Euro Remains on the Rise Against the US Dollar

The euro has continued its recent encouraging performance against the US dollar, and is currently buying $1.09.

 This is a slight fall from the peak of buying $1.098 yesterday afternoon GMT. While the euro is not quite at its monthly high of buying just under $1.1, its has climbed up against the greenback since last week.

 Plummeting oil prices is one of the main reasons why the dollar has been weakened. The price of Brent crude oil in the United States has now slipped to $28.86, its lowest price since 2003.

 The fear of oversupply in the oil markets have been increased as the sanctions on trading with Iran have been lifted. Some analysts believe this could result in half a million more barrels of oil a day on the market.

 Oil Prices Tumble in Euros 

According to France’s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), the price of oil in euros has fallen  by a significant 16.4% in December last year.

 The average price of a barrel of Brent Crude stood at EUR 34.6 at the time the data was published, a decline of 31.4% in comparison with December in 2014.

 The current price of a barrel is now at its lowest price level since March 2009 the INSEE revealed.

 In December the price of Brent Crude oil from the North Sea fell by 16.4%. Although the INSEE said that supply remained in excess, despite  political tensions in the Middle East. Also, oil stock levels were deemed to be plethoric in the United States.

 Prices of imported raw material also plunged in France, raw food materials fell by 2.3%.

 The main drivers down of the prices, was the doubts of the delayed sugar crop in Brazil, which led to the decrease in sugar costs by 0.8%.

 Due to weak global demand, the price of cereals fell back by 1.3%. Oil seeds and vegetable oils also fell by 6,3% and 2.6% respectively, with the high output in olive oil believed to be a major reason why the values fell.

 The price of industrial resources were also reduced, but only by a slender margin of 0.1%.

 Prices of iron ore fell by a considerable 15.5%, this was mainly as inventories in China was high. The value of precious metals also dropped by 2.5% , in particular gold which dropped by 2.8% and silver by  4.5%.

 UK Construction Industry Output Decreases

 Official figures for the construction industry for November last year, revealed that productivity had fallen by 0.5%, in comparison with October.

 The decline in new construction work projects was the main contributor to the fall in prices, as that decreased by 0.7%, with repair and maintenance work also sliding by 0.2%.

 There were increases in new work activity in the in public projects by  2.3%, private industrial 1.7%, and total housing 0.9%.

 However, these were offset by decreases in infrastructure and private commercial work of 4.3% and 1.5% respectively.

 Compared with November 2014, output in the construction industry decreased by 1.1%.

 All new work increased by a total of 1.3%, while there was a fall of 5.1% in repair and maintenance. The main upwards contribution to all new construction projects, came from infrastructure which increased by 11.7%.