply in circulation, some coins become known and people want to buy them because the price is very high. But then when more supply comes into circulation, the price can fall. Well, it probably will, or at least has a higher downside risk. We try to avoid that."

 

At the same time, he noted that he has no direct involvement with the listing. "We actually have a strict policy: even if we talk to the project team, we prohibit them from divulging anything about the listing, etc.," Zhao added.

 

FLOKI, PEPE, other memcoins get attention

 

With CZ's previous position, it came as a surprise when the exchange confirmed the listing. Approximately 48 hours after listing, FLOKI and PEPE will be added as new leveraged assets on Isolated Margins along with their new margin pairs FLOKI/USDT and PEPE/USDT. The announcement seems to have caused some excitement in the market, as PEPE is up more than 40% and FLOKI is up more than 60%.

 

FLOKI has already appeared on other leading cryptocurrency exchanges, but a listing on Binance has been expected for a long time. In March, KoinBX, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, announced plans to list FLOKI for USDT and INR trading pairs. There are generally rave reviews about FLOKI and many other memcoins. The platform behind the Floki memcoin has proven useful over time with several solutions, such as the cryptocurrency debit card, the non-fungible token (NFT) game, and various NFT collections.

According to a new study, investors left UK equity funds at a record pace last year, with sales outpacing sales in other major markets.

 

The Calastone fund chain reported on Thursday that in 2022 the total outflow of funds from British equity funds amounted to 8.38 billion pounds ($ 9.95 billion), which is the worst figure in eight years of data registration. Equity funds are grouped investments that predominantly focus on the stocks of companies.

 

Outflows from other European equity funds amounted to £2.65 billion, from North American funds £1.17 billion and £1 billion from Asia Pacific funds.

 

According to the company, three-quarters of the losses of equity funds occurred in the third quarter, which was timed to coincide with a particularly turbulent period in British politics, when former Prime Minister Liz Truss came up with a controversial "mini-budget". But overall inflows into investment funds have been the worst in at least eight years amid rising inflation, uncertainty over the war in Ukraine, and a sharp shift by central banks from easing monetary policy to tightening.

 

Meanwhile, passive equity funds that track the stock market or market sector recorded net outflows for the first time in a year.

 

The bright spots were global equity funds in the areas of environment, social and corporate governance, which added £6.35 billion, and emerging markets funds, which added £647 million.

 

Edward Glyn, calastone's head of global markets, said the interest rate hike had "turned asset markets upside down" and forced investors to flee to cash and lower-risk funds.

 

"Sentiment has improved markedly in recent weeks, but there is tremendous uncertainty about the future course of interest rates and economic growth around the world, and we can still see the roar of bears again before the bull market cycle starts anew," he said.

 

However, this positive has not reached UK-focused funds, he said, due to forecasts that the country would suffer the worst recession among major economies.

 

A separate study released this week by State Street Global Advisors found that European exchange-traded funds showed resilience in 2022, with net inflows of $88 billion driven by shares mainly in "global developed" and U.S. "big equity" funds. Investors favored higher-quality assets and shares in the energy sector, the report said.

 

At the same time, the report notes that investors avoided broad European stocks amid the war in Ukraine, high inflation and stronger tightening of monetary policy than initially expected.

Gold prices rose Tuesday as a weaker dollar outweighed pressure from hawkish remarks from U.S. Federal Reserve officials about raising interest rates.

 

Spot gold rose 0.8% to $1,754.85 an ounce and U.S. gold futures rose 0.8% to $1,769.70.

 

On Monday, gold prices had their worst day in a month, losing nearly 1 percent, following hawkish comments from Fed officials James Bullard and John Williams.

 

The dollar index fell 0.4 percent against its peers on Tuesday, making gold less expensive for holders of other currencies.

 

Although a slightly weaker dollar is supporting gold at the moment, we still expect further Fed rate hikes to put pressure on gold prices in coming weeks, said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.

 

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's speech at a Brookings Institution event Wednesday is now of interest to traders seeking more clarity on the central bank's policy stance.

 

"The market will be watching closely for any sign of an end to interest rate hikes. If Powell points out that we are close to that, gold will win, on the other hand, if he points to further hikes," Staunovo added.

 

The ADP national employment report and the U.S. Labor Department nonfarm payrolls data due out this week also remain on the radar.

 

Meanwhile, Chinese police took to the streets of Beijing and Shanghai to prevent more protests against Covid-19 restrictions.

 

The protests in China, the world's biggest gold consumer, and the resulting heightened security presence will affect spending and industrial activity over the next month, putting pressure on all metals, said Michael Langford, director of corporate consulting firm AirGuide.

Oil prices held steady near $100 a barrel on Monday as support from a weaker dollar and a recovery in Chinese crude oil imports countered renewed demand concerns stemming from China's tough approach to containing Covid.

 

Brent oil futures fell 7 cents, or 0.05%, to $98.52 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude was $92.46 a barrel, down 15 cents, or 0.2%.

 

Both contracts fell more than $1 a barrel early in the session as Chinese health officials reaffirmed their commitment to a strict approach to containing Covid over the weekend, dashing hopes for a recovery in oil demand from the world's largest oil importer.

 

Brent and WTI rose last week, gaining 2.9% and 5.4% respectively on speculation that the Covid-19 lockdowns could end despite no announced changes.

