Other news

As it was stated yesterday by TC Energy representatives, the damaged part of the Keystone pipeline, where a leak had occurred this December, was cautiously separated from the line.

U.S. natural gas futures remain around the minimum value of eight weeks. This is due to the fact that extreme cold contributed to the growth of demand for heating. However, the market was able to offset this with a softer long-term outlook.

On the agenda are US and UK GDP; consumer spending inflation, applications for unemployment benefits and auctions for the placement of US bills; Japanese investments; unemployment in Norway; retail sales in Sweden, as well as natural gas reserves in the United States.

There has been a sharp fall in consumer confidence in New Zealand, which causes fears of a deeper-than-expected recession.

The Federal Reserve (Fed) refrained from softening its forward guidance. But markets doubt that the central bank will strictly adhere to the previously announced plan. Therefore, the U.S. dollar is expected to decline. This is reported by Stephane Marion, Chief Economist and Strategist of the National Bank of Canada.

The yen slightly weakened on Wednesday but retained its advance against the dollar seen in yesterday's session. Traders are still confused by the Bank of Japan’s policy tweak.

Consumer sentiment in Germany will continue to recover in the new year. A recent survey by the GfK institute showed that the government's actions aimed at mitigating the consequences of soaring energy prices appear to have been effective.

Business confidence in the UK grew at the fastest rate in 20 months. Lloyds Bank Plc's said its UK sentiment index rose from 10% in November to 17% in December.

American lawmakers submitted a draft for 2023, making it possible to cancel most of the oil sales from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Earlier, the U.S. Congress mandated for releasing fuel from emergency stockpiles in order to sell it on the global market.

Canada and the U.S. reportedly have every chance of setting new natural gas production records in 2023. However, the task could be complicated by declining demand levels, pipeline bottlenecks and a lack of new liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.