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Australia shares are heading for correction as US tariff tensions rise
Australian shares continued to fall on Wednesday, briefly entering correction territory. Investor appetite was dampened by local media reports that the White House confirmed Australia would not be exempted from U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum. S&P/ASX 200 Index fell by 1.2% at 0001 GMT to 7,793.6. The benchmark index fell up to 1.6% in the morning session. It is now down around 10% from its February 14 high. This is known as a "market correction". Local media reported on the fact that Australia would not be exempted from U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum that President Donald Trump will impose against other countries. They cited White House spokesperson KarolineLeavitt. The reports stated that Trump had agreed to exempt Australia from tariffs in February, but decided not to do so. This was due in part because of the U.S. surplus trade with Australia. The U.S. stock market continued its biggest overnight sell-off in many months after Trump announced he would increase tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum products by 50%. These tariffs will take effect in a few hours. Real estate stocks in Sydney fell by as much as 1.5 percent to their lowest level since the second of July 2024. The heavyweight financials fell for the seventh consecutive session, dropping as much as 1,7% and reaching their lowest level since Oct 7, 2024. The 'Big Four" lenders fell between 1.1% to 1.9%. The index fell 0.7%, while the miners' price dropped by 0.7%. BHP Group, the world's largest listed mining company, fell 1.1%. Rio Tinto, Fortescue and Fortescue, on the other hand, both fell by 2.2% and 1.6%. Gold stocks rose 0.8%, bucking the trend. The gold price increased on demand for safe havens amid concerns about an economic slowdown due to tariff wars and a weaker US dollar. The benchmark S&P/NZX50 index for New Zealand fell by 0.9%, to 12,305.19.
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Australia is 'disappointed’ after Trump ruled out exemptions from steel tariffs
Australia said on Wednesday that it was "really disappointed" U.S. president Donald Trump didn't give it exemptions from steel and aluminum tariffs. But it vowed to keep lobbying for a reprieve. Trump stated in February that he would give "great consideration" to exempting Australia, based on the U.S. trade surplus with Australia. This was after a telephone call with Australian Prime Minster Anthony Albanese. The White House announced on Tuesday that all steel and aluminum products imported into the U.S., from any country, would be subject to a 25% tariff on Wednesday. There were no exemptions or exceptions. Richard Marles, the Australian Deputy Premier, said that his government will continue to push for an exception from Trump's administration. Marles, a radio host at 2GB, said: "Well obviously this is a very disappointing news." Tariffs are a form of self-harm. We will be able find other markets for steel and aluminium, and we are diversifying these markets." During Trump's first term as president, he exempted Australia of U.S. Tariffs on Steel and Aluminium. The last time we tried, it took nine months for the Trump administration to grant us an exemption on steel and aluminum. Marles stated that we will continue to press the issue. Trump threatened on Tuesday to increase tariffs by 50% for Canada, but changed his mind just hours later, causing the financial markets to panic. Australia is an important U.S. ally and security partner in the Indo-Pacific region. However, it exports very little steel to the U.S.
