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Oil prices fell 1% Friday after top importer China widened its COVID-19 curbs.
In mid-morning trading today, WTI futures were down 1.1% at $86.97/bbl, Brent was down 0.8% at $94.97/bbl, and U.S. natural gas jumped 10.2% to $6.26/MMBtu.
Natural gas prices are down 40% since late-August highs amid unusually warm autumn weather.
Brazilian electricity firm Electrobras offered buyouts to 22% of its workforce, or some 2,000 people, in a major cost-cutting move following its privatization.
China’s Cosco Shipping Holdings will buy port assets from its parent for $2.7 billion as it aims to build up a global digital supply chain.
In the latest news from the auto industry:
Automakers are making changes to their 2023 production plans due to the ongoing semiconductor shortage, with experts predicting the industry to lose between 2 million and 3 million units of planned production next year.
Volkswagen’s quarterly profit fell 29% due to fallout from the war in Ukraine and supply-chain issues.
Toyota says global production jumped 30% in third quarter but will remain constrained due to component shortages.
Porsche’s operating profit rose 40.6% in the first nine months of 2022 as it raised prices to deal with supply-chain issues.
Chinese electric-vehicle maker BYD saw quarterly profit rise 350% on surging sales in the world’s largest auto market.
Grappling with sanctions and supply shortages, Russia’s remaining carmakers are struggling, building cars that lack basic components, such as air bags and antilock braking systems.
Stellantis will file for bankruptcy for its loss-making joint venture producing Jeep vehicles in China.
Ford will begin offering severance packages to some of its underperforming white-collar workers as the automaker makes changes to its talent-management policies.
U.S. steel prices are down to the lowest level in two years, shrinking steel company profits but giving manufacturers hope for lower material costs.
Over 200 vessels are stuck at Ukrainian ports after Russia decided to suspend its participation in a grain export deal. Wheat futures surged on the news. Ukrainian food shipments are set to resume moving through a maritime corridor today, according to the United Nations, pushing back against Russia’s move.
A major union for Britain’s Royal Mail called off strikes planned for the next two weeks.
Domestic Markets
The U.S. averaged 37,985 new daily COVID-19 infections last week, up from 37,258 the prior week. The seven-day average for virus deaths rose to 378 from 367 a week ago.
A “variant soup” is driving new COVID-19 cases in New York City and elsewhere.
A recent study suggests that AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine is 30% more likely to cause a rare blood clot among recipients compared to the shot made by Pfizer.
U.S. equities received their biggest inflow in four months last week on hopes that the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of interest-rate hikes. Some bankers, including Goldman Sachs, see rates hitting 5% by March.
Technology shares have led this year’s stock market rout in a performance similar to the tech bubble of 2000-2002:
The level of distressed corporate debt in the U.S. has risen for five straight weeks as businesses that loaded up on cheap borrowings during the pandemic now must refinance at much higher rates.
U.S. consumer spending rose 0.6% in September, according to the Commerce Department:
Wage and benefit costs rose 5% in the third quarter as employers competed for workers in a tight labor market. Real wages were flat when factoring for inflation.
U.S. pending home sales fell 10.2% in September, the sharpest decline since early in the pandemic.
U.S. credit-card debt hit $916 billion in September, reaching pre-pandemic levels for the first time.
The Federal Reserve is a victim of its own rate hikes as interest outflows it pays on money market funds exceed income it receives from its bond portfolio.
Brazil’s liberal opposition candidate narrowly won the presidency after the nation suffered among the worst COVID-19 fatality levels under his conservative predecessor.
Fewer than 20% of Canadians have gotten updated COVID-19 boosters tailored to the Omicron variant.
The International Monetary Fund expects China’s GDP growth to slow to 3.2% this year, a downgrade of 1.2 points from its April projection, after the nation saw an 8.1% rise in 2021.
The Eurozone annual inflation rate rose to 10.7% in October. Inflation climbed to 11.6% in Germany, 7.1% in France, 7.3% in Spain and 12.8% in Italy.
Germany’s economy saw a surprise expansion of 0.3% in the third quarter.
Britain is widely expected to raise its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points when its central bank meets this Thursday, Nov. 3.
Japan’s factory output fell 1.6% from August to September, worse than expectations.
The Japanese yen fell more than 1% Friday after the Bank of Japan bucked the trend among other major central banks and stuck with ultra-low interest rates.
Japan’s cross-border e-commerce is booming as smaller companies join the market to take advantage of the yen’s sharp decline and technology advances.
One million employees in Belgium will receive an automatic pay raise of 11.59% in 2023 due to the country’s record inflation.
Asian online apparel seller Shein, just a decade old, is on track to generate $24 billion in revenue this year and close its sales gap with fast-fashion giants Zara and H&M.
Shopify’s third-quarter operating loss narrowed after posting a revenue jump of 22%.
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