15.10. Increasing oil prices, bitcoin at nearly $ 60,000

News for today, October 15th:

Asian stocks rose on Friday, echoing a successful day on Wall Street. US stocks also rallied overnight after published data showed a decrease in new claims for unemployment benefits and lower-than-expected factory gate inflation. Oil prices have come back to new multi-year highs, promising a growth of more than 2% in a week due to evident signs of sustained demand and reduced supply over the next few months, as skyrocketing gas and coal prices have pushed many to switch to oil products.

Bitcoin hit a six-month high on Friday as traders were confident that US regulators would approve the launch of an exchange-traded fund based on its futures contracts. The world's largest cryptocurrency rose nearly 4% to $ 59,664, the highest level since mid-April. Its value has doubled this year and is now close to the April record of $ 64,895.

In foreign exchange markets, the dollar rose again to a nearly three-year high against the yen on Friday, when it equalled 113.89 yen, the highest level since December 2018. The dollar index was slightly lower throughout the day at 94.00: the first weekly decline since the beginning of last month.

The price of Brent crude is $ 84,78 per barrel, WTI — $ 81,99. EUR/USD is at 1.1610, GBP/USD —1.3719, gold is at $ 1,790.35 per ounce.