Former ECB chief Mario Draghi tells Italy's president he has secured support to form new government

• Mario Draghi on Friday told Italy's president that he has enough support to form a new government.
• Italy is at a critical juncture amid health and economic consequences of the pandemic.
• The new government will be sworn in Saturday.

Former European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi on Friday told Italy's president that he has secured enough political support to form a new government

The formation of a broad-based government of national unity was widely expected after most political parties across the spectrum signaled their support for Draghi. Italy is at a critical juncture as it battles the health and economic consequences of the pandemic, which struck Italy first outside of Asia almost exactly one year ago.

Draghi's also submitted the names of his Cabinet members to President Sergio Mattarella, who has the job of naming them. The new government will be sworn in Saturday, followed by votes of confidence in both houses of Parliament, expected early next week.

Cuba loses phone, internet connections for about 90 minutes

• Cuba was left without telephone or internet connection for 90 minutes Friday in a nationwide failure.
• There was no general power outage, witnesses said.

Cuba's telephone and internet connections were knocked out on Friday in a nationwide failure, though there was no general power outage, witnesses said.

All internet service and international communications crashed at around noon (1700 GMT), according to witnesses in Havana and three other provinces. International communications were restored after 90 minutes and the internet 10 minutes later.

ETECSA, the state telecommunications monopoly, in a statement said a "technical interruption" had effected all modes of internet access.

The Communist-run nation only began to connect the population and most businesses a few years ago when in 2018 it began service through smartphones.

The government reported 4.2. million of 11.2 million residents were on the internet through their mobiles and just 170,000 homes were connected.

Oil Futures Recover After Early Weakness, Settle Sharply Higher

Crude oil prices moved higher on Friday, rebounding from early losses, as tensions in the Middle East raised the possibility of disruptions in crude supplies.

Prices dropped early on in the session, weighed down by a report from OPEC that lowered the demand forecast and the International Energy Agency’s remarks indicating that the re-balancing of the global oil markets remains “fragile.”

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended up $1.23 or about 2.1% at $59.47 a barrel, recovering well from an early low of $57.41 a barrel.

OPEC said in its February Oil Market Report that oil demand will likely rise by 5.8 million barrels per day this year, down by around 100,000 bpd from last month’s projection due to extended lockdowns and the re-introduction of partial lockdowns in a number of countries.

The International Energy Agency said in its latest monthly report that the market was still over-supplied, although Covid-19 vaccines are expected to help demand recover in the second half of this year.

A report from Baker Hughes said the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil increased by 7 to 306 this week. With this, the rig count has risen for 11 straight weeks. The total rig count was up by 5 at 397, the report said.

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Gold Futures Settle Lower

Gold futures settled lower on Friday, as the dollar stayed somewhat steady. Despite losses in the session, the most active gold futures contract posted a weekly gain.

The dollar index, which advanced to 90.74 by mid-morning, pared its gains and dropped to 90.38 a little past noon. It was last seen hovering at 90.45, up marginally from the previous close.

Gold futures for April ended down $3.60 or about 0.2% at $1,823.20 an ounce. Gold futures gained about 0.6% in the week.

Silver futures for March ended up $0.281 at $27.328 an ounce, while Copper futures for March settled at $3.7880 per pound, gaining $0.0165.

A report from the University of Michigan showed an unexpected decrease in U.S. consumer sentiment in the month of February. The report said the consumer sentiment index fell to 76.2 in February after edging down to 79.0 in January. Economists had expected to index to inch up to 80.8.

The decline by the headline index came as the index of consumer expectations slumped to 69.8 in February from 74.0 in the previous month.

The current economic conditions index showed a much more modest decrease, edging down to 86.2 in February from 86.7 in January.