Daily summary: Oil sinks amid recession fears 💥

• European stock indices ended today's trading mostly lower.  FTSE, CAC40 and WIG20 lost, while German DAX gained 0.67%.

• The American indices are trading today at a slight positive level. The technology NASDAQ is the best performer, adding nearly 1.5%. The Dow Jones erases gains from the start of the session and loses 0.12% after the release of weak industrial production data. The S&P500 is trading near the open.

• Oil prices fell dramatically amid concerns over shrinking demand for the 'black gold' in a recessionary economic environment; WTI crude prices retreated to the $107 per barrel area. Gas prices also continue to fall, with gas contracts already trading at $6.9 levels;

• Recently, the stocks of companies from the oil market, which have been resistant to falling indices, are under negative pressure today. Chevron, ExxonMobil and Occidental Petroleum are losing heavily;

• The technology sector is trying to rebound from the week's declines, but the bulls are clearly lacking strength. Tesla adds close to 3% to the gains, with Google, Apple and Meta Platforms also gaining slightly;

• Concerns around the economic situation are growing all the more amid a hawkish decision by the Fed, which raised rates by 75 bps on Wednesday. The Federal Reserve's forecast of a 'soft landing' for the economy is now in big question;

• Further weak data came from the US economy. Industrial production in the U.S. recorded a slowed growth of 0.2% against the forecast of 0.4%;

• The US dollar and the Swiss franc are the strongest currencies today. The Japanese yen and the Australian dollar are the biggest losers. 

• Precious metals look weaker today amid a strong dollar and rising yields. Despite a theoretically favorable inflationary environment for bullion, gold is losing almost 1%, silver is retreating below 1.5%; 

• Friday's session brings mixed sentiment in the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin is still trading above the psychological level of $20,000 despite the alarming news from the industry, Ethereum remains around $1,000 and still gives bulls hopes for a rebound. 

The week coming to an end brought further declines, stock indices are under pressure from literally every side. The FED tightening with a 75 bps rate hike, alarmingly weak economic data that puts a question mark on the performance of listed companies and geopolitical tensions. The recession from a speculative topic becomes the base scenario for the markets and ceases to be a taboo subject on Wall Street itself. Indices will have to collide with reality, and investors will assess how much of the dire situation is already in current asset valuations. The final sentiment from today's cash session could cast a picture for the start of next week's trading.

WTI crude oil (OIL.WTI, -7%) chart, D1 interval. The last trading day brought a huge sell-off in the oil market, which is sinking amid growing concerns about a global recession. Crude broke out below the 50-day exponential moving average (blue curve) and is now heading towards the support set by the uptrend started at the beginning of April (green, dashed line). Source: xStation 5