Oil prices hammering shares across the board

The main talking point this week has been the continuing decline in Oil prices, after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) decided not to cut levels of production. With the next meeting not scheduled until June, forecasts have been changed to reflect market sentiment, with some suggesting levels of $50-60 per barrel in 2015. The Opec yesterday cut forecasts stating that requirements will be at 12 year lows due to US surging Shale supplies and a decline in expected global consumption.
 
This should lead to cheaper petrol prices for the public, with the price of unleaded petrol moving towards £1.10/per litre in 2015.
 
Yesterday the UK Trade Balance closed the gap to seven month lows, which was mainly down to the import of Oil decreasing into the UK. The gap between import and export numbers are now at £2bn in October, down from £2.8bn in September’s showing.
 
This morning we had German CPI come out as expected, moving GBPEUR down slightly. The ECB are also due to publish their monthly report today which will run through the economic and monetary developments of the Eurozone for November.
 
This afternoon we have US Retail Sales & US Jobless Claims, both expected to improve from last month’s levels.