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CERAWEEK: Agarwal, a billionaire oil industry investor, may expand Cairn production by investing in US oil service companies
Cairn India, India's largest private oil and gas company, said Tuesday that it could invest in U.S. engineering and service companies as part a plan of $5 billion to increase output by five times in the next few years. Anil Agarwal, a billionaire, said in an interview that he wanted to invest $5 billion to develop his project and reach 500,000 barrels of oil per day. Cairn Limited, a part of Vedanta, produces today 100,000 bpd. The company plans to drill several deepwater exploratory wells in the next year. Agarwal said, during a trip to Houston, where he attended CERAWeek, that Cairn is looking to buy five or six drilling rigs and work with seven or eight technical partners to explore and develop the offshore project. Agarwal stated, "We would like to have at least 20 drilling rigs working in our field." He said, "I can invest into the engineering company and the rig company because it will help me explore India better." I'd love to see American companies come together and work on this project. (Reporting and editing by Simon Webb, David Gregorio, and Ron Bousso)
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Trump rules out Australia's exemption from steel and aluminum tariffs
Australian media, citing an official at the White House, reported that Australia would not be exempted from U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum that President Donald Trump will impose Wednesday. In February, Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese agreed to exempt Australia from tariffs due to the U.S. surplus in trade with Australia. Australian Broadcasting Corp, citing White House spokesperson KarolineLeavitt, reported that Trump had decided against it. Leavitt said that if they wanted to be exempted they should move the steel manufacturing here. During his first term as president, Trump exempted Australia of U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs. On Wednesday morning, tariffs of up to 25% will be applied on all steel and aluminum products imported into the United States from other countries. On Tuesday, Trump sparked a trade war between his country and its northern neighbor by stating that Canada would pay 50% of the tariffs. Later, he said he'd likely lower the tariffs after Canadian officials agreed for talks. A spokesperson for the Australian government said that Albanese’s administration has been working at all levels within the U.S. Government to secure an exemption. The spokesperson stated by email that "We are still in discussions with the United States Administration and will have more information to say." Australia is an important U.S. ally and security partner in the Indo-Pacific region. However, it exports very little steel to the U.S.
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Kimmeridge wants to increase Canada oil and Gas activism in the face of trade war and underperformance
Kimmeridge Energy Management, according to a senior executive, will be more active in its efforts to improve the performance of Canadian oil and natural gas producers. The company is also looking for ways it can benefit from the current trade war between the United States and Canada. The U.S. President Donald Trump has increased tariffs against Canada's northern neighbor. However, Canadian oil and natural gas exports have received less penalties. Kimmeridge managing director Mark Viviano said that tensions could spur new thinking and increase Canadian energy exports to other countries. This is especially true for liquefied gas. Mark Viviano, managing partner at Kimmeridge, said the tensions would encourage new thinking to boost Canadian energy exports. Viviano, in an interview at the CERAWeek Conference, said that the tariffs and trade war would be long-term beneficial for the Canadian Industry, as it will force the industry to diversify its export markets to Asia. Kimmeridge reached a settlement last week with Advantage Energy after the Calgary-based oil and natural gas producer appointed two new independent directors. The company also set up a committee to examine the possibility of selling the company. Viviano stated that Kimmeridge is expecting to make additional investments in Canada, as the upstream industry there is ripe for activistism, even though it does not have any positions outside of Advantage. He said: "We believe that the industry needs to be consolidated because of its fragmentation. We also think there are a lot of poorly performing management teams and boards who are more concerned with increasing production than generating shareholder value." Kimmeridge, a leader in the oil and gas industry in the United States in recent years has targeted many of the issues Viviano believes are prevalent in Canada. The company has been largely absent from the U.S. market for the past year. It currently only owns one U.S. producer: Expand Energy. This is due to its legacy holdings in Chesapeake Energy (previously Southwestern Energy) and Chesapeake Energy before their merger into Expand. The combination of a slumping U.S. stock market and lower crude oil prices has pushed the valuations of small and medium-sized U.S. manufacturers down by more than 20 percent in the past month. Viviano stated that "clearly we are seeing a lot of volatility and a huge amount of underperformance" in some smaller and midsized exploration and production firms. We have some capital that we can put to good use, and we believe the market will be coming to us.
