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Mars crude oil prices drop on zinc contamination sources
Six traders and a source in the industry said that the zinc contamination of the Mars crude oil stream has slashed the price of the U.S. flagship coastal crude on Tuesday. Mars, an offshore grade popular with U.S. refining companies, is a grade that has been a major supplier along the U.S. Gulf Coast. This comes at a time of tight supply due to the absence of heavy Venezuelan barrels. Mars was trading at a 10-cents discount to crude oil in the Cushing storage hub, Oklahoma. This is a reduction from a 75 cents premium on Monday. Shell, the company that operates the Mars platform did not respond to a request for comment. Two sources confirmed that the contamination was probably caused by an additive used at the platform. Zinc is not found in crude oil. Zinc in crude oil can cause corrosion and damage to refinery units. According to Energy Aspects, the Mars platform produced around 160,000 barrels a day in the past 12 months. The grade is shipped to Clovelly, Louisiana. Reporting by Arathy S. Somasekhar in Houston, Georgina McCartney and Shariq K. Khan in New York. Editing by Matthew Lewis.
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Texas nuclear project talks with "hyperscalers"
In documents released on Tuesday, Fermi, an Texas-based company that wants to build four nuclear reactors next to the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex, stated it was in talks with large data managers about leasing agreements for this project. Fermi is a company co-founded Rick Perry, a U.S. former energy secretary. It wants to build 4 AP1000 reactors in a facility that it calls a "hypergrid." The 11 gigawatt facility, powered by nuclear energy, natural gas and renewables, will be built in Amarillo, near the Department of Energy Pantex nuclear weapons factory and in partnership with Texas Tech University. Fermi stated in its application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the regulator made publicly available on Tuesday that it was in discussions with many Big Tech firms, also known as "hyperscalers", on letters of intention and term sheets or preliminary documents which are normally non-binding. According to the application, hyperscalers will be tenants and not owners of any part of the plant. Fermi didn't immediately respond to questions about the financial arrangements that are being discussed with Big Tech companies, or who or how many Hyperscalers they is in discussions with. The two last reactors in the U.S. built were AP1000 in Vogtle in Georgia. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, they cost a combined total of $30 billion. These plants were years behind schedule and cost billions more than projected. Nuclear supporters say that lessons learned will reduce the construction time and costs for future AP1000 reactors. Fermi stated in his application that the Donald J. Trump Generating Plant nuclear complex, also known as the Donald J. Trump Generating Plant will be eligible for funding from the Department of Energy Loan Programs Office. In his first term, the only time that the president used the LPO was to finance the Vogtle plant. Other plans for financing construction and operations include equity contributions from institutional investors in infrastructure and real estate, structured bond offerings and clean energy tax credit.
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US expedites permit for proposed Tennessee coal mining
The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it had approved a coal mine proposal in Claiborne County Tennessee under a process expedited to speed up federal environmental reviews for energy projects. The Department of the Interior announced in a press release that it had granted Hurricane Creek Mining LLC approval to mine coal at Bryson mountain, located in Claiborne County Tennessee. The agency stated that the mine would produce up to 1 million tons of coal in the next decade. The site has been mined in various periods between 1950 and 2010. The rush permit aligns with the goal of President Donald Trump to increase coal mines as part his energy dominance agenda. Although the project is located on private property, it must still be approved by Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. Hurricane Creek Mining was not available for immediate comment. Interior announced in April that it would implement a process of emergency permits for energy and mining project approvals, which typically takes months or even years. This week, the department has taken another step to support coal. Interior's Bureau of Land Management announced on Monday that it will be taking public comments on the opening of coal leasing in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming. The public can comment on the opening of lands that were off-limits for leasing by former president Joe Biden until August 7. Reporting by Nichola groom, Editing by Chizu nomiyama and Daniel Wallis
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Where does the US obtain its copper?
