Oil steadied on Thursday as tighter supply resulting from Saudi Arabia’s pledged production cut and a potential pause to U.S. interest rate hikes offset worries over demand weakness and a global economic slowdown. At an OPEC+ meeting on Sunday, Saudi Arabia said it will cut its crude output by 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in July on top of a broader deal to limit supply into 2024 as the producer group seeks to boost flagging prices. Brent crude fell 8 cents, or 0.1%, to $76.87 a barrel by 0810 ...

Benchmark oil prices were largely unchanged after Sunday’s OPEC⁺ meeting at which Saudi Arabia said it would make a voluntary unilateral cut of 1 million barrels per day for the month of July. In the physical oil market, where any short-term production cut should have the greatest and most immediate impact, the calendar spreads between nearby months strengthened only slightly. For dated Brent, the spread from July to August was quoted in a backwardation of 17 cents per barrel on June 5 up from 10 cents on May 31. The ...

U.S. natural gas production and demand will rise to record highs in 2023, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO) on Tuesday. The EIA projected dry gas production will rise to 102.74 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2023 and 103.04 bcfd in 2024 from a record 98.13 bcfd in 2022. The agency also projected domestic gas consumption would rise from a record 88.53 bcfd in 2022 to 88.64 bcfd in 2023 before sliding to 86.59 bcfd in 2024. If correct, 2024 ...

Borrowing costs in government bond markets rose and share markets stalled on Thursday after a surprise interest rate hike in Canada gave investors their second reminder of the week that the surge in global interest rates isn’t done yet. Asian markets had struggled overnight and the cautious mood continued in Europe as London’s FTSE, Germany’s DAX and the France’s CAC40 gradually crawled higher after starting off in the red. Traders were being driven by a broad repricing going on in the bond markets of when and where interest rates in ...

rently think there’s a 70% chance the Fed holds rates next week, and a 30% chance of a 25 basis point (bp) increase. They think the Fed could then raise rates by 25 bps in July, after policymakers hinted at a so-called skip. That would boost the Fed funds rate to a range of 5.25% to 5%. The European Central Bank sets rates on Thursday and traders broadly expect a 25 bp hike, to be followed by another 25 bp increase in July, taking rates to 3.75%. In Asia, the ...

The U.S. Federal Reserve will not raise rates for the first time in well over a year at its June meeting, according to economists polled by Reuters, but a significant minority expects at least one more hike this year as the economy remains resilient. Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled in May the central bank might soon pause to assess the impact of an historically-aggressive 500 basis points worth of tightening, having delivered a rate rise at every meeting since March last year. Over 90% of economists, 78 of 86, polled ...

As China struggles to emerge from the economic catastrophe caused by the coronavirus pandemic, its continued efforts seem to have stalled on a number of fronts, as debts mount and consumers show renewed caution about spending. And as the recovery falters, a moment of truth looms, with potentially enormous consequences for the United States. Because the economies of the U.S. and China are so deeply connected, policymakers in Washington and finance titans in New York are closely following Beijing’s response to what could be a temporary setback — or a ...

Macro developments since the May meeting have clearly had more to offer the doves than the hawks at the ECB. Headline inflation has continued to come down but remains far off 2%, survey-based inflation expectations have also started to slow, growth has disappointed and confidence indicators seem to have peaked. In previous times, such a backdrop would have been enough for the ECB to consider pausing rate hikes and wait for the effects of the rate hikes so far to fully unfold. However, the ECB is fully determined right now ...

Even if some yearn for pre-pandemic familiarity after three years of global economic disruption, the euro zone may not want or need to go back there. One of the biggest questions in world markets is just how durable the changes wrought by COVID-19 – and the compounding energy shock that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – will be on economic behaviour, growth and inflation around the world. There are usually two camps – one assuming an eventual return to a slow-growth square one; another sketching a volatile world of higher ...

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development told Vietnam last week that handouts to big firms to offset higher levies under a global overhaul of tax rules would be problematic, a person familiar with the discussions said. Reuters exclusively reported last week that Vietnam was planning subsidies worth hundreds of millions of dollars to partly compensate multinationals with big investments in the country, including Samsung Electronics (OTC:SSNLF) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), for the higher taxes they will face from next year. Under the new rules shepherded by the OECD, companies paying ...

The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index rose on Wednesday to scale its highest in more than three months, on higher rates for capesize and panamax vessel segments. The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels carrying dry bulk commodities, gained 4 points to 1,020 – hitting its highest level since March 1. The capesize index was up 4 points, to its highest in three months at 1,387. Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes for commodities such as iron ore ...

Yesterday, young people under the age of 30 make up half of the world’s population. Their future depends largely on a successful transition to more sustainable, zero-emission solutions. It is therefore important that their interests, views, and perspectives are heard. That is why the Global Maritime Forum is giving aspiring leaders between the ages of 18 to 30 the opportunity to make their case for an inclusive transition to a zero-emission maritime industry. In the fifth edition of the Future Maritime Leaders essay competition, students and young professionals from within ...

China’s imports of iron ore rose 3.95% in May from a year earlier, customs data showed on Wednesday, as the relatively high hot metal output sustained demand for the steelmaking ingredient. The world’s largest iron ore consumer brought in 96.18 million tonnes of the steelmaking ingredient last month, up from 92.52 million tonnes in May 2022, the General Administration of Customs said. The May volume was also higher than 90.44 million tonnes imported in April, the data showed. China’s daily hot metal output – a blast furnace product whose output ...

Rates have remained subdued for the past week, with deals fixed at or close to last done. Lots of rumors of Unipec “taking 10 ships”

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has long been committed to reducing the industry’s carbon footprint, aiming for a minimum 50% reduction in GHG emissions by 2050 through stricter regulations and improved energy efficiency. However, recent discussions at the Green4Sea Forum in Athens have highlighted IMO’s challenges in developing credible plans and policies. Suppose the IMO fails to provide effective solutions. In that case, there is a risk that regional and national authorities will take unilateral actions to regulate emissions, potentially fragmenting the global shipping industry’s operations. In the quest to ...