Oil was moderately expensive on Friday. Brent gained 0.8% to $96.71, while U.S. benchmark crude added 0.4% to $98.60 a barrel.
Commenting on the dynamics of oil prices, Barclays Bank forecasts that the average price of Brent this year may hold at around $85 per barrel.
According to Deutsche Bank Research, cited by Euronews, inflation fears remain strong. It expects “a noticeable jump on the back of rising gasoline prices: the increase in the consumer price index in March could be +0.95%”.
In that case, “it would be the highest monthly reading since June 2022.” According to analysts’ calculations, this result would also raise the annual rate to 3.4%, “something we haven’t seen since the beginning of 2024.”
In Europe, leading stock indices were mostly rising at the opening of trading on Friday, with Frankfurt’s DAX and Paris’ CAC adding more than 0.5%, while London’s FTSE 100 was losing a few points slightly at first. The Euro Stoxx index was up 0.7% at the start of the session.
General optimism on Thursday supported the growth on Wall Street: by the close of the main indices added from 0.5% to 0.8%.
In Asia on Friday, stock markets also traded in the plus. China on Friday reported that its consumer price index rose 1% year-on-year in March, below analysts’ forecasts and down from February’s 1.3% increase.
