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Speculators continued to sell Chicago-traded corn last week, establishing their most bearish end-of-May position on record with U.S. corn supplies set to soar to 33-year highs. In the week ended May 26, money managers increased their net short position in CBOT corn futures and options to 276,203 contracts from 245,386 in the prior week, according to data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Funds’ corn short has increased over the past several weeks because they have been adding gross short positions. The number of gross longs has hovered around ...

The U.S.-China relationship is at a critical turning point, analysts say, and hints of what the global landscape could look like have emerged in the few days since China’s annual parliamentary meeting wrapped up. The highly symbolic congress – which concluded last Thursday after nearly a week of meetings – sent a strong signal to its people that China has overcome the disease, and that business is quickly getting back to normal. Beijing also used the gathering to introduce a new security bill for the special administrative region of Hong ...

Oil prices rose on Tuesday on expectations that major producers would agree to extend output cuts that have shored up prices, during a video conference likely to be held this week. Benchmark Brent crude rose 2.3%, or 88 cents, to $39.20 a barrel as of 0840 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 2%, or 72 cents, to $36.16 a barrel. Brent has doubled in the past six weeks, thanks to supply cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, a grouping known ...

UAE’s ADNOC is keeping a beat ahead of the OPEC+ members by ensuring customers of its crude oil in Asia of sufficient supplies as demand for Middle East sour crude returns, market sources told S&P Global Platts. The announcement came unexpectedly early, said a crude trader based in Singapore, adding that “buyers have not even nominated volumes yet.” While OPEC+ members discuss whether to meet on June 4 or June 10, and whether to continue cutting at 9.7 million b/d or not, the Abu Dhabi oil producer has already informed ...

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is expected to raise its official selling price (OSP) for all grades it sells to Asia in July, to track a jump in Middle East benchmarks although overall weak refining margins could cap price gains, industry sources said. Saudi Arabia is expected to increase the July OSP for Arab Light crude by $3.80 a barrel on average, a survey of five refinery sources showed. Forecasts ranged from an increase of $2-$3 a barrel to as much as $5 a barrel, as refiners’ margins weakened in ...

Giant pillars holding up oil markets have suffered cracks since the COVID-19 pandemic sent shockwaves through the global economy. Demand has collapsed and prices have tumbled, but there are reasons to believe the worst of these tremors have passed. Crude has survived the seismic shock waves and can fuel the recovery. Dated Brent – the physical benchmark used to price two-thirds of the world’s oil – has more than doubled in value since hitting a 21-year low in April. The measure of high-quality North Sea crudes is now trading at ...

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke June 1 about the importance of implementing the OPEC+ oil supply cuts and stabilizing global oil prices, the Kremlin said in a statement. The statement did not appear to move oil prices. At 1713 GMT, ICE August Brent was up 21 cents at $38.05/b while NYMEX July WTI was 39 cents lower at $35.10/b. “The presidents addressed world oil market developments in the context of implementing the OPEC+ agreement,” the Kremlin said. “It was stated that this multilateral agreement, reached ...

Hedge funds continue to bet on a recovery in oil prices, but their bullishness is concentrated on crude, especially U.S. crude, while refined fuel markets are expected to take longer to tighten. Hedge funds and other money managers purchased the equivalent of 26 million barrels of futures and options in the six most important contracts in the week ending on May 26. Portfolio managers have been buyers in eight of the last nine weeks, purchasing a total of 318 million barrels, having previously sold 688 million barrels since the start ...

Working from home has become the norm, and if the trend continues even after the pandemic abates, it could pose a big risk for oil, analysts are warning. “The biggest threat to oil demand is the rise of remote working,” Bernstein said in a recent note to clients. “A decrease in commuting and business air travel is clearly negative for oil demand.” Gasoline represents a sizable portion of overall oil demand — within each barrel of refined crude about 45% is used for gasoline — and, according to RBC, about ...

World stocks climbed towards three-month highs on Tuesday as the global coronavirus recovery effort won out over U.S.-China tensions and the worst civil unrest in the United States in decades. U.S. President Donald Trump’s vow to use force to end violent protests in American cities and reports China had ordered U.S. soybean purchases to be halted had checked Asia overnight, but Europe got the bulls back on track. The pan-European STOXX 600 jumped over 1%. Germany’s DAX surged nearly 3% on news Lufthansa’s board had approved its government bailout and ...

The euro reached an 11-week high on Tuesday as the dollar lost ground, with investors maintaining their hopes for a global economic recovery. The optimism persisted within markets despite growing concern over U.S.-China tensions and mass protests across the United States over the death of a black man in police custody. Traders remain hopeful that central banks will continue to buy government bonds and other financial assets to protect their economies from the coronavirus pandemic. The European Central Bank, for instance, is expected to increase its 750 billion-euro Pandemic Emergency ...

China’s economy is expected to rebound in the second quarter following the country’s effective efforts to contain the novel coronavirus, a J.P. Morgan economist has said. “We do believe that China was very aggressive and successful in containing the crisis,” said Bruce Kasman, chief economist and head of global economic research at J.P. Morgan, adding the world’s second largest economy “should rebound this quarter.” China “has done a good job in putting itself in a position for being the first out in terms of generating recovery,” Kasman said earlier this ...

Chinese policymakers are looking to achieve economic growth this year through consumption and high-tech investment instead of rushing to finance wasteful infrastructure projects, an influential Chinese economist at a top state think-tank said. Cai Fang, vice president of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), told Reuters in an interview that the government had learnt its lessons from the massive stimulus it implemented in 2008 to counter the global financial crisis, which led to a surge in debt. “In the past, we let projects go forward even if they didn’t meet ...

Daily rates on main tanker routes as compiled by shipbroker Charles R. Weber.

India’s imports of coal collapsed to the weakest in at least five years in May, as the economic lockdown in the world’s second-biggest importer of the polluting fuel took its toll. Imports were estimated at 9.17 million tonnes in May, according to vessel-tracking and port data compiled by Refinitiv, the lowest result since Refinitiv started collating data in January 2015. While the numbers are still subject to revision, it’s clear that May’s imports will come nowhere close to the 14.64 million tonnes in April, or the 21.2 million tonnes in ...