Latest News
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SPIE Secures Cabling Job at Taiwanese Offshore Wind Farm
SPIE Global Services Energy, through its SPIE Wind Connect, has secured termination and testing job of the inter-array cables for the Taiwan Power Company (TPC) offshore wind farm phase II.SPIE Wind Connect signed the contract with Shinfox Far East Energy (SFE) for the 300 MW TPC phase II, located approximately 20 kilometers offshore from Changhua County in Taiwan.The inter-array cables connect 31 Vestas V174-9.5MW offshore wind turbines to the offshore substation. Execution of works began in August 2025, with completion scheduled in 2026.Building on the success of TPC Phase I, which added 109.2MW of renewable energy capacity in November 2021, TPC Phase II is set to significantly expand Taiwan’s offshore wind portfolio.Once operational, it is expected to generate 1,000 GWh of electricity annually, meeting the power needs of approximately 270,000 households and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by over 403,000 metric tonnes each year.“This project marks another significant milestone in SPIE Wind Connect growing presence in Asia’s offshore wind sector.“As Taiwan establishes itself as a regional leader in offshore wind, with a robust project pipeline through 2035 and world-class wind resources, we are honored to be entrusted by Shinfox Far East Energy to contribute to the country’s energy transition,” said Sam Dowey, Managing Director at SPIE Wind Connect.
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New tax law aims to give Philippines a fairer share of mining profits
On Thursday, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed into law a measure that overhauls the country's tax system for mining. The aim is to provide a greater share of revenue to the government as well as more transparency in the sector. The new law replaces the fragmented system that differed depending on what type of mining agreement was signed. Marcos stated during the signing ceremony that "we are putting in place a more fair, clearer system that responds to both the needs of our people and environment." The previous system required only mines located within mineral reserves to pay royalties. However, the fiscal obligations were different depending on the type mining agreement. The new law simplifies and increases taxation on all large-scale metal mining operations. It is expected to generate additional revenue of approximately 6.26 billion pesos (110.56 millions) per year. The margin-based royalties will range from 1% up to 5% depending on profitability. When income margins are greater than 30%, there will be a tax rate of between 1% and 10%. This is to capture excess profits in commodity booms. The law introduces a rule of ring-fencing, which means that each mining project is taxed separately. This prevents companies from balancing losses from one project with profits from another. "The days of a mining contractor burying its profits under the weights of losses are over." Marcos stated that we can no longer use the failure of one project to hide the success of another. "Transparency has become the norm." The Philippines has untapped copper, gold and nickel reserves worth an estimated $1 trillion. Government data revealed that mining concessions cover less than 3% (or 22.22 million acres) of the 9 million hectares (9 million acres), which have been identified as areas with high mineral potential. According to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, in 2023, the exports of mineral products and non-metallic minerals will total $7.32 billion. This is a slight decrease from $7.53 million in 2022. ($1 = 56.6220 Philippine Pesos)
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Asia markets rise as Fed comments and jobs data indicate rate cuts
Asian stocks rose in the early hours of trading on Thursday, as Federal Reserve officials' dovish remarks soothed investor nerves during a period when global growth concerns and bond market sell-offs were at an all-time high. The Nikkei rose by 1.2%, and Australian shares gained 0.8% after their largest one-day drop since April. MSCI's broadest Asia-Pacific share index outside Japan, which includes Japan and Australia, lost early gains before falling 0.2% in the last few days. Losses in China were a major factor. Bloomberg News reported that financial regulators were preparing cooling measures to cool the market. The Shanghai Composite dropped 1.6%, and was headed for a third consecutive day of declines. The financial markets started September with a gloomy mood. A sell-off of longer-dated debts has dampened investor confidence in advance of Friday's crucial non-farm payrolls in the United States. A 30-year auction of Japanese government bonds will be held later today to test the appetite of global debt markets for super-long fixed income. The bond market sold-off overnight, but the concern about the fiscal health in major economies, from Japan to Britain and United States, kept borrowing costs for long-term loans near their multi-year-highs. Investors received a boost in confidence after Federal Reserve officials including Governor Christopher Waller expressed their support for rate reductions in the months to come. Stephen Miran said that he would also work to maintain the independence of the Federal Reserve Board. He was selected by President Donald Trump to fill a vacant seat. U.S. Stock Futures rose 0.1%, as investors reacted positively to the Fed's dovish remarks and bought beaten-down stocks. Tony Sycamore is a market analyst with IG, Sydney. He said: "We had one or two weak days but dip-buyers stepped in." Many people see this September weakness as a good opportunity to buy, with the economy still growing strongly. "This is an excellent backdrop for equity markets." The latest "JOLTS", or Job Openings Report, released on Wednesday showed that job openings were lower than expected. This boosted market bets for a rate reduction at the Fed meeting scheduled later in the month. The Federal Reserve "Beige Book", which was released in September, painted a mixed image of the U.S. economy. This appeared to confirm the concerns of monetary policymakers. Analysts from ING described the report's tone as "bleak," and said that it "was littered with tariff warnings about prices." According to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, traders are pricing in a 96% probability that the Fed will cut interest rates during its September meeting. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 4,2226% from its U.S. closing of 4.211% Wednesday. The two-year rate, which increases with traders' expectation of higher Fed Funds rates, reached 3.6187%, compared to a U.S. closing of 3.612%. The dollar was unchanged against the yen, at 148.13. It remained within the trading range that it has been in since August began. The euro currency fell 0.1% to $1.1652, whereas the dollar index (which tracks the greenback's value against other major trading partners) rose 0.1% to 98.217. Brent crude fell 0.5% on the commodities market to $67.29 per barrel. Gold spot prices fell 0.8% to $3529.94 an ounce, after reaching a record high on Wednesday.
