Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Wednesday, April 20:
1. Oil slumps on oversupply worries as Kuwaiti strike ends
Oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday on oversupply concerns as a three day strike by Kuwaiti workers ended and production was expected to rapidly return to normal levels.
Furthermore, data from industry group American Petroleum Institute showed that U.S. crude stockpiles rose more than expected last week.
Investors await the release of the government's weekly inventories at 14:30GMT, or 10:30AM ET.
Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil futures fell 1.81% to $41.70 at 9:52AM GMT, or 5:52AM ET, while Brent oil traded down 1.57% to $43.34.
2. Chinese stocks slump on central bank comments
Though the Dow Jones Shanghai hit an intraday low after falling 3.8%, Chinese stocks managed to recover some of the lost ground provoked by comments from a central bank economist on Wednesday.
Ma Jun, one of the People’s Bank of China’s top economists, warned that future monetary policy would “focus on guarding against macroeconomic risks, especially avoiding rapid growth in companies’ leverage, and will also consider the impact of increased loans on the cost of living and real estate prices.”
The increase in debt in the world’s second largest economy has been a major factor in putting the brakes on the slowdown in growth.
3. U.K. claims for unemployment rise for the first time in seven months
Although the U,K. jobless rate managed to hold at a 10-year low in February, claims for unemployment rose for the first time since August 2015.
“It’s too soon to be certain but, with unemployment up for the first time since mid-2015, and employment seeing its slowest rise since that period, it’s possible that recent improvements in the labour market may be easing off,” the British Office of National Statistics warned.
4. EU files antitrust suit against Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
European Union (EU) regulators accused Google of anti-competitive practices with its Android operating-system on Wednesday.
“Based on our investigation thus far, we believe that Google's behavior denies consumers a wider choice of mobile apps and services and stands in the way of innovation by other players," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
The Internet giant already fell 1.45% on Tuesday as the unconfirmed story circulated due to worries of the effect of the charges on the estimated $11 billion in revenue from Android phone related ad sales.
5. Draghi speaks prior to ECB monetary policy decision
Eyes this week are focused on the monetary policy decision to be announced by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday.
Though no new measures are expected to be announced, investors will look to the ECB chief Mario Draghi’s comments at the press conference in an attempt to further gauge the level of the euro zone’s monetary authority’s dovish stance.
On Wednesday, Draghi was scheduled to give opening remarks at the ECB Generation €uro competition in Frankfurt, Germany, though no comments on monetary policy were expected ahead of Thursday’s announcement.