On Tuesday, U.S. president Donald Trump said that he would be announcing a new initiative. Imports of copper are subject to a 50% tariff Later in the day, a global industry, whose output is crucial for electric vehicles, military equipment, semiconductors, and a variety of consumer goods, was surprised. Trump had a February election. Ordered a Probe As part of efforts by the United States to rebuild its production of copper, there is a deadline of November for possible tariffs. The investigation, which was meant to evaluate the imports of copper concentrates, copper scrap, and copper alloys, was still ongoing. The U.S. Commerce Department's Howard Lutnick announced on Tuesday that the duties will likely be implemented by the end or August 1 of this year. What you should know about U.S. Copper Imports US IMPORTS Just over half of the refined copper that is consumed in the United States each year is produced domestically. Over two-thirds are mined in Arizona where the construction of a new massive mine has been held up for over a decade. The remainder of refined copper is imported, which amounts to just under 1 million metric tonnes per year. The White House has framed these new tariffs to counter China's dominance on the global market. However, in reality the United States imports the majority of its refined copper products from the Americas. According to the United States Geological Survey, more than 90% (90%) of copper refined imports were made by Chile, Canada, and Peru last year. GLOBAL PRODUCTION China is the world's largest copper refiner, but it gets most of its ore from Latin America. According to the USGS, Chile and Peru mined a combined third of global cobalt last year. China, however, is increasing its influence over the world copper mining industry through its major investment in mines located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Due to massive Chinese investments in the African nation's mining industry, the DRC has now overtaken Peru as the second largest copper producer in the world. The Chinese copper sector dwarfs the rest. Last year, the country operated dozens of copper-smelters. According to the USGS, there are only two primary copper-smelters in the United States.
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Stocks almost flat, yen continues to fall; Trump expands trade war
The major stock indexes showed little change on Tuesday, as investors digested Donald Trump's latest tariff announcement. Meanwhile, the yen continued to fall against the dollar due to planned 25% duties for goods coming from Japan. Trump expanded his global trade battle on Tuesday by announcing a tariff of 50% on imported copper and announcing that long-threatened duties on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and other goods would be coming soon. Freeport-McMoRan shares were up by 4%. Trump wrote to 14 countries on Monday, including Japan and South Korea. He warned that the United States would impose a sharply increased tariff rate for imports starting August 1. The market has not reacted as strongly as it did in the wake of Trump's announcement on tariffs in April. Market watchers predict that countries will seek to reach trade agreements with the United States prior to the new deadline. Sources said that European stocks held steady, and the European Union would not receive a letter outlining higher tariffs. The EU could also reach a deal with the United States by Wednesday. It's a slow day. Yesterday (Monday), people digested tariff news, and we noticed weakness. "People are on hold until second-quarter earnings start," said Peter Tuz of Chase Investment Counsel, Charlottesville, Virginia. S&P 500 companies are soon to report results for the quarter ending June 30. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 156.46, or 0.35% to 44,249.90. The S&P 500 fell by 2.88, or 0.05% to 6,226.88. And the Nasdaq Composite grew by 13.72, or 0.07% to 20,426.23. The MSCI index of global stocks rose by 0.03 points, to 919.96. The pan-European STOXX 600 ended the day up by 0.41%. The hope of trade agreements boosted risk appetite on Tuesday, as MSCI’s broadest Asia-Pacific index outside Japan rose by 0.5%. Japan’s Nikkei recovered from its early losses and ended the day 0.26% higher. Southeast Asia's largest economies are facing some of the highest U.S. Tariffs. South Korean shares posted their biggest daily gain in the past two weeks, and the won strengthened by 0.4%. Since Trump in April capped what he termed reciprocal tariffs for trading partners to 10% for three-months, allowing for negotiation, the lack of progress has been a looming shadow over the markets. Two agreements have been made, with Britain, and Vietnam. In June, Washington and China reached an agreement on tariff rates. The minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting will be published on Wednesday. The central bank is taking a wait and see approach to monetary policies. The export-dependent Japanese currency, the yen, has fallen to a two-week-low of 146.65 against the dollar. It also fell against other currencies. The dollar gained 0.46% against the Japanese yen to reach 146.69. The Australian dollar rose as the central bank of Australia defied expectations by keeping its cash rate at 3.85%. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10 year notes increased by 2.2 basis points to 4.417% from 4.395% on Monday. U.S. crude oil rose by 40 cents, settling at $68.33 per barrel. Brent settled at $70.15 a barrel, an increase of 57 cents.
