OPEC+ Decided to Keep Oil Production Quota Unchanged

Private companies in the U.S. added just 106,000 new workers for January, down from an upwardly revised 253,000 the month before and well below the 109,000 Dow Jones estimate. Most of the growth came in the hospitality industry, as bars, restaurants, hotels and the like added 95,000 positions. ADP chief economist Nela Richardson said weather factors were at play and hiring was strong outside of the reference week the firm uses to compile the report.

Stock futures fell on Wednesday as investors awaited the latest policy decision from the Federal Reserve. At the time of writing, futures to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 0.6%. S&P 500 futures fell nearly 0.4%. Meanwhile, Nasdaq Composite futures fell 0.2%.

Corporate earnings season continues. Peloton (PLTN) shares rose more than 4% in premarket after the fitness equipment company said its net loss narrowed YoY. Shares of semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) rose more than 3% after reporting a Q4 profit decline.

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce the rate hike rate at 2 pm Eastern Time to extend its efforts to curb high inflation, and market participants expect it to raise interest rates by 25 basis points. The Fed's statement will be customarily followed by comments from Chairman Jerome Powell.

Today's a big day not only in terms of new milestones for monetary policy changes, but also for commodities markets. OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) reaffirmed in a statement their commitment to the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC), adding that no changes will be made to the current oil production levels. Back in October 2022, OPEC and its partners led by Russia (OPEC+) decided to cut oil output by a whopping 2 million barrels per day.

In Asia earlier this morning, Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo, in a virtual presentation on the central bank’s transparency and accountability report, said Indonesia managed to positively survive the coronavirus pandemic over the past three years. He even claims domestic economic growth is estimated to be in the range of 4.5 to 5.3%. “It can be between 5.1 to 5.2 percent that is thanks to not just exports, but also growing private sector consumption,” the governor said yesterday. According to Perry, this is a considerably good outcome when compared to the global economy which in 2022 only grew by 3 percent. Some countries have even logged numbers below that. “Due to this, we must be grateful,” he said.