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Guyana is considering a plan to refine oil and import fuel in the US
Irfaan Ali, the Guyanese president, said that Guyana was considering a plan for exporting crude oil to America for refinement and bringing back fuel to supply domestically and perhaps to sell to other countries nearby. Guyana's economy is one of the fastest growing in the world thanks to the rapid increase in oil production at its prolific offshore oilfields. These fields are operated by an Exxon Mobil-led consortium. The government has a right to receive a certain percentage of the oil produced as profit, which is exported through trading companies that distribute cargoes on different markets, primarily Europe. Guyana doesn't have refineries but it is in talks with Dominican Republic and companies to build a small one. Ali, who was also asked by the CERAWeek conference if there were tensions with Venezuela, said that Guyana would do whatever it takes to maintain regional peace. A long-running dispute has erupted between the South American neighbors over which country is entitled to the area of Esequibo, measuring 160,000 square kilometers (62,000 square miles). The case before the International Court of Justice is still ongoing. He said: "We only ask that Venezuela respects the ICJ, and the rule law." (Reporting and editing by Simon Webb, Nia Williams, and Marianna Pararaga)
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Brazil wants to increase its sugar exports tax-free to the US
Two sources familiar with the situation said that Brazil would propose a boost in tax-free sugar imports to the United States during talks in Washington. The South American country is looking to protect its sector in the face of possible U.S. tariff increases on ethanol. Brazil's sugar sector has tried to increase the quota for tax-free exports of sugar to the United States in the past, but without success. It is not certain that existing tax-exempt export quotas will be renewed. The urgency of these discussions has increased as Brazil is facing a potential challenge on another front in its agricultural trade with America - ethanol. In February, just a few months after Donald Trump was elected, the White House announced reciprocal tariffs on countries that tax U.S. products. The U.S. Government has promised to announce a new tax package on April 2 that could include a potential tariff on ethanol. This renewable fuel is made in Brazil primarily from sugarcane. At present, 147,000 tons of Brazilian sugar may be exported to the United States without being subjected to import taxes. Exports exceeding this figure are subject to an average tax of 80 percent per ton. According to Brazilian government statistics, last year, 1.1 millions tons of Brazilian sugar was sent to the U.S. Sources claim that if tariffs were implemented, the increase in tax-free quotas would allow Brazilian sugar producers to increase production in case of a possible drop in demand for the ethanol. The sources reported that the first meetings were held between Brazil's Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week. This was followed by a meeting between Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, and U.S. Representative Jamieson Greer. Sources said that during the talks, officials agreed to have technical groups begin discussions on tariff issues. They also added that Brazil expects new products to be included in future talks. Brazil's corn-ethanol industry is expanding rapidly, and this has led to a focus on U.S. exports of sugar. Citi Investment Bank said that Brazil's corn ethanol annual production will nearly double by 2032 to 16 billion liters. One of the sources stated that there will be attempts to increase an additional U.S. Meat Export Quota. (Reporting and writing by Bernardo Caram, Lisandra Paraguassu and Oliver Griffin; editing by Roberto Samora, Lisa Shumaker and Lisa Shumaker).
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Stocks recover some of their losses as optimism about Ukraine counters tariff fears
Investors gained some ground Tuesday, despite their fears about the impact of U.S. Tariffs. They were encouraged by Ukraine's agreement with Russia to end hostilities. During talks in Saudi Arabia with U.S. officials, Ukraine agreed to a 30-day immediate ceasefire. U.S. Secretary Marco Rubio stated that this left it up to Russia to respond. The news came after President Donald Trump exacerbated economic worries by announcing that he had instructed his Commerce Secretary to impose an additional 25% on all U.S. imports of steel and aluminum from Canada. This would bring the total tariff for these products to 50%. Mona Mahajan is the head of investment strategy for Edward Jones. She cited Trump's recent tariff announcement as a reason why there was still uncertainty and volatility in this market. The slowdown in economic growth was already occurring before the uncertainty surrounding tariffs in the U.S. This is normal in the first quarter, but it is unusual to add policy uncertainty to the mix. The S&P 500 dropped the most on Monday after Trump refused to rule out recession due to his trade policies in an interview with Fox News over the weekend. He also spoke of a "period transition" and a "period that is changing." Adding to the concerns over tariffs, data released on Tuesday showed that U.S. small business confidence fell for a third consecutive month in February. This erased much of what had been gained after Trump's election win in November. Phil Blancato of Osaic Wealth, a New York-based chief market strategist, said that Delta Airlines' and Kohl's' guidance also suggested a softerening in consumer spending. Investors also awaited the latest inflation information from the U.S. Consumer Price Index reading for February due on Wednesday. The data for last month was hotter than expected, with the largest monthly price increase since August 2023. