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In mid-morning trading today, WTI futures were up 2.6% at $98.31/bbl, Brent was up 2.6% at $107.70/bbl, and U.S. natural gas was up 1.9% at $6.72/MMBtu.
The average U.S. gasoline price fell to $4.631 a gallon Thursday, still about $1.50 higher than a year ago.
The monthly average Henry Hub spot price for U.S. natural gas, the nation’s benchmark, nearly doubled the past year from $3.84/MMBtu to $7.70/MMBtu:
U.S. oil and gas dealmaking fell to $12 billion last quarter, about a third of the same time last year, as price volatility left buyers and sellers clashing over asset values.
U.K. electricity prices could spike higher again this winter due to plunging output from nuclear reactors under maintenance in France, normally an abundant source of British power.
Germany withdrew gas from storage this week for the first time in three months after Russia halted deliveries via the Nord Steam 1 pipeline due to maintenance. The shutdown cut gas shipments to Austria by 70% this week.
Shell’s chief executive warned Europe may need to start rationing energy if prices continue to escalate heading into winter.
Turkey received a near-$1 billion loan from Deutsche Bank to start financing LNG purchases from countries besides Russia, including the U.S., Algeria and Qatar.
According to the OECD, global GDP as well as plastic consumption will triple by 2060, with recycling only expected to account for 17% of plastic waste:
The chief of the Texas power grid affirmed the system’s ability to avoid blackouts this summer despite sweltering heat that’s already led to emergency calls for households and industry to reduce power use.
German port workers began a 48-hour strike yesterday, wreaking havoc on the nation’s North Sea cargo operations.
U.K. rail workers announced plans for a second strike immediately following an initial strike set for July 27, the latest in a growing tide of British industrial unrest.
Drayage provider ContainerPort Group is building out its trucking capacity to provide more services in Chicago, Charleston and Savannah amid rising import volumes on the East Coast.
South Korean container line HMM will invest $11.45 billion over the next five years to grow its eco-friendly container fleet, build more terminals at key ports and expand its bulk fleet by 90% to 55 ships.
Wartsila, a Finnish marine company, is rolling out its first methanol-powered engine next year with the hopes of broad adoption by the shipping industry.
U.S. solar energy prices jumped 8.1% in the second quarter as projects were stalled by soaring costs and a Commerce Department investigation into tariffs on products from Southeast Asia.
Amazon says it sold over 300 million items this week in a record-breaking Prime Day, equating to 100,000 products a minute. Although the firm did not release revenues, new data shows that online spending in the U.S. rose 8.5% from the same time last year to $11.9 billion during the two-day event.
Deloitte predicts U.S. back-to-school spending will rise 5.8% this year to a record $34.4 billion due to the surging cost of clothing and supplies.
Spice maker McCormick says the pandemic’s broad-scale supply chain disruptions are largely behind it.
In the latest news from the auto industry:
European car sales fell 17% in June to the lowest level since 1996 due to supply issues and rampant inflation. Volkswagen was the hardest-hit major carmaker, with registrations dropping 24% from a year ago.
The U.S. and Mexico have resolved a dispute at a Panasonic auto parts factory in Reynosa, Mexico, where workers will see a 9.5% gain in wages amid soaring Mexican inflation.
Hyundai launched its Ioniq 6 electric sedan Thursday, the first of 30 more planned electric vehicle models it plans to introduce by 2030.
Retail sales rose a higher-than-expected 1.0% in June, driven largely by higher prices.
A key reading of U.S. producer prices rose 11.3% year over year in June, the seventh straight month of double-digit gains and approaching the all-time high of 11.6% set in March.
New U.S. jobless claims jumped by 9,000 last week to a total of 244,000, the most since November.
Morgan Stanley’s Q2 profit fell almost 30% on sharp declines in its investment banking business, which has struggled amid a slump in global dealmaking.
The average U.S. mortgage rate resumed its rise this week, moving from 5.3% to 5.51%.
The number of U.S. homes for sale rose 2% in June, the first inventory increase in three years, according to Redfin.
United Airlines, the first U.S. carrier to offer wage increases to pilots during the pandemic, will head back to the negotiating table after its pilot union rejected a contract deal Thursday.
Conagra Brands reported a 6.4% sales drop in the latest quarter as consumers pushed back against rising food prices.
COVID-19 infections in China are at their highest level since May as more Chinese cities mass test residents and raise penalties on people who break virus protocols. Concerns are growing over the invasive nature of surveillance used in the name of preventing outbreaks, such as movement-tracking devices.
Fast-spreading subvariants of Omicron are driving a wave of new infections across the African continent, especially in North Africa, where cases rose by 17% last week, according to the World Health Organization.
A sore throat is now the top symptom of COVID-19, according to data from over 17,000 people who tested positive last week.
The European Commission cut its forecasts for economic growth in the euro zone this year and next and revised upward its estimates for inflation, citing the impact of the war in Ukraine. The euro’s slip below parity with the dollar widened following the news.
China’s GDP expanded just 0.4% year over year in the three months to June, the slowest pace of the pandemic and the second-weakest ever recorded. Economists are downgrading forecasts for the remainder of this year, making Beijing’s annual growth target of 5.5% unlikely.
Global investors and homebuyers are losing confidence in China’s property market, evidenced by a growing tide of frustrated homeowners threatening to stop paying their mortgages on unfinished homes.
A legal fight is brewing between airlines and London’s Heathrow Airport after the British travel hub capped the number of outgoing passengers it handles each day.
Global spending on enterprise IT is projected to grow 3% year over year to a total of $4.53 trillion, a significant slowdown from last year’s 10.2% increase, according to research firm Gartner.