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The price of iron ore is rising on the hope that China will demand more.
Iron ore futures prices rose for the third consecutive session on Thursday. This was aided by expectations of improved demand in China, but rising steel inventories fueled concerns about the pace of resumption of steel production, limiting gains. By 0315 GMT, the most-traded iron ore contract for January on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.39%, to 781.5 Yuan ($109.26), per metric ton. The benchmark iron ore for October on the Singapore Exchange rose 0.69% to $103.95 per ton, the highest since August 29. Yingguang Wang said that some steelmakers were planning to resume production and increase raw material procurement on Thursday, according to a note written by an analyst from Lange Steel the day before. Steel mills at the top Chinese steelmaking center Tangshan had to reduce production temporarily to improve air quality in preparation for a military display in Beijing to mark the end of World War Two on September 3. This temporarily weakened ore demand. Bright Futures reported that inventories of construction steel continue to increase, which puts pressure on the prices. Steel stocks are likely to rise and the demand for steel may be low. This could prevent mills from quickly restarting production. Analysts at Yongan Futures stated that portside stocks would be expected to keep price increases in check. Coke and coking coal, which are used to make steel, have fallen by 3.09% and 2.46 %, respectively. The benchmarks for steel on the Shanghai Futures Exchange are stagnant. Rebar fell 0.35%; hot-rolled coil slipped 0.06%; stainless steel dipped 0.39%, while wire rod rose 0.43%. ($1 = 7.1529 Chinese Yuan) (Reporting and editing by Amy Lv, Lewis Jackson)
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Gold's record high is lowered due to profit-taking and the focus on US job data
Profit-taking led to gold's decline on Thursday, after the bullion reached an all-time high on expectations of a U.S. rate cut. Investors were also looking forward to this week's U.S. employment data. As of 0153 GMT, spot gold was down 0.3%, at $3,546.73 an ounce. On Wednesday, gold reached a new record of $3.578.50 per ounce. U.S. Gold Futures for December Delivery fell 0.8% to $3.605.60. Gold is still on a bullish market, despite some profit-taking. "Rate-cut expectations and concerns over the Federal Reserve’s independence will add to safe haven demand," GoldSilver Central's MD Brian Lan stated. "We will not be surprised if the gold price goes up to $3.800 or higher in near-term." The U.S. Labor Department announced on Wednesday that the number of job openings in July was lower than expected, at 7.181 millions. Fed officials have said that labor market concerns are still driving them to believe in rate cuts. Fed Governor Christopher Waller believes the Fed should cut rates at its next meeting. According to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, traders are now pricing in 97% of a rate cut of 25 basis points at the end the two-day meeting of the U.S. Central Bank on September 17. This is up from 92% prior to the data. Gold that does not yield is usually a good investment in an environment with low interest rates. Now, the focus is on Friday's non-farm payroll data in the United States. According to a poll, the non-farm payrolls in August are expected to grow by 78,000 jobs compared to 73,000 in July. On Wednesday, Donald Trump stated that if the Supreme Court rules against the U.S. in a case regarding tariffs, the U.S. may have to "unwind' trade agreements it has made with the European Union (EU), Japan and South Korea. Silver fell 0.8%, to $40.87 an ounce. It had reached its highest level since September 2011, in the previous session. Platinum fell 0.5% to $1415.03 while palladium dropped 1% to 1136.26.