 

But prices cut losses in early European trade after stronger risk sentiment, news of a rebound in Chinese crude oil imports and a weaker US dollar against other currencies, UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.

 

The US dollar slipped against the euro on Monday, while the pound sterling was supported by sentiment risk and a rally in European stock markets.

 

While China's imports and exports fell unexpectedly in October, crude oil imports rose to their highest level since May.

 

Oil prices are supported by supply cut expectations as the European Union embargo on Russian oil exports by sea comes into effect on December 5, despite refineries around the world ramping up production.

 

US refineries will be operating their refineries at breakneck speeds near or above 90% capacity this quarter. China's largest private refinery Zhejiang Petroleum and Chemical Co (ZPC) ramps up diesel production.

 

Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Co (KIPIC) said on Sunday that the first phase of the Al Zur refinery has entered commercial operation, the state news agency reported.

Mastercard aims to bring cryptocurrency to the masses, making it easier for banks to participate.

 

The payment giant plans to announce on Monday a program that will help financial institutions offer cryptocurrency trading, CNBC reported. Mastercard will act as a "bridge" between Paxos, a crypto trading platform already used PayPal to offer a similar service, and banks, according to the company. Mastercard will be concerned with regulatory compliance and security , the two main reasons why banks avoid the asset class.

 

Some consumers are also skeptical. Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are notoriously volatile, and the best digital assets in the world have lost more than half of their value this year. Since January, the industry has been hit by billions of hacks combined with numerous high-profile bankruptcies.

 

Mastercard's chief digital officer said surveys still show demand for the asset, but roughly 60% of respondents said they would prefer to test water through their existing banks.

 

"There are a lot of consumers who are really interested in this and intrigued by cryptocurrencies, but they would feel much more confident if these services were offered by their financial institutions," Mastercard chief digital officer Jorn Lambert said in an interview. "Some people are still a little scared."

 

Major investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan have singled out crypto teams but have largely avoided offering it to consumers. Just last week, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon called cryptocurrencies "decentralized Ponzi" at an institute of international finance event. If banks adopt this Mastercard partnership model, it could mean more competition for Coinbase and other U.S. exchanges.

 

The payment company said its role is to keep banks on the right side of regulation by following cryptographic compliance rules, verifying transactions and providing anti-money laundering and identity monitoring services. Mastercard will pilot the product in the first quarter of next year and then "crank the handle" to expand into more geographic regions. Lambert declined to say which banks have signed up so far.

 

While the industry is going through a bear market or "crypto winter," Lambert said more activity in the future could lead to more transactions and fuel Mastercard's core business.

 

"It would be short-sighted to think that a small crypto winter portends its end – we don't see that," he said. "As regulation of cryptocurrency platforms is introduced, the degree of their security will increase, and in the coming years we will see how many current problems will be solved in the coming years."

 

Mastercard and Visa enter into partnerships in the field of cryptocurrency. Mastercard has already teamed up with Coinbase on NFTs and Bakkt to allow banks and merchants on its network to offer cryptocurrency-related services. Last week, Visa partnered with FTX to offer cryptocurrency debit cards in 40 countries and has more than 70 cryptocurrency partnerships. American Express said it was exploring the possibility of using its cards and stablecoin network, which are pegged to the price of a dollar or other fiat currency.

 

Cryptocurrencies, ironically, were designed to destroy banks and intermediaries such as Mastercard and Visa. Their underlying technology, blockchain, allows transactions to be conducted without intermediaries. However, Lambert said they didn't see a response from the industry to their involvement. According to him, cryptocurrencies are on the "verge of a real mainstream", and for this they still need to unite with existing players.

 

"It's hard to believe that the crypto industry will really become mainstream without embracing the financial industry as we know it," Lambert said.

Gold prices were in a tight range on Friday as investors awaited a U.S. employment report that could affect the trajectory of the Federal Reserve's rate hike.

 

However, thanks to the depreciation of the dollar and the yield of US Treasury bonds, gold is still on track for the best week since March.

 

Spot gold remained at about the same level at $1,710.30 per ounce. This week, prices rose by about 3.3%.

 

U.S. gold futures were down 0.2% at $1,718.10.

 

"We have data on employment in the non-agricultural sector of the United States, and this will be a very important point, because recently market expectations have shifted towards easing the Fed's course towards tightening monetary policy," said Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades.

 

The jobs report is due Friday, and economists predict 250,000 jobs were created last month.

 

Fed officials are sticking to their hawkish stance in the fight against high inflation, and more favorable-than-expected employment data will give rise to another significant rate hike at the upcoming central bank meeting, analysts say.

 

Although gold is considered a hedge against inflation, rising rates in the U.S. reduce the attractiveness of non-income bullion and raise the dollar.

 

"The main obstacle is our expectation that the Fed will continue to raise rates longer than the market predicts, which will lead to an appreciation of the US dollar and to the fact that gold/other asset classes will remain afloat or fall in price," said Michael Langford, director of corporate consulting firm AirGuide.

 

"In the short term, we believe that gold prices will fall below $1,700 per ounce."

 

Silver fell 0.1% to $20.63 an ounce, the biggest weekly gain since July, up more than 9% to date.

 

Platinum rose 0.5% to $926.60 an ounce and reached its best weekly rate since February 2021. Palladium rose 0.7% to $2276.01.