The proportion of European firms that rank China as a top investment destination has hit a record low, a European business lobby group said on Friday, warning that it could take years to restore confidence in the world’s No.2 economy. The European Chamber of Commerce in China said in the latest edition of its Business Confidence Survey that the outlook for doing business in China was also at its lowest in the report’s 20-year history, with over a quarter of respondents pessimistic about their current growth potential and 44% downbeat ...

U.S. consumer sentiment sagged to a six-month low in May as households worried about the higher cost of living and unemployment, but economists cautioned against drawing conclusions on the implications for the economic outlook. The larger-than-expecteddrop in sentiment reported by the University of Michigan on Friday was across all age, income and education groups as well political party affiliation. “Consumer confidence is volatile on a month-to-month basis and has not been an important driver of consumer spending in recent years,” said Michael Pearce, deputy chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. ...

The European Central Bank beating the Federal Reserve to the first cut is remarkable in itself, as the mantra over recent decades has been for the Fed to make the first moves, paving the way for the ECB (and indeed, many other central banks). It has copper-fastened the dominant market narrative of US rates being a directional lead indicator for eurozone rates. And given the near certainty of this, real-time correlation has been high. That correlation remains high. The gap between US and euro rates is wide at both ends. ...

The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index marked its best week in more than two months on Friday, despite a daily decline attributed to weakness in capesize vessel segment. The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, dropped 37 points, or 1.7%, to 2,129. The index was up more than 13% this week, logging its best week since March 1. The capesize index dipped 113 points, or 3.3%, to 3,292 points. The segment posted weekly gain of over 23% this week. Average daily earnings ...

Copper output in Chile, the world’s largest producer of the metal, edged down in March, data from copper commission Cochilco showed on Friday, as production slid at state-run miner Codelco but rose at other major mines in the country. Output at Codelco, the top global supplier of the red metal, slid 10.1% to total107,300 metric tons in March, while at the BHP-controlled BHP.AX Escondida mine, which holds the world’s largest known deposit, output rose 9.7% to reach 101,400 tons. At the Collahuasi mine, which is jointly run by miners Glencore ...

The quarterly results from the major carriers are beginning to be reported, with ONE and Maersk having issued theirs at the time of writing and with OOCL having issued their quarterly operational update with revenues and volumes but without profit levels. Overall performance has clearly improved compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, and this is fully expected as a consequence of the Red Sea crisis. The crisis led to a significant increase in freight rates on key routes directly and indirectly linked to the Suez Canal routing and consequently ...

The New ConTex increased 17 points as 2700s and 4250s increased about USD 787pd and USD 800pd for 12 months respectively, although these do not truly reflect the extent

Brazil’s soybean exports should reach 99 million metric tons in 2023, up by 500,000 from a month ago, oilseed group Abiove said on Tuesday, as the country counts on solid demand from China and a record harvest this year. Abiove’s estimate for soybean output from the world’s largest producer and exporter of the oilseed was raised by 300,000 tons to a record 157.3 million tons. Forecasts point to a sharp increase compared to 2022, when Brazil exported 78.7 million tons and produced 129.9 million tons, according to the association that ...

European Union soybean imports in the 2023/24 season that started in July had reached 2.52 million metric tons by Sept. 8, up 7% from 2.36 million as of Sept. 11, 2022, data published by the European Commission showed on Tuesday. EU rapeseed imports in the same period totalled 612,465 tons, down 45% from 1.12 million imported by the same stage a year earlier. The weekly figures only ran up to Friday, instead of Sunday usually, due to a technical issue, the Commission said. Soymeal imports totalled 2.88 million tons against ...

This week, eyes are on the volumes of Russian crude and oil products moving via dark ship-to-ship transfer, Europe’s growing LNG infrastructure, China’s steel exports outlook and Pakistan’s wheat imports. 1. Russia oil in dark STS on the rise as Western sanctions bite What’s happening? Russia has turned to shadowy tanker operations to sidestep an EU embargo and the G7’s price caps on its oil exports. At least 47 million barrels of Russian crude and oil products were transferred by tankers that turned off their location transponders in April-June, versus ...

Energy – OPEC sees large deficit The oil market continued its move higher yesterday. ICE Brent rallied by almost 1.6% taking it above US$92/bbl and trading to its highest level since November last year. The catalyst for the move was a bullish monthly report from OPEC. The group’s numbers suggest that the oil market could see a deficit of more than 3MMbbls/d over the fourth quarter of this year. These numbers will cause some to question OPEC’s claims that their main objective is to keep the market balanced as their ...

OPEC on Tuesday stuck to its forecasts for robust growth in global oil demand in 2023 and 2024 citing signs that major economies are faring better than expected despite headwinds such as high interest rates and elevated inflation. World oil demand will rise by 2.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, compared with growth of 2.44 million bpd in 2023, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said in a monthly report. Both forecasts were unchanged from last month. A lifting of pandemic lockdowns in China has helped oil ...

Price caps on Russian oil imposed by the G7 and EU are damaging the world economy, with recently higher prices reflecting market reality, Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said in an interview published Sept. 11 by RIA Novosti. In the interview during an economic forum in the Russian Far East, Shulginov said current prices were sufficient to enable re-investment in new supply. However, he took aim at the price caps intended to limit how much Russia earns for its oil, and which penalize companies that provide shipping services for deals ...

Shares fell on Wednesday as markets braced for key U.S. inflation data, with a spike in oil prices fuelling anxiety that price pressures are proving more ingrained than hoped. European stocks fell as much as 0.5% in early trading, with rate-sensitive tech stocks losing 0.8%. The crucial U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, due at 1230 GMT, will shed light on the inflation outlook and provide some clarity over whether the Federal Reserve has finished raising rates. While core CPI is seen cooling to 4.3% year-on-year in August from 4.7%, ...

Malaysian palm oil futures fell for the sixth consecutive day on Monday after data from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) showed an increase in inventories and declining exports in the world’s second-biggest producer of the oil. The benchmark palm oil contract FCPOc3 for November delivery on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange lost 116 ringgit, or 3.03%, to 3,714 ringgit ($794.78) per metric ton on its closing. The contract declined 5.20% last week. Malaysia’s palm oil stocks at the end of August rose 22.5 from the previous month to 2.12 ...