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Profit-taking and technical correction bring LIVESTOCK-Cattle Futures to a lower end.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange beef futures fell for a second session in a row on Wednesday, as profit-taking and technical selling corrections from recent highs occurred. Since months, beef futures have been supported by elevated prices. Traders are now assessing whether the high prices will begin to affect beef demand as the outdoor grilling season ends. Analysts said that losses were however limited, as the cash cattle price remained higher than futures. It's a bull market driven by cash. Don Roose said that at this time of the year, October, cattle prices should be equal to cash. CME October Live Cattle Futures finished 1.200 cents below at 238,325 cents a pound. This is a larger discount than the $242 per 100weight that packers were willing to pay for cattle on feedlot markets in the previous week. Cash cattle prices may be stable or even higher than last week, according to the bids of packers at midweek. Beef packer profits remained positive despite tight supplies of cattle and high cattle prices, as beef values hovered at multi-year heights. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that the value of the boxed choice beef cutout rose $2.59 per cwt on Wednesday, reversing the previous-day decline. This is the highest price since May 2020. Select cutout increased by $1.56 per cwt to $387.73. According to HedgersEdge, a livestock marketing advisory service, the average beef packer's margin fell to $86.20 a head on Wednesday, from $99.25 per head a day before but was up from $82.55 compared to last week. Live cattle prices also fell, and the October contract ended the day at 361,500 cents per kilogram. CME lean-hog futures fell on Wednesday, after seven consecutive sessions of price gains. Prices had reached their highest level in ten weeks. Analysts said that the market was impacted by the spillover pressure of lower cattle futures, and the expectation for seasonal increases in hog supply into the fourth quarter. CME October lean pork ended at 93.8225 cents per pound, a decrease of 1.725 cents.
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Asia markets stabilize as Fed comments and jobs data point towards cuts
Asian stocks rose in the early hours of trading on Thursday, as Federal Reserve officials' dovish remarks soothed investor nerves during a period when global growth concerns and bond market selloffs were at an all-time high. After a mildly positive session for U.S. stock markets, MSCI's broadest Asia-Pacific share index outside Japan rose 0.5%. The Nikkei opened 1.2% higher, after recovering from its biggest one-day drop since April. Australian shares rose 0.7%. Chinese stocks opened lower, bucking the regional trend. Shanghai Composite dropped 0.4%, and was on course for a third consecutive day of declines following a Bloomberg News report that financial regulators were preparing cooling measures to the market. The financial markets started September with a gloomy mood. A sell-off of longer-dated debts has dampened investor confidence in advance of Friday's crucial non-farm payrolls in the United States. A 30-year auction of Japanese government bonds will be held later today to test the appetite for super-long fixed interest rates on global debt markets. The bond market sold-off overnight, but the concern about the fiscal health in major economies, from Japan to Britain and United States, kept borrowing costs for long-term loans near their multi-year-highs. Investors received a boost in confidence after Federal Reserve officials including Governor Christopher Waller expressed their support for rate reductions in the months to come. Stephen Miran said that he would also work to maintain the independence of the Federal Reserve Board. He was selected by President Donald Trump to fill a vacant seat. U.S. Stock Futures rose 0.1%, as investors reacted positively to the Fed's dovish remarks and bought beaten-down stocks. Tony Sycamore is a market analyst with IG, Sydney. He said: "We had one or two weak days but dip-buyers stepped in." Many people see this September weakness as a good opportunity to buy, with the economy still growing strongly. "This is an excellent backdrop for equity markets." The latest "JOLTS", or Job Openings Report, released on Wednesday showed that job openings were lower than expected. This boosted market bets for a rate reduction at the Fed meeting scheduled later in the month. The Federal Reserve "Beige Book", which was released in September, painted a mixed image of the U.S. economy. This appeared to confirm the concerns of monetary policymakers. Analysts from ING described the report's tone as "bleak," and said that it "was littered with tariff warnings about prices." According to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, traders are pricing in a 96% probability that the Fed will cut interest rates during its September meeting. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 4,2129% from its U.S. closing of 4.211% Wednesday. The two-year rate, which increases with traders' expectation of higher Fed Funds rates, reached 3.6166%, compared to a U.S. closing of 3.612%. The dollar fell 0.1% to 147.98 yen, staying within the range of trading it has been in since August began. The euro was unchanged at $1.1657 while the dollar index - which measures the greenback's value against the currencies of major trading partners - was unchanged at 98.153. Brent crude fell 0.5% on the commodities market to $67.29 per barrel. Gold spot prices fell 0.2% to $3552.49 an ounce, after reaching a record high on Wednesday.
