High costs and the prospect of shrinking earnings have made big miners nervous about expansion, even as shareholders demand investment in response to robust commodity prices, China’s reopening and the role of minerals in decarbonising the economy. Although years of cost discipline have repaired balance sheets from past over-spending, full-year results announcements in February are expected to show a fall in miners’ earnings and in shareholder payouts from the record levels reported in 2022 after disruptions lowered output and costs rose for energy, explosives and equipment. Disruptions at copper mines ...

China’s copper buyers face higher costs for the metal this year, buyers and analysts said, after market disruptions from top importer Maike Group’s financial woes and production glitches at domestic smelters pushed local premiums to their highest in years. Copper traders around Shanghai and in industrial Guangdong province to the south say the premium that buyers pay above futures prices for domestic copper have surged since the second half of last year, potentially affecting the renewable energy and construction sectors that rely heavily on the metal. “Import supply disruptions caused ...

Rising demand from Europe has added to a US natural gas investment boom even as the industry struggles to overcome opposition to pipeline construction. Production of the fuel reached 3.1 trillion cubic feet for the month of October, according to the most recently available US data, an all-time high and up almost 50 percent from the level a decade ago. The industry has been in growth mode since the summer of 2021 when Russia began trimming shipments to Europe, according to Steven Miles, a fellow at Rice University’s Banker Institute ...

From stocks to government bonds, markets have had one of their best starts to the year in decades but whether the run lasts depends on a Goldilocks scenario of inflation easing, economic growth holding up and borrowing costs falling. After $14 trillion was wiped off world shares in 2022, $4 trillion has been added back this month. China’s relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions has powered Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index .HSI to double-digit gains, while Europe’s Stoxx 600 share index enjoyed its best start to the year on record. Widespread optimism ...

USD: Hawkish Fed can lift the dollar The dollar enters FOMC day after having shown some resilience over the past few sessions, which was likely the consequence of some defensive positioning ahead of key central bank meetings, which kept risk assets capped. Still, the last important piece of data before the Federal Reserve announcement – yesterday’s Employment Cost Index – offered more reasons to think the Fed is indeed close to the peak. Labour costs eased for a fourth consecutive quarter in 4Q, moving from 1.2% to 1.0%, the same ...

Despite the energy – and subsequent inflation – crisis, the eurozone economy once again defied recession in the fourth quarter, showing incredible resilience. But it was a narrow escape. Most economies are currently stagnating with near-zero growth. Germany and Italy, as big industrial economies, have seen slight contractions as they suffer more from the energy crisis while France and Spain have managed to eke out small growth rates. Ireland grew by a whopping 3.5% – the recent swings in Irish GDP are to a large degree driven by multinational accounting ...

Just as a corporate balance sheet can provide insights into a company’s financial health, a “global balance sheet” (GBS), tallying the assets and liabilities of governments, corporations, households, and financial institutions, can do the same for the world economy. That logic drove the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) to begin compiling, and regularly updating, a GBS covering 10 countries that together represent more than 60 percent of the world GDP. MGI’s first GBS, released in late 2021, showed that during the first 20 years of this century, global assets grew faster ...

UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank, forecast an uncertain year ahead due to the war in Ukraine and sagging client confidence on Tuesday, despite trumping expectations for 2022 with a $7.6 billion net profit. The world’s largest wealth manager kicked off a round of business results for Europe’s banks, after Wall Street embarked on job cutting in the face of fading economic growth. Shares in UBS slipped close to 4% after it cautioned that inflation and the war in Ukraine were clouding the future, dampening the mood among its wealthy clients. It ...

Surprise from the non-manufacturing PMI The headline manufacturing PMI was 50.1 in January, the same as the consensus, but much better than the 47.0 reading for December. January in 2023 is a month of long holidays, so manufacturing activity was not strong. The bigger surprise (and good news) came from the non-manufacturing PMI, which came in at 54.4 in January, a lot better than the consensus of 52.0, and sharply up from the 41.6 reading in December. This suggests that the consumption recovery during the Chinese New Year holidays will ...

As part of its strategic objective of global representation and to develop opportunities in Argentina, The Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Argenmar SA, an independent shipping group established in Argentina in 1992 that provides specialised shipping and logistics services in Argentina and Latin America. The MoU relates to future business opportunities within the Argentine maritime sector and the broader Latin America region. Argentina, which is a member of the Acuerdo Latinoamerico Vina del Mar MoU on port state control within Latin America, had ...

The European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs adopted last week its position on the implementation of the latest Basel prudential requirements into EU law (Basel III). ECSA welcomes the outcome of the Committee’s vote, which recognises the need to safeguard the competitiveness of the European shipping industry by introducing an effective framework for fostering ship financing in Europe. As advocated by ECSA, the Parliament has maintained the dedicated provision in the Commission’s proposal addressing ship financing under specialised lending. The Commission and the Parliament recognise the risk level ...

The latest Seafarers Happiness Index report, published today by The Mission to Seafarers, reveals average seafarer happiness levels in the last quarter of 2022 reached 7.69/10, up from 7.3 with levels rising across almost all categories, reflecting the sustained upward trend seen throughout the year. The results of the survey show that even the historically most problematic areas, such as shore leave and access to welfare ashore, are recovering. Crew members continued to express their relief at the return of freedom of movement, as well as their increased sense of ...

The maritime sector, which accounts for approximately 2.9% of global carbon emissions, is seeking to meet broader climate goals such as the Paris Agreement and ‘Fit for 55’ in Europe. Since it is the largest vessels, such as sea-going cargo vessels, which tend to contribute the most to maritime emissions, this presents a huge challenge. IDTechEx sees green fuels, such as green hydrogen and ammonia, as some of the most promising solutions, with the new IDTechEx report “Fuel Cell Boats & Ships 2023-2033: PEMFC, SOFC, Hydrogen, Ammonia, LNG” predicting that ...

Klaveness Combination Carriers (KCC) will expand its roll-out of the semi-autonomous hull cleaning solution, Shipshave ITCH, with five additional robots to reduce hull fouling on its fleet. After a successful pilot of Shipshave’s solution onboard four vessels over 2021-22, KCC has confirmed an order for purchasing a further five latest generation Shipshave ITCH models. The decision was made after analyzing the fuel performance of the four vessels operating a Shipshave ITCH, which showed improvements in fuel efficiency between 2-5%. A close collaboration with Klaveness Ship Management (KSM), the crew aboard ...

Deltamarin and Socatra have signed a contract for a conversion basic design package for installing two Norsepower rotor sails onboard the 50,000dwt Chemical/Product tanker Alcyone. The Medium Range chemical tanker built in 2022 will be retrofitted with two 35 x 5 m Norsepower rotor sails. Deltamarin will carry out a full class approval design package for the conversion, including naval architectural, structural, structural analysis, deck outfitting, machinery and electrical works. All the necessary modifications to the existing vessel will be carried out with the aim of class approval from the ...