Market Expertise: M. Holland offers a host of resources to clients, prospects and suppliers across nine strategic markets.
M. Holland will be closed Friday, Dec. 23 and Monday, Dec. 26, in observance of Christmas.
Supply
Oil slid 2.4% Friday, erasing gains from earlier in the week on fears of a looming global recession.
In mid-morning trading today, WTI futures were up 0.5% at $74.69/bbl, Brent was up 0.4% at $79.36/bbl, and U.S. natural gas was down 9.4% at $5.98/MMBtu.
Active U.S. drilling rigs fell for a second week, slipping by four to a total of 776, according to Baker Hughes.
The average U.S. gasoline price fell to $3.24 a gallon last week, the lowest level in more than a year:
A 5.4 magnitude earthquake, the fourth strongest in Texas history, struck Friday afternoon in a western region of the state that’s home to oil and fracking activity. A similar earthquake struck a month ago, raising concerns about higher costs for producers as regulators look to crack down on fracking wastewater disposal practices tied to seismic activity.
Britain is encouraging consumers to cut energy use as part of a campaign aimed at scaling back demand for power and natural gas in the face of soaring energy bills.
California regulators approved a plan to reduce the state’s CO2 emissions 85% by 2045 to reach carbon neutrality that includes cutting petroleum usage to one-tenth of the current level.
LyondellBasell Industries boosted its target for reducing emissions from 30% to 42% by 2030.
A massive winter storm that spawned deadly tornadoes in the U.S. South and pummeled the Northern Plains with blizzard-like conditions earlier last week arrived in the Northeast over the weekend, bringing heavy snows and high winds.
Global airfreight tonnage the first two weeks of December fell 17% compared to a year ago, including a 22% drop in Asia traffic.
Foxconn is selling its stake in China’s semiconductor giant Tsinghua Unigroup for $772 million, a mark of further global isolation for Beijing’s chip industry.
Volkswagen is targeting margin parity between electric and combustion cars within three years.
Shares of U.S. electric-vehicle company Faraday Future tumbled 21% Friday after the company said production plans for its much-delayed luxury car hinged on securing $170 million in additional financing.
A massive copper mine in Panama is in limbo following a breakdown in tax talks between Vancouver-based operator First Quantum Minerals and the Panamanian government.
Aluminum-makers are set to boost low-carbon metal output by 10% next year and even more in the years ahead, driving down costs for firms seeking climate-friendly supplies.
Domestic Markets
The daily average for new COVID-19 cases fell to 65,067 last week from 65,569 the week before, while average fatalities decreased to 386 from 426. The U.S. has now logged over 100 million COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, new data shows.
Omicron-tailored booster shots cut the COVID-19 hospitalization risk by at least 50% in adults, according to new federal data. Protection rates were even higher for people over age 65.
Long-COVID results in an average of $9,500 in medical costs for workers and their employers in the first six months after diagnosis, according to a study.
Factory gauges in the New York and Philadelphia regions weakened this month.
A majority of U.S. voters believe the economy will be in worse shape in 2023 than it is now, according to a Wall Street Journal poll.
Several Federal Reserve officials have suggested the central bank could lift borrowing costs above a peak 5.1% terminal rate and potentially keep them there into 2024:
Fed officials now expect so-called core inflation — which excludes food and energy — to end this year around 4.8%, up from the 4.5% figure forecast in September.
Goldman Sachs plans to lay off as many as 4,000 employees, or roughly 8% of its workforce, by early next year as it struggles to contain a slump in profit and revenue.
China’s abrupt lifting of COVID-19 restrictions could result in over 1 million virus fatalities through 2023, according to projections from U.S. researchers. The nation, so far, has reported only two virus deaths in the past month, far less than other more vaccinated nations, raising suspicion that the true tally of virus fatalities is being underreported.
More investment banks have raised forecasts for euro zone interest rates, now expecting them to peak at around 3.25%. Britain’s peak rate is expected to hit 4.25%.
The downturn across most British businesses eased slightly in December but the economy is still likely to contract this quarter, according to S&P Global.
The Italian economy is expected to grow by 0.4% next year, a sharp slowdown compared with 3.8% in 2022, the central bank said.
Japanese manufacturing activity contracted in November at its steepest pace since October 2020:
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