M. Holland will be charging a fee to recover the reinstated Superfund Excise Tax for applicable U.S. orders starting July 1, 2022. Clients will be notified of details next week. Learn more about the tax in this Plastics News article.
M. Holland is sponsoring AMI’s Polymers in Cables on June 28-29 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This conference covers the latest technical developments, manufacturing solutions and trends in the wire and cable industry. M. Holland is also hosting the event’s networking reception on June 28 at 5:30 pm ET!
If you’re attending AMI’s Polymers in Cables in Philadelphia, mark your schedule for M. Holland’s technical session:
Oil prices fell 1.5% Thursday on indications that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep an aggressive stance on raising interest rates.
In mid-morning trading today, WTI futures were up 3.8% at $108.30/bbl, Brent was up 3.2% at $113.50/bbl, and U.S. natural gas was up 0.5% at $6.27/MMBtu.
The average U.S. gasoline price fell to $4.94 a gallon Thursday, about 10 cents off the recent peak.
Kentucky’s governor declared a state of emergency yesterday to activate price-gouging laws in an effort to bring down record gasoline prices.
A measure of business activity for energy firms operating in Texas, northern Louisiana and southern New Mexico jumped in the second quarter to the highest level in six years, according to the Dallas Fed.
The most closely watched oil data in the world — the U.S. government’s weekly Petroleum Status Report — won’t be released this week due to system issues stemming from a power problem, officials said.
Russia expects to earn more than $100 million per day from the gas it sells to Europe despite slashed deliveries the past week, an amount equal to last year’s revenue.
Ethanol prices are up 14% this year, boosted by the U.S. administration’s mandate to blend more of the biofuel into gasoline.
Some G7 nations will ask to ease biofuel mandates when they meet this Sunday, a bid to free up supplies of grain and vegetable oil for use in the global food market.
British gasoline and diesel prices hit a record high Thursday.
Construction will begin in 2024 on the $30 billion Sun Cable project that aims to export solar power from Australia’s Outback to Singapore.
A decrepit oil supertanker laden with 1.1 million barrels has been rusting in anchorage off Yemen’s coast for almost a decade, threatening severe environmental impacts.
Supply Chain
California’s Lake Oroville, which provides water to 27 million people in the state, is only half full, its peak depth of this year but still near historic lows.
Texas’ power grid may need to tap into reserves as power demand continues to topple daily records amid a lingering heat wave.
Italy is facing a water crisis as the worst drought in decades spreads rapidly through the country.
Workers at Chile’s state-owned mining firm Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, agreed to end a national strike Thursday, sending copper prices to a 16-month low:
FedEx’s per-package revenue jumped 11% in the latest quarter after the firm increased fuel surcharges, culled unattractive shipments and saw labor costs stabilize.
Abercrombie & Fitch’s first-quarter freight costs were $15 million higher than expected due to rising rates and supply chain disruptions.
Zipline, a U.S. drone delivery firm, received FAA certification yesterday to operate as a small air carrier, allowing it to ship healthcare products from its North Carolina headquarters.
Sweden’s Einride, which builds electric self-driving trucks with no space for a driver or passengers, will begin testing vehicles on Tennessee roads in the third quarter.
Intel delayed the groundbreaking ceremony of a massive chip-making facility in Ohio as Congress stalls over approving billions in funding for the industry.
Saddled with heavy debts from the pandemic and supply chain issues, a key Japanese supplier for automakers Nissan and Stellantis is heading for a court-led rehabilitation path after failing a process that allows companies under financial strain to continue operating while renegotiating debt.
S&P Global’s U.S. composite purchasing managers index, which measures activity in both the manufacturing and services sectors, fell to 51.2 in June from 53.6 the previous month, a five-month low.
Netflix laid off 300 employees, or about 4% of its workforce, this month after the streaming giant lost subscribers for the first time in more than a decade.
U.S. consumers lodged more than quadruple the number of complaints against U.S. airlines in April compared to pre-pandemic levels. The figures coincided with a jump in delays and cancellations as carriers struggled to handle increased demand.
Cadillac said its first electric vehicle, the Lyriq SUV, is sold out for 2023, and the automaker plans to sell its luxury model Celestiq, still on the drawing board, for $300,000 and up when it goes into production late next year.
Workers at a Chipotle Mexican Grill in Maine are the fast-food chain’s first to seek to unionize.
International Markets
The number of new COVID-19 cases rose in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe last week, while the number of deaths globally dropped by 16%, according to the WTO.
Cisco Systems and Nike announced plans to fully exit Russia as the pace of Western departures accelerates.
The U.S. said it will provide another $450 million in aid to Ukraine, the latest in a multibillion-dollar effort to help push back Russia’s invasion.
Gauges of factory activity released in Japan, Britain, the euro zone and the U.S. all softened in June in the face of slumping consumer and business confidence.
Mexican consumer prices rose 7.88% in the first two weeks of June, topping expectations, while the nation’s central bank increased its benchmark rate by a record 75 basis points to 7.75%.
An official index that tracks apartment and house sales in China posted its 11th year-over-year decline this month, a record low since the nation created a private property market in the 1990s.