by Matt Smith
Oil Price
Seventy-six years after Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to win an Oscar, and the crude complex is looking inspired today. Given it is February 29th, the crude complex is accordingly leaping higher on the expectation that the chances of retesting recent lows is gone with the wind. We shall see.
It’s been a fairly quiet start to the week in terms of economic data, with a few bits and bobs out of Europe, with housing data and the Chicago PMI out here in the U.S.. The Chicago PMI has had a terrible showing, dropping precipitously into contractionary terrain again. German imports were weak, while retail sales beat consensus on a month-on-month basis (+0.7 percent vs. +0.2 percent expected). Preliminary inflation data for the Eurozone pointed to a drop back into deflationary territory YoY, while the core print disappointed, but was at a healthier +0.7 percent.