Morgan Stanley warns, Powell & inflation under scrutiny

The current week is full of informational events around the oil market. Which continues to play into the hands of sellers. Yesterday, for example, Morgan Stanley analysts warned that if OPEC + participants at their next meeting on December 5 do not announce a higher reduction in production (current volumes of 1.2 million barrels), then Brent quotes will drop to $ 45 (now the price is around 62). That is, the scale of the fall will be about 25-30%.

The chances of a new agreement are small, since countries that are not members of OPEC + are increasing production, so it’s not worth counting on the fact that Cartel members will aloud another loses. Accordingly, the downward pressure on oil quotes in December may increase sharply. Recall that this week we revised our intraday asset position and again recommend oil sales.

And a few words about the oil market, but in the context of our recommendation to sell the ruble. According to Saudi Aramco, the cost of producing a barrel of oil in Russia exceeds $ 40, two times more compared with Saudi Arabia, and in general, is one of the highest rates in the world (even higher than in the UK and the USA). That is, Russia is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world for falling oil prices. That is why we recommend the sale of the Russian ruble.

Meanwhile, ZEW data for the Eurozone as a whole and Germany, in particular, show that economic expectations are still pessimistic, so yesterday's downward pressure on the euro is understandable.

The pound reacted quite positively to the statistics on the labour market in the UK, but yesterday there were no strong movements in pound pairs. We continue to wait for news from the Brexit, but for now, there is none - we work with the pound without obvious preferences on the intraday basis - you can buy or sell it, also use the oversold/overbought time zones as guidelines.

Today, the reason for the pound volatility jump may be inflation statistics. Given that at the last meeting of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee, two members spoke out in favour of lowering the rate, weak inflation data could well trigger a pound decline. We recommend using this for cheaper purchases.

Also, data on consumer inflation will be published in the United States. It will be interesting in the context of the fact that in the evening Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will speak to the Congress. The markets are now very concerned about what the Fed is going to do next. The current consensus is a pause in the Fed's actions. But any Powell's allusions to the possibility of an early rate cut will almost certainly provoke a dollar sale in the foreign exchange market.