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 188.56, or 0.45% to 41,716.7, at 2:52 pm EDT (1852 GMT). The Nasdaq Composite was up 182.80 or 1.05% at 17,645.07. After spending the majority of the morning in the red and closing 10% below its previous record high, the S&P500 rose 11.45 points or 0.2% to 5,624.63. MSCI's global stock index fell 0.85 points or 0.1% to 831.88, having fallen as low as 822.44, which was over 7% below the most recent record closing on February 19. The STOXX 600 pan-European index closed earlier with a 1.7% decline. After dropping sharply on Monday the U.S. Treasury Yields have also stabilized and are pulling away from the five-month lows that were hit earlier in this session. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10 year notes increased 7.8 basis points from 4.213% on Monday to 4.291%. The yield on the 2-year bond, which is usually in line with expectations of interest rates for the Federal Reserve has risen 4.5 basis points, to 3.941%. The U.S. Dollar rose to an all-time high of one week against the Canadian Dollar, while the Euro reached a four-month-high against the Greenback amid hopes for a German defense spending agreement. The euro rose 0.9% to $1.0928, but the dollar gained 0.38% against the Japanese yen at 147.82. The Canadian dollar rose 0.26% against the greenback, to C$1.44 a dollar. After a sharp drop on Monday, oil prices increased, but gains were limited as worries about a U.S. economic slowdown and tariffs' impact on the global economy grew. U.S. crude oil settled up by 0.33% to $66.25 per barrel. Brent crude settled at $69.56 a barrel, an increase of 0.4%. After a day of selling, gold prices rose 1.01%, to $2,918.63 per ounce. U.S. Gold futures increased 0.85% to $2.915.50 per ounce. Reporting by Sinead carew in New York; Alun John, in London; Ankur Banerjee, in Singapore; Alun, in London; additional reporting by Dhara, Kirsten, and Rod Nickel.
Data shows that only seven countries will meet WHO standards for air quality in 2024.
Data showed that only seven countries met the World Health Organization's (WHO) standards for air quality last year. Researchers warned, however, that the fight against smog will become even more difficult after the United States stops its global monitoring.
According to data compiled by Swiss air monitoring firm IQAir, Chad and Bangladesh had the highest average smog levels in 2024. These levels were more than 15-times higher than WHO guidelines.
IQAir stated that only Australia, New Zealand and the Bahamas made the cut, as did Barbados, Grenada Grenada, Estonia, and Iceland.
There are significant data gaps in Asia and Africa that cloud the global picture. Many developing countries rely on air quality sensors installed on U.S. Embassy and Consulate buildings to track smog levels.
The State Department, citing financial constraints, has ended the program. Last week, more than 17-years of data were removed from airnow.gov, the official U.S. Government air quality monitoring website, including readings taken in Chad.
Christi Chester-Schroeder is IQAir’s air quality scientist. She said that most countries have other data sources. However, these data are often the only ones available to the public.
Data concerns prevented the Chad from being included in IQAir's list for 2023. However, it was ranked as the most polluted nation in 2022 due to Sahara dust and uncontrolled crop burns.
The average concentration of dangerous airborne particles, known as PM2.5, was 91.8 micrograms/cubic metre (mg/cu/m2) in the United States last year, a little higher than 2022.
Only 17% of cities met the WHO standard of 5 mg/cu.m.
India, which is ranked fifth in smog rankings, behind Chad (the top smog country), Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo saw the average PM2.5 drop 7% over the past year to 50.6mg/cu m.
Byrnihat in the heavily industrialised northeast of the country, was the first city to register a PM2.5 average of 128mg/cu m.
Chester-Schroeder warns that climate change plays a greater role in pollution. Higher temperatures have caused more intense and longer forest fires to rage through South East Asia and South America.
Christa Hasenkopf of the Clean Air Program of the University of Chicago Energy Policy Institute (EPIC) said that after the U.S. program is closed, at least 34 other countries will no longer have access to reliable data on pollution.
Hasenkopf stated that the State Department program improved air quality and increased life expectancy in cities where monitors were installed. It also reduced hazard allowances to U.S. diplomatic staff, meaning it paid for itself.
She said, "It is a huge blow to efforts around the world to improve air quality." (Reporting and editing by David Stanway)
(source: Reuters)