MH Daily Bulletin: June 10

At M. Holland

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.

Supply

Oil prices fell half a percent Thursday after new lockdowns were announced in Shanghai, threatening demand. 
In mid-morning trading today, WTI futures were down 0.1% at $121.40/bbl and Brent was off 0.5% at $122.50/bbl. 
U.S. natural gas prices rose about 3% Thursday on news of unusually low inventories compared to the five-year average. In mid-morning trading, futures were down 2.1% at $8.77/MMBtu. 
British natural gas prices spiked as much as 39% Thursday on news that Freeport’s fire-damaged export facility in Texas — which provides a fifth of all U.S. LNG exports — will shut down for three weeks. Benchmark EU prices also jumped. 
The U.S. government expects natural gas prices to average $8.71/MMBtu this summer and remain high throughout the year:

The average U.S. gasoline price touched $4.986 a gallon Friday morning, with stockpiles down to an eight-year low. 
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service raised its mileage rate for calculating business tax deductions, a rare midyear change in response to surging gasoline prices. 
China’s crude oil imports rose nearly 12% in May from a year ago, while exports of refined oil products were down 40%. 
The U.S. Department of Energy closed on a $504.4 million loan guarantee for the world’s largest hydrogen storage facility to be built in Utah. 
More oil news related to the war in Europe:
• British officials met with representatives of Shell this week to discuss boosting North Sea production. 
• The EU plans to import more gas from Egypt and Israel to reduce dependence on Russian supply.  
• Russia says it has no plans to cut gas supplies to any more countries in Europe. 
• The White House is urging lawmakers to back a $4.3 billion plan to purchase enriched uranium from domestic producers instead of Russian suppliers. 

Supply Chain

Temperatures could reach 116 degrees in Phoenix this weekend as a dangerous heat wave envelops the U.S. Southwest. Power demand in Texas will hit all-time highs every day from now to Monday. 
An oil spill closed shipping on a major route between Lake Superior and Lake Huron Thursday. 
The U.S. marine economy shrank 5.8% in the first year of the pandemic, outpacing overall GDP losses, new government data shows. 
Automation is shaping up to be a key issue in high-stakes contract negotiations between unionized dockworkers and West Coast shipping lines and cargo handlers. 
U.S. ports and their tenants plan to invest almost $33 billion annually by 2025, according to the American Association of Port Authorities. 
Cars are piling up at Georgia’s Port of Brunswick, the second largest carport in the U.S., due to a shortage of truckers to transport them. 
North European container ports say they are running at capacity with the peak shipping season still to come. 
Out-of-stock rates for U.S. baby formula rose to 74% nationally for the week ended May 28.
Lumber prices fell to a nine-month low this week as U.S. mortgage demand plummeted. 
China’s May exports jumped a larger-than-expected 16.9% from a year earlier as easing COVID curbs allowed some factories to restart. 
Airbus saw its deliveries fall 6% in May from a year ago amid continued supply shortages. 
Boeing’s Air Force One redesign will likely see further delays due to a shortage of mechanics. 
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. warned it may not be able to increase production as quickly as hoped over the next two years due to manufacturing equipment shortages. 
White House efforts to pass a $52 billion bill to boost domestic semiconductor production is at risk of stalling. 
Orders for workplace robots in the U.S. increased a record 40% in Q1 compared to the same period in 2021, according to the Association for Advancing Automation. 
Tesla’s Chinese production tripled in May even though its Shanghai factory only recently emerged from COVID lockdowns. 
A surge in battery metal prices means it could take years for electric vehicles to become as affordable as conventional cars. 
Panasonic plans to quadruple its production of electric vehicle batteries by 2028. 
Volkswagen is scouting the U.S. for an in-house battery cell manufacturing plant.
LG Energy Solution broke ground on nickel processing plants in Indonesia as part of its $9.8 billion plan to build electric-vehicle batteries in the country. 
Truckload carrier Heartland Express acquired Pennsylvania-based Smith Transport for $170 million. 
U.S. regulators levied a $2 million fine on Hapag-Lloyd for improperly charging a detention fee in mid-2021. 
Brazilian mining giant Vale plans to buy 14 new dual-fuel very large crude carriers capable of running on methanol at a cost of $1.5 billion. 
Chaotic commodity markets pushed net profit at Swiss trading giant Trafigura 29% higher in the first half of 2022 compared to a year ago. 