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Oil prices continue to fall as OPEC+ considers a new output increase
Oil prices fell on Thursday, extending a drop of more than 2% from the previous trading session. Investors and traders are looking ahead to a meeting at the weekend of OPEC+, where producers will likely consider another increase of output targets. Brent crude dropped 27 cents or 0.40% to $67.33 a bar by 0114 GMT. U.S. West Texas intermediate crude fell 28 cents or 0.44% to $63.69 a bar. Two sources with knowledge of the discussions said that eight members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) will discuss further increases in production at a Sunday meeting. The group is seeking to regain its market share. Phil Flynn is a senior analyst at Price Futures Group. He said that the prospect of OPEC+ increasing output had increased before the meeting. The traders had not expected any change from the group. OPEC+ agreed to increase output targets from April to September by approximately 2.2 million barrels a day, plus a 300,000. bpd quota for the United Arab Emirates. Middle Eastern oil has remained the most expensive region in the world despite production increases. According to a Haitong Securities report, this has boosted the confidence of Saudi Arabian and other OPEC member countries to increase output. The market is now awaiting government data about U.S. crude stocks, which are due on Thursday. This will be a day later than usual due to the U.S. federal holiday on Monday. U.S. crude stockpiles increased by 622,000 barges in the week ending August 29, according to market sources citing API figures released on Wednesday. The API estimate of a U.S. increase in crude stock went against the estimates of analysts polled who, on average estimated that U.S. crude inventory fell by 2,000,000 barrels. (Reporting from Sam Li in Beijing, Trixie Yap and Nicole Jao in New York. Editing by Tom Hogue.)
Dollar suffers as stocks take a break and the Fed's rate cuts continue.
Investors paused the global stock rally on Thursday as they awaited the release of data from the U.S. Producer Prices later that day, which may reveal how tariffs impact inflation trends.
MSCI's global stock index flattened, after reaching all-time highs for the previous two sessions. An equivalent measure of Asian stocks outside Japan was near its highest level since September 2021.
Futures markets indicated that Wall Street stocks would have a quiet start after leading global shares to record highs all week. They also hit records on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
The global rally is fueled by the strong U.S. technology earnings and the speculation that Federal Reserve rate reductions will protect businesses and consumers from White House tariffs.
CME's FedWatch shows that traders now consider a September rate cut to be almost certain. The U.S. Administration continues to press the Fed to ease up more quickly. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated on Wednesday that Fed funds rates, which have been in the range of 4.25-4.5% since last December, could be reduced by up to 175 basis points.
Investors said that the monthly U.S. job data was surprisingly low on August 1. However, a U.S. Producer Prices report due out later on Thursday may shift the focus of the market to the risk of tariffs driving inflation up too high for Fed rate cuts.
A Bank of America survey conducted this week found that 70% of global investors believe U.S. Stagflation will become the dominant narrative in the market within three months.
"Inflation has started to show up." It's still not huge, but it could continue to grow in the coming months.
Investors on the U.S. Treasury market are becoming more concerned about the impact of higher inflation for longer periods. This could be a threat to the value of fixed-interest coupons in bonds with a longer maturity date.
The yield on two-year Treasury bonds, which tracks monetary policy bets and is a good indicator of the market, was 3.67% Thursday. This is down from 3.95% around the start of August.
The yield differential between the 30-year Treasuries and the 2-year notes has risen to 112bps, up from 95bps in August.
SOGGY DOLLAR
The U.S. Dollar struggled to recover from a two week low against a basket major currencies, while the Japanese yen saw a broad-based gain and reached its highest level in three weeks of 146.38 per US dollar.
Bessent had previously said that the Bank of Japan was behind in addressing inflation risks. The BOJ's underlying inflation rate, which is based on wages and domestic demand, is below the target. It also wants to know more about how U.S. Tariffs will affect exporters.
The euro was trading at $1.16722, a slight decline from the two-week high of the previous day, while European government bonds largely tracked movements in Treasuries. Germany's 10-year yield fell 2 basis points to 2.66%.
Eyes on Ukraine
The commodities markets were relatively quiet ahead of the summit between U.S. president Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, his Russian counterpart.
Trump threatened on Wednesday "severe consequence" if Putin refused to agree to peace in Ukraine. He also floated the concept of a second meeting that would include Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Brent crude, a global oil benchmark, traded around $65.86 per barrel on Thursday. This is just a couple of months off its two-month low, and it was down from nearly $70 at the beginning of August.
The spot gold price, which tends to rise when investors are focused on geopolitical risk, dropped about 0.5% to $ 3,3925 per troy-ounce.
Goldman Sachs analysts stated in a client note that if there is no progress on a ceasefire, the White House could reimpose sanctions against Russian oil. However, this would only lead to a "limited" risk of disruptions to supply.
J.P. Morgan analysts said that a peace agreement could boost the euro against dollar, but cautioned that the bar to achieve a ceasefire is high. Reporting by Naomi Rovnick and Jaspreet Klra, both in London; editing by Muralikumar Aantharaman and Kim Coghill.
(source: Reuters)