Oil prices rose 1.5% with Brent topping $120/bbl Friday and both WTI and Brent logging their first weekly gain in three weeks. In mid-day trading today, WTI futures were down 5.9% at $107.10/bbl, Brent was down 6.0% at $113.40/bbl and U.S. natural gas was down 1.3% at $5.50/MMBtu.
The U.S. aims to ship 50 billion cubic meters of LNG to Europe each year through at least 2030, officials said Friday, more than double last year’s record amount and equating to roughly a third of typical shipments from Russia. Analysts say the move will reorder the global supply system so that the U.S. ships more gas across the Atlantic while Australia and Qatar supply more to Asia.
The trading arm of Gazprom, one of Europe’s top gas and power traders, is facing liquidity problems as banks delay its transactions and peers refuse to deal with it.
China’s Sinopec plans to boost capital investment by almost 20% this year amid record-high profits and as officials call for raising production.
Australia’s Northern Territory has introduced new legislation that will allow for a high-voltage cable to export power from a giant solar and battery complex in the region to Singapore, aiming to meet 15% of the city-state’s demand with a target start date in 2026.
Suspension of commercial activity in locked-down Shanghai will have global ripple effects on manufacturing and goods trade, economists warn. The measure has already forced Tesla to shut down factory operations in the city for four days.
XPO Logistics sold its North American intermodal segment for about $710 million to STG Logistics, furthering XPO’s strategy to become a standalone provider of less-than-truckload services.
France issued over $440 million in state aid to truckers to mitigate rising fuel costs.
The American Trucking Associations’ for-hire truck tonnage index hit 115.3 in February, up 2.4% from the prior-year period, the sixth straight month of year-over-year increases, though it remains below its pre-pandemic level.
The average capesize spot rate across five key routes dropped over $2,400 last week to around $18,000 per day.
Venture investment into supply-chain tech startups based in North America and Europe jumped 104% to $41 billion last year, according to PitchBook Data.
A U.S. audit of container line operations has been expanded to include export trade, specifically massive cargoes of empty containers allegedly rushed to Asia at the expense of U.S. shipments.
More supply chain news related to the war in Europe:
At least 11 of the world’s top 25 cargo airlines have curtailed flights through Russian airspace.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection bulletin warns that hackers and ransomware groups are targeting American logistics and shipping companies, as the White House warns of possible cyber-attacks by Russia.
Prices for hot-rolled coil steel are up 40% in Europe and roughly 8% in North America and China over the past three weeks and will likely continue rising.
The threat of disrupted supply of aluminum from Russia has been driving prices for the metal higher as well as providing momentum for more scrap-based production in the U.S.
Commodity markets could grow even more volatile as trading houses are forced to reduce activity or tie up liquidity to meet margin calls on whipsawing prices.
The U.S. reported 8,321 new COVID-19 infections and 50 virus fatalities Sunday.
Florida has seen a decrease in COVID-19 fatalities over the past two weeks, reporting 1,167 new virus-related deaths, down from more than 2,000 recorded the two weeks prior.
Moderna raised its COVID-19 vaccine sales forecast for the year from $19 billion to around $21 billion.
Big U.S. banks including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are betting the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates more aggressively than planned this year, with the benchmark rate possibly reaching 3.75% in 2023.
Some 57% of Americans did not pay federal income taxes last year due to a combination of pandemic aid programs and stimulus, up from 44% in 2019.
Employers are waiting as much as 10 months for the IRS to process claims for a widely used pandemic wage subsidy, forcing businesses to dig deeper into reserves and slowing their recovery.
U.S. pending home sales dropped 4.1% in February, the fourth straight month of declines approaching the usually busy spring season. With inflation rising, new home builders are adding escalator clauses in contracts, while many prospective buyers are stepping back from the market due to high prices and rising interest rates.
American business investment grew 7.4% last year, the fastest pace in almost a decade, led by 14% more spending on software and computers.
Third-party deliverer Instacart cut its valuation by nearly 40% as it prepares for an initial public offering, highlighting the difficulties of competing in delivery services marked by rapid innovation and changing demand.
Cars made by American electric-vehicle startup Lucid have the best battery life on the market by a long shot, new data shows:
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has reinstated increased penalties for automakers whose cars do not meet fuel efficiency requirements, starting with vehicles manufactured in 2019.
China started locking down its largest city of Shanghai as citywide COVID-19 testing gets underway for roughly 25 million people, officials said. More than 6,000 cases were reported across the nation on Sunday.
Hong Kong is shortening a ban on airlines that are found to have carried COVID-19 positive passengers as the island’s latest virus wave shows signs of easing.
The Omicron “stealth” subvariant is spreading rapidly across the U.K., with around 4.2 million infections reported in the nation over the last week, including record case numbers reported in both Scotland and Wales.
Poland will end all pandemic restrictions starting today.
El Salvador joined Australia in making plans to provide a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose to some people.
Ghana’s economy is expected to grow 5.8% this year as the nation lifted the bulk of its pandemic restrictions earlier today, including the reopening of its land and sea borders.
The U.K. is ordering its public sector organizations to review their contracts with Russian companies to ensure they are not benefiting Russia’s government and helping fund the nation’s invasion of Ukraine.
Initial public offerings across the globe are down about 70% year over year due to unstable markets and soaring inflation.
Canada’s booming housing market is showing early signs of a slowdown amidst higher interest rates and inflation.
Our next Plastics Reflections Web Series is Wednesday, March 30 at 1:00 pm CT. This event focused on the current and future state of the North American plastics industry will feature panelists from Business Publishing International, Jabil (Inc), LyondellBasell and M. Holland. Click here to learn more and register.
M. Holland’s 3D Printing group offers a rapid response alternative for producing selected parts where resin availability is tight. For more information, email our 3D Printing team.
Market Expertise: M. Holland offers a host of resources to clients, prospects and suppliers across nine strategic markets.
For all COVID-19 updates and notices, please refer to the M. Holland website.
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