Global
U.S Short-Term Energy Outlook
The Energy Information Administration (EIA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Energy, released its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) for February, raising the expected prices of both WTI crude oil and Brent crude oil for this year and next, with this year’s expected oil prices both up by more than 10% from a month ago.
The expected price of WTI crude oil in 2022 is expected to be $79.35 per barrel, up 11.26% from the previous estimate of $71.32 per barrel, and the expected price of WTI oil in 2023 is expected to be $64.48 per barrel, up 1.54% from the previous estimate of $63.50 per barrel.
Brent crude oil price is projected to be $82.87/bbl in 2022, up 10.57% from the previous estimate of $74.95/bbl, and $68.48/bbl in 2023, up 1.45% from the previous estimate of $67.50/bbl.
United States on track back into JCPOA
A State Department official said Monday, Feb. 7, local time, that a deal that takes into account all sides is emerging, but if a deal is still not reached in the next few weeks, continued Iranian actions on nuclear activities will not likely bring the United States back into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Australia
CBA reports profit
Commonwealth Bank says it expects the Australian economy to have a strong year, as it reported interim cash profit of $4.7 billion, up 23 per cent on the previous first half, and lifted its interim dividend to $1.75 a share despite pressure on margins.
CBA announced additional plans to return excess capital to shareholders, saying it intended to buy back up to $2 billion of its fully paid ordinary shares on-market following a bigger off-market buyback last year.
ASX up
The S&P/ASX200 is up today, gaining 25.70 points or 0.36% to 7,212.40. The top performing stocks in this index are COMPUTERSHARE LIMITED. and COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA., up 7.93% and 4.46% respectively.
