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Supply
Oil prices fell 6% to a four-week low Friday on worries that higher interest rates could slow the global economy, cutting into energy demand. There will be no U.S. trading today due to the Juneteenth holiday.
Active U.S. drilling rigs rose by seven last week to 740, about 270 higher than the same time last year.
Freeport LNG declared force majeure on LNG exports from its fire-damaged Gulf Coast location until September, confirming earlier reports.
The average U.S. gasoline price fell to $4.99 a gallon Saturday, marking the first weekly decline in nine weeks after hitting an all-time high of $5.016. The U.S. administration is evaluating a pause on the federal gas tax to bring down prices, while a high-level meeting with U.S. refining executives is set for Thursday.
The U.S. government expects wholesale electricity prices this summer to be significantly higher than last year, including a near doubling in some Northeastern states.
Germany and Italy are preparing an emergency ramp-up of coal use to make up for lowered deliveries of Russian gas. Germany is also providing incentives for companies to curb gas consumption.
Russia expects its oil exports to rise in 2022 despite Western sanctions and Europe’s embargo, Moscow officials said. The rise will largely come from buyers in Asia, whose imports of Russian gas rose sharply year-to-date.
India’s purchases of Russian coal have spiked in recent weeks despite global sanctions on Moscow, as Russian sellers offer discounts of up to 30%.
The world’s leading industrial nations may discuss imposing price caps on imports of energy from Russia at a summit later this month.
With the OPEC+ pact ending this August, leader Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members will be tasked with weighing Russia’s continued membership in the weeks ahead.
Ecuador’s state-owned petrochemicals company declared force majeure due to protests by indigenous groups concerning the state of the economy.
Brazil’s Petrobras hiked diesel prices by 14% and gasoline prices by 5% Saturday as the country grapples with soaring inflation.
Yellowstone National Park will partially reopen this week after catastrophic flooding destroyed bridges and roads and drove out thousands of tourists.
Monsoon rains in northeastern Bangladesh and India stranded 6 million people Saturday in the region’s worst flooding since 2004.
Over 50,000 British rail workers will strike for three days this week in a dispute over pay and job cuts, the nation’s largest train strike in 30 years.
The average U.S. diesel price hit a record-high $5.798 a gallon Friday.
Major U.S. ports will move 2.31 million TEUs this month, roughly equal with May and up 7.5% from the same time last year, according to the Global Port Tracker. The Port of Los Angeles moved 967,900 TEUs in May, its third busiest month ever, with the port on pace to tie last year’s record annual cargo volume.
Freight-equipment provider Pallet Logistics acquired supply-chain services company Propak for an undisclosed sum.
Much like the oil industry, mining companies are prioritizing dividends and share buybacks over spending, keeping supplies tight for raw materials critical to the budding energy transition.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing is sticking to its 30% revenue growth forecast for this year despite mounting economic troubles in its biggest markets.
Quarterly profit at Spanish fashion giant Inditex surged 80% as consumers flocked back to stores.
West Coast farmers are warning of food shortages caused by delayed freight shipments of feedstock and other key supplies.
A governor of the Federal Reserve said the central bank may raise interest rates another 75 basis points at its July meeting, while other Fed officials say it could take two years for inflation to fall to the desired 2% target.
Small companies are losing against their large rivals in the battle for employees, with employment at companies with fewer than 50 people falling in three of the past four months.
U.S. home builders are contending with both falling demand and high material and labor costs, leading to more abrupt discounts in some of the pandemic’s hottest real estate markets.
The average payment on a new vehicle in the U.S. is up to a record $656 per month, according to Edmunds.com.
Apple employees at a retail store outside Baltimore voted to unionize, a first in the tech giant’s sprawling U.S. retail operations.
Lululemon Athletica and H&M Group are among backers of a $250 million fund supporting efforts to cut carbon emissions in the fashion industry’s supply chain.
COVID-19 infections are up in all four nations of the U.K., with the increase attributed to the fast-spreading BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron. The variants appear to resist the antibodies of past infections and vaccinations.
The number of Israeli COVID-19 patients in critical condition spiked 70% last week on spreading cases of the BA.5 subvariant of Omicron.
COVID-19 vaccination rates in 14 African countries remain below 10% despite recent gains among vulnerable populations.
Recent financial woes are having an outsized effect on emerging markets, with the World Bank cutting its growth forecast for developing countries from 4.6% to 3.4% this year.
China’s e-commerce giant JD.com posted its slowest sales growth ever for its annual shopping festival in the 18 days to Sunday at roughly a third of last year’s levels.
Airlines across the globe are seeing rising labor strikes and shortages, forcing the cancellation of thousands of flights and causing hours-long queues at major airports.