Domestic Markets

The U.S. reported 115,620 new COVID-19 infections and 285 virus fatalities Thursday. 
COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County are up 118% over the past month.
Arizona saw its sixth straight week of rising COVID-19 infections.
Tourist destinations Miami-Dade County in Florida, Honolulu County in Hawaii, and San Juan in Puerto Rico are experiencing the fastest infection rates in the nation and test positive rates exceeding 20%. 
Half the officers at a southwest Louisiana town’s police department, including the chief, are out sick with COVID-19, as cases pick up across the state. 
New COVID-19 cases in New York City fell 26% in the two weeks to June 5, with officials declaring the latest wave ended. 
Maine’s COVID-19 infection rate dropped by nearly 75% over the past week. 
Beginning Sunday, the CDC will end its COVID-19 testing requirement for air travelers entering the U.S.
About 18 of the nation’s largest 500 school districts are keeping masking requirements for summer school. 
The White House will repurpose $10 billion in funding for COVID-19 tests and equipment to provide more antivirals and vaccines, as Congress stalls on approving more dollars. 
The U.S. administration has made 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses available to states and health providers ahead of expected approval of the shots for children under age 5 next week. 
Consumer prices rose 8.6% in May from a year ago, the highest inflation rate in four decades.  
U.S. inflation for goods sold online rose 2% in May, down from 2.9% the previous month as consumers pull back on discretionary spending. 
Consumers could benefit this summer as stores offer discounts in the hopes of clearing out unwanted merchandise. 
Active U.S. home listings rose by 13% last week while weekly price growth fell for the first time in almost two months, according to realtor.com. 
Inbound interest in Austin homes dropped to one-fifth of its 2021 level in April and May, as higher interest rates and a fear of overpaying cool down the pandemic’s hottest housing market. 
The U.S. administration proposed new standards for its program to build a national network of 500,000 electric-vehicle charging stations by 2030, which will require a station to appear every 50 miles on federal highways and no more than a mile off the road. 
Tesla electric vehicle (EV) registrations soared 52% in January-April from the same time a year ago, while Ford saw the most EV registrations in the mainstream segment. 
U.S. auto-safety regulators are probing further into crashes related to Tesla’s self-driving software, moving closer to a potential safety recall. 
U.S. renewable energy credits may allow firms to bypass meaningful emissions reductions in favor of misleading gains on paper. 

International Markets

Shanghai will lock down several city districts this weekend to mass test millions of people as COVID-19 cases continue to emerge, risking more disruption after a grueling two-month shutdown. 
India added 7,240 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, the most since March. 
Japan eased its strict border restrictions for foreign tourists starting today. 
AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 antibody treatment cut the chance of severe disease by 88%, according to company trials. 
South African researchers say COVID-19 patients are more likely to be hospitalized or develop diabetes or hypertension in the months after their illness.  
The European Central Bank laid out plans to increase interest rates by 25 basis points in July, the first hike in more than a decade. 

More news related to the war in Europe:
• Almost 1,000 global companies racked up more than $59 billion in losses from their Russian operations since late February. 
• GDP growth forecasts have been widely revised downward since December 2021 due to the war in Ukraine: 

China’s inflationary pressure increased an annualized 2.1% in May as lockdowns hammered domestic demand. 
The Czech Republic’s headline inflation jumped 16% in May, a 30-year high. 

Peru’s central bank hiked its interest rate for the 11th straight month to 5.5% in June. 
Global airline capacity surpassed 100 million seats for the first time since early 2020. 
Over 1,000 pilots in Denmark, Norway and Sweden are threatening to strike later this month, while recent walk-offs at France’s Charles de Gaulle nixed a quarter of the airport’s flights. 
Over 6% of departures were canceled at Canada’s busiest airport in Toronto last week, as labor shortages wreak havoc on airport operations. 
GM will start production of its Chevrolet Tracker SUV in Argentina next month, with 80% of output headed to Brazil and Colombia. 
India plans to ban straws packaged with small packs of juices and dairy products on July 1. 
Australian researchers claim to have found a species of worm that can live and grow on a strict diet of styrofoam, a potential recycling method.