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Supply
In a rare day of market calm, oil prices settled nearly unchanged Wednesday.
In mid-morning trading today, WTI futures were up 3.0% at $105.20/bbl, Brent was up 2.6% at $109.60/bbl, and U.S. natural gas was up 0.9% at $7.00/MMBtu.
U.S. crude stockpiles fell by 8 million barrels last week on the highest export volumes in over two years. Domestic production rose to 11.9 million bpd, the highest since May 2020.
The U.S. will likely surpass Australia and Qatar to become the world’s top LNG exporter this year, according to the Energy Information Administration:
Libyan output losses now total 550,000 bpd, as a wave of political protests continues to block the nation’s oilfields and ports.
Over $1.3 trillion must be invested in boosting global energy output to avoid a 2030 scenario where demand massively outstrips supply, JPMorgan Chase forecasts.
Italian lawmakers imposed a new set of cooling and heating limitations for public offices and buildings to use less electricity.
Emerging economies, including Sri Lanka, Egypt, Tunisia and Peru, face rising blackouts as inflationary pressures slash into government budgets for energy.
Exxon Mobil expects the carbon capture and storage market to reach $4 trillion by 2050, over half the $6.5 trillion market projected for oil and gas.
The U.S. government permitted 10 solar and two geothermal projects on public lands last year, with total capacity under construction up 35% from 2020.
Low-producing U.S. oil wells could be the source of the industry’s largest methane emissions, new research suggests.
One of Indonesia’s largest coal miners plans to use a fortune made on high commodity prices to invest in renewable projects, mostly solar farms.
Amazon aims to purchase 3.5 GW of new green energy, mostly from solar farms, part of a plan to source all its power from renewables by 2025.
Supply Chain
Cargo transport into Shanghai, one of the world’s busiest manufacturing hubs and ports, has ground to a near halt, with truckers particularly impacted by strict COVID-19 rules and their arbitrary enforcement.
Arizona declared a state of emergency as the Tunnel wildfire near Flagstaff spread to nearly 20,000 acres, forcing the evacuation of 2,000 people on Tuesday.
Chinese marine fuel exports fell 15% in March as shipping firms canceled calls at the nation’s ports and discouraged international vessels from refueling there.
Rail congestion is forcing more intermodal cargo to transport by truck, according to J.B. Hunt, which experienced a 7% rise in intermodal volume last quarter.
Passenger car registrations in Europe slumped 19% in March, an industry group said, marking the ninth consecutive monthly production decline amid supply disruption from Eastern Europe.
Bed Bath & Beyond said supply chain delays cost the retailer $175 million in lost sales in the first quarter.
Organic growth at Nestle reached 7.6% in the first quarter as shoppers shrugged off higher prices for consumer goods.
The U.S. administration is making over $6 billion of last year’s infrastructure dollars available to local projects aimed at carbon reduction.
European developers announced plans for a $1.08 billion complex to produce green hydrogen and ammonia in Sines, Portugal, home to the nation’s largest deep-water port.
Shopify is holding talks for a $2 billion purchase of California-based Deliverr, a firm that relies on predictive analytics to position items in its warehousing network for fast delivery.
The U.S. reported 68,781 new COVID-19 infections and 877 virus fatalities Wednesday. The seven-day moving average hit 34,972, up 23.4% from a week earlier.
The BA.2.12.1 subvariant of Omicron, an offspring of the recent BA.2 strain, is rapidly gaining ground in the U.S. and now accounts for 1 in every 5 cases, according to the CDC.
The U.S. Justice Department said it is following a CDC request and appealing a Florida judge’s ruling that threw out the federal government’s mask mandate for airlines and other public transit.
The Fed’s Beige Book of anecdotal economic activity suggested inflation and worker shortages remain top priorities for U.S. firms, while bringing workers back to the office is also a common point of debate.
First-time unemployment claims fell by 2,000 last week to 184,000. The number of Americans collecting unemployment fell to the lowest level in over half a century.
U.S. employers posted 1.1 million tech jobs in the first quarter, up 43% from a year earlier as the pressure to attract talent spurs massive wage increases.
The median U.S. home price hit a record $375,300 in March, up 15% from the same time last year. Rental prices, meanwhile, are surging by double-digit percentages in Portland, Austin and New York City.
An index of U.S. homebuilder confidence is down 2 points so far in April, on track for the fourth straight month of decline.
The average growth rate of U.S. auto loans hit 13% in the first quarter, roughly the same as the fourth quarter’s blistering pace and more than double the pace of overall loan growth across U.S. banks.
Carvana posted its first ever decline in quarterly sales yesterday while inflationary headwinds prompted the online seller to scrap its financial guidance for the year.
Bookings for domestic flights in peak summer travel months surpassed pre-pandemic levels by 1%, new data shows.