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U.S. wheat futures on Thursday inched further away from a seven-month low touched in the previous session, but gains were checked as North American supply struggled to attract strong international demand. FUNDAMENTALS * The most active wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 0.4 percent at $4.82-1/2 a bushel by 0157 GMT. They closed down 1.8 percent on Wednesday, when prices hit their lowest since July 12 at $4.75-3/4 a bushel. * The most active soybean futures were down 0.1 percent at $9.01-1/2 a bushel. They firmed ...

Slight-to-moderate price reductions were recorded, in February, for most flat product categories, in all the countries surveyed for the European Steel Review Supplement. This trend is very much in line with the major Western European economies. Demand varied, by country and product, in January and February, but was, overall, below average, for the time of year. This was exacerbated by uncertainty amongst buyers, arising from the Brexit negotiations and the European Commission’s deliberations concerning safeguard measures. The slowdown in European car production, precipitated, in particular, by the emissions measuring scandal, ...

Oil prices hovered around 2019 highs on Thursday, bolstered by OPEC-led supply cuts and U.S. sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, but were capped by slowing growth in the global economy. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $57.17 a barrel at 1320 GMT, 1 cent above their last settlement, and close to a 2019 high of $57.55 reached the previous day. Brent crude futures were down 4 cents at $67.04 after touching a 2019 peak on Wednesday at $67.38. Oil prices have been driven up this year ...

Asia’s spot base oils prices will likely find support from recent spikes in crude oil values, with Brent crude trading at above $66/bbl. – Strengthening crude and gas oil prices may boost base oils – Demand to pick up from H2 February post-Lunar New Year holiday – Group I SN500 supply relatively tighter than Group II 150/500N in the week ended 15 February, Group I average prices for SN150, SN500 and brightstock were unchanged at $665/tonne FOB (free on board) Asia; $607.5/tonne FOB Asia; and $792.5/tonne FOB Asia, respectively, according ...

This is the second installment in a three-part series exploring oil, plastics demand and sustainability. Plastics and chemicals will account for the largest share of global crude demand growth by 2030, and a third wave of petrochemicals expansion underway in the Middle East is looking to cash in on the trend, as investment into downstream petroleum industries will become a critical demand driver for oil markets in the future. Industrialized economies use up to 20 times more plastic and up to 10 times more fertilizer than developing nations on a ...

Commonwealth LNG has received commitments from European buyers to take almost half of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its planned 8.4-million-tonnes-per-year export terminal in Louisiana, Chief Executive Officer Paul Varello said on Wednesday. The Commonwealth project is one of more than 10 LNG export terminals under development or construction in the United States along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to take advantage of soaring demand for the supercooled fuel amid booming gas production. “We are exchanging documents with counterparties that will represent three to four million tonnes” ...

US oil production will keep expanding through at least 2020, led by further growth from the Permian and New Mexico and putting a cap on Brent crude prices, according to S&P Global Ratings. Output from the US will exceed 13 million b/d in 2020 compared with about 12 million b/d this year, Andrey Nikolaev, senior director, analytical manager in S&P Global Ratings, said Wednesday in a presentation given in Dubai. Already the world’s biggest oil producer after pulling ahead of Saudi Arabia last year, US shale output is widely expected ...

Barclays PLC (BARC.LN) reported its fourth-quarter and 2018 results on Thursday. Here’s what we watched: REVENUE: Net operating income matched analysts’ expectations of 19.67 billion pounds ($25.50 billion), rising from GBP18.74 billion. PROFIT: Barclays’ pretax profit of GBP3.49 billion missed analysts’ expectations of GBP3.66 billion. However, stripping out litigation-and-conduct charges, profit rose 20% to GBP5.7 billion. WHAT WE WATCHED: -INVESTMENT BANK: While the investment bank reported largely flat quarterly revenue across its divisions, analysts at Jefferies noted Barclays outperformed its U.S. peers in its fixed-income, currencies and commodities unit. That ...

China’s central bank said on Thursday that it will keep its yuan currency stable and maintain its prudent monetary policy to ensure financial stability in the world’s second-largest economy. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, will also fend off any systemic risks by using multiple monetary policy tools, it said in its fourth-quarter implementation report. The central bank also said it would encourage financial institutions to support small private enterprises as part of wider government efforts to avoid a sharp slowdown in economic growth. Source: Reuters (Reporting ...

Another jump in borrowing by governments will take the global mountain of sovereign debt to $50 trillion (£38 trillion) this year, ratings agency S&P Global forecast on Thursday. The firm predicted sovereigns will borrow an equivalent of $7.78 trillion this year, which would be up 3.2 percent on 2018. “Some 70 percent, or $5.5 trillion, of sovereigns’ gross borrowing will be to refinance maturing long-term debt, resulting in an estimated net borrowing requirement of about $2.3 trillion, or 2.6 percent of the GDP of rated sovereigns,” said S&P Global Ratings ...

Economic historian Barry Eichengreen has shown how countries that have experienced rapid economic growth during their escape from the clutches of mass poverty tend to falter in their subsequent move to mass prosperity. His research suggests that the most common point when inertia sets in, is when average incomes are either around $11,000 or $15,000 a year. This is the famous middle income trap. Fewer countries emerge from it than enter it. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that average incomes in China will be $10,098 this year. Eichengreen based ...

The trade war with the US and heightened scrutiny of Chinese dealmaking overseas could weigh heavily on China’s mergers and acquisitions in the year ahead, according to global accounting firm PwC. The prospect of the current trade negotiations between the world’s two largest economies ending in stalemate is potentially a “strong blow” that would crimp cross-border deals, said senior analysts at the company on Tuesday. Even if a satisfactory resolution were reached, the level of political scrutiny of larger deals and those in sensitive areas such as technology would still ...

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland said Tuesday that interest rates will likely rise slightly this year, assuming the economy grows at the healthy clip she anticipates. “If the economy performs along the lines that I’ve outlined as most likely, the fed-funds rate may need to move a bit higher than current levels,” said Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester in a speech at the University of Delaware, referring to the central bank’s benchmark policy rate. Ms. Mester, who isn’t a voting member of the rate-setting Federal Open ...

Few spot transactions today with market participants at odds on current price levels. Mills continue to reduce their inventories and some say

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