Oil prices fell for a second day on Monday on fears of lower fuel demand from an expected global recession sparked by rising worldwide interest rates and as a surging U.S. dollar limits the ability of non-dollar consumers to purchase crude. Brent crude futures for November settlement slipped $1.35, or 1.57%, to $84.80 a barrel at 0640 GMT. The contract fell to as low at $84.51, the lowest since Jan. 14. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for November delivery dropped $1.15, or 1.46%, to $77.59 a barrel. WTI ...

Energy- Macro pressure ICE Brent came under significant pressure on Friday, trading down to US$85.50/bbl – the lowest level since January and settling almost 4.8% lower on the day. The surge higher in the USD has not been helpful to the oil market, while a raft of central banks tightening monetary policy dims the demand outlook. Despite the weakness in the flat price, the prompt time spread has held up fairly well in the last couple of days and strengthened to a backwardation of US$1.13/bbl. If the flat price weakness ...

Russia has ramped up oil shipments to Asia since Europe imposed sweeping sanctions, but still needs to re-route over a quarter of its crude exports away from Europe – or about 1.3 million barrels per day – when a full oil embargo hits in December. Russia exports around 20 million tonnes of crude per month – roughly five million barrels per day (bpd) – via several routes, including the Druzhba pipeline to Europe and others to Asia. In August, Russia’s total exports via European ports and the Druzhba pipeline amounted ...

Sterling slumped to a record low on Monday, and a renewed selloff in British gilts pushed euro zone yields higher as the fall out from last week’s fiscal statement in Britain roiled markets for a second session. Share markets around the world also slid as concerns about high interest rates continued to put pressure on the financial system, though in a rare recent example of a news event having a smaller market impact than feared, reaction to Italy’s election result was muted. The pound plunged nearly 5% at one point ...

China’s yuan finished domestic trading session at a new 28-month low against the dollar on Monday, near its downside trading limit, despite the central bank taking steps to rein in the currency’s weakness. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said it would raise the foreign exchange risk reserves for financial institutions when purchasing FX through currency forwards to 20% from zero starting on Sept. 28. The announcement, along with another firmer-than-expected daily midpoint fixing, was meant to slow the pace of the yuan’s depreciation by making it more expensive to ...

Capital controls and currency intervention are among tools emerging Asian policymakers can use if rapid U.S. interest rate hikes and a surging dollar risk triggering a debt crisis, Asian Development Bank President Masatsugu Asakawa said on Friday. With investment flows already volatile, Asian policymakers may also need to accelerate debate on strengthening the region’s financial safety net, said Asakawa, who was formerly Japan’s top currency diplomat. While Asia is far from experiencing a crisis, many emerging nations are being forced to raise interest rates to stem capital outflows at the ...

The reach of Russia’s alternative to the SWIFT international messaging system has grown at record pace this year, the central bank said, as Moscow ramps up efforts to resolve financial shortcomings wrought by sanctions. Sweeping Western sanctions on many of Russia’s top banks in the wake of Russia sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine have sorely limited lenders’ access to the global financial system. SWIFT underpins financial transactions globally. Alla Bakina, director of the central bank’s national payment system department, said 50 new entities had joined Russia’s alternative ...

The third quarter clearly marks a turning point for the eurozone economy. After a strong rebound from contractions caused by the pandemic, the economy is now becoming more severely affected by high inflation both at the consumer and producer level. Led by Germany, which saw its composite PMI drop to 45.9 in September, the eurozone saw its composite PMI fall to 48.2. Both services and manufacturing output are well below 50 at 48.9 and 46.2, respectively, signalling broad-based contracting business activity. The manufacturing sector is bearing the brunt of the ...

Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said on Sunday he still believes the U.S. central bank can tame inflation without substantial job losses given the economy’s continued momentum. “If you look over history … there is a really good chance that if we have job losses it will be smaller” than in past slowdowns, Bostic said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program. “Inflation is high. It is too high. And we need to do all we can to make it come down,” Bostic said of the Fed’s plans to continue ...

Rates for shipping containers from east Asia and China to both US coasts continued to plummet this week as softening demand amid persistent inflation, fears of a recession and an extremely early peak season have opened up capacity, which is weighing on rates. Rates to the Pacific Coast fell by 17% and are now 80% lower than at the same time a year ago, while rates to the Atlantic Coast plunged by 14% and are 61% lower than last year, according to data from online freight shipping marketplace and platform ...

Clean Freight levels in the Middle East Gulf continued to tumble this week. TC1 shed 30 points to end up at WS240 however the round trip TCE has held over the $50,000 per day. Likewise for voyage west on an LR2, TC20 dropped from $5,400,000 to $4,650,000 following a widely reported fixture done mid-week at $4,600,000. The LR1s followed the behavior of their larger sisters, TC5 was tested down and has lost WS46.43 to end up at WS288.57. On a voyage to the UK-continent TC8 has also similarly shed some ...

Executive Summary The European Commission proposed to include maritime shipping in its Emissions Trading System (ETS) in July 2021. The two European ‘co-legislators’, the European Parliament and the EU Council, approved the proposal, putting forward their own positions in June 2022. To give the first clear picture of what each position means for climate ambition, we have undertaken a qualitative and quantitative analysis of each position. In terms of emissions coverage, the largest amount of emissions are at play with the geographical scope and the phase-in. In both cases, the ...

Representatives of the maritime sector have officially launched an initiative to catalyze the supply of green fuels to support the global energy transition. The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), along with the CEO-led Clean Energy Maritime Taskforce, unveiled the ‘Clean Energy Marine Hubs Initiative’ today at the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) in Pittsburgh. The Initiative will be a convening platform for public and private senior-level stakeholders from the ports, shipping, finance, and energy sectors across the energy-maritime value chain. ICS and IAPH ...

South Korea’s finance minister said the government would prepare more measures to stabilise the foreign exchange market, while downplaying the need for a currency swap arrangement with the United States. The measures include using the government’s foreign exchange equalisation fund to meet shipbuilding companies’ FX hedging demands for their overseas orders, thereby increasing dollar supply in the onshore spot market, Choo Kyung-ho said during a televised interview on Sunday. It is one of several measures authorities have reviewed to ease volatility in the FX market, Choo said, with the South ...

The International Maritime Organization is shining a spotlight on the role of emerging technologies to support a green transition of the maritime sector into a sustainable future. During the World Maritime Day 2022, on 29 September, celebrations will focus on the theme of ‘New technologies for greener shipping’, providing a platform to showcase inclusive maritime innovation, research and development, and the demonstration and deployment of new technologies. In his message on the World Maritime theme, IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim said, “Our theme ‘New technologies for greener shipping’ opens up a ...