Breaking News
Jan 4, 2023
  • Mortgage application in the final week of 2022 dropped 13% from the previous two weeks and fell to the lowest level since 1996 amid rising mortgage rate and elevated home prices.
    • Crude oil prices dropped 4% and fell near one-year low of $70.30 a gallon as demand growth worries grip market sentiment.
      • Lumber prices traded near the low last seen in June 2020 as home builder's sentiment remained weak and mortgage rates jumped to 6.58% from 3.3% a year ago.
        • Fed policymakers supported future rate hikes and said restrictive policy stance needs to be maintained until inflation is on a sustained downward path, minutes from December meeting showed.
          • The U.S. House failed to elect a new speaker after Kevin McCarthy lost the sixth vote in a row following a rebellion by far-right members of the Republican Party.
          • Dec 30, 2022
            • Four-decade high inflation, ongoing war in Ukraine and unresolved energy crisis sapped market sentiment in Europe in 2022 and indexes posted the worst losses in four years between 10% and 17%.
              • The Sensex index increased 4% and advanced for the seventh year in a row and posted its smallest gain since 2016 when the index gained 1.95%.
                • The Nikkei index posted its first annual loss in four years and closed down 11% in 2022.
                  • The Hang Seng index dropped 15% in 2022 and extended its annual loss for the third year in a row as covid flare-up halted social mobility and restricted economic activities.
                    • The FTSE 100 index eased 0.7% in 2022 and avoided the larger declines in other markets. Mining and energy companies accounting for 24% of index weight benefited from the rise in commodities prices.