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Rescue teams find three additional bodies following central Texas flooding
According to Kerr County officials, the death toll has risen to 87 as three more bodies were recovered by search and rescue teams in the hills of central Texas that had been ravaged by floods. Teams from the federal government, states adjacent to Kerr County, and Mexico have joined efforts in search of survivors. The local effort has been hampered by downpours and thunderstorms. The teams are working through the missing persons lists and have yet to find a survivor since Friday. At least 109 people, including dozens children, have died in the floods. At a press conference, Lieutenant Colonel Ben Baker from the Texas Game Wardens stated that the work was extremely dangerous and time-consuming. It's dirty. "The water is still there." The Guadalupe River was flooded by torrential rains that began before dawn Friday. It burst through its banks, killing dozens of people and leaving behind piles of trees, debris and cars. The local and federal emergency officials were questioned for days about whether or not they could have warned the flood-prone Texas Hill Country residents sooner. Sheriff Larry Leitha announced at a Kerr County press conference that 56 adults and 30 kids have died in the county. More than two dozen other victims are still unidentified. Authorities are still unsure if the 87th person is an adult or a child. Some flood victims slept at Camp Mystic near Hunt, a riverside Christian summer camp for girls. Five children and one counselor were still missing on Tuesday. The sheriff refused to answer questions regarding emergency management and preparedness in the county. He also declined to reveal who was responsible for monitoring weather alerts, issuing flood warnings or evacuation orders and distributing a flood order. He said that his office began receiving 911 calls at 4 am and 5 am on Friday morning, several hours after a local National Weather Service station had issued a flood alert. Leitha explained that they were in the process "of trying to put together" a timeline. According to local media and sheriffs, the floods have killed another 22 people. Seven of them were in Travis County; seven in Kendall County; five in Burnett County; two in Williamson County; and one in Tom Green County. A spokesperson for Republican President Donald Trump confirmed that he plans to visit the region devastated by flooding this week. Democrats in Washington are calling for an investigation to determine if the Trump administration's cuts at the National Weather Service impacted the agency's response. (Reporting from Jonathan Allen in New York, Rich McKay and Deepababington in Atlanta. Editing by Rod Nickel & Deepababington).
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EIA: US natgas production and demand will reach record highs by 2025 before declining in 2026
The U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook, released on Tuesday, predicted that the U.S. Natural Gas output and demand would both reach record highs by 2025. However, they will then decline in 2026. EIA projects that dry gas production will increase from 103.2 billion cubic feet per day in 2024, to 105.9 in 2025, before slipping to 105.4 in 2026. This compares to a record of 103.6 bcfd for 2023. The agency also predicted that domestic gas consumption will rise from 90.5 bcfd, a record in 2024, to 91.4bcfd by 2025 and then ease back to 91.1bcfd by 2026. The EIA's June forecast of 105.9 billion cubic feet per day for supply in 2025 has not changed, but its July forecast is higher than the 91.3 billion cubic feet per day forecast. The agency predicted that average U.S. LNG exports will reach 14.6 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2025, and 16.0 billion cubic feet per day in 2026. This is up from 11.9 bcfd at a record in 2024. The EIA predicted that U.S. coal output would increase from 512.1 million short tonnes in 2024 - the lowest level since 1964 - to 519.9 millions tons in 2020, before dropping to 475.1million tons in 2030, the lowest level since 1962. EIA predicted that carbon dioxide (CO2) emission from fossil fuels will rise from a low of 4,777 billion metric tonnes in 2024, to 4.836 in 2025, as oil, gas and coal use increases. Then, the emissions would ease to 4.775 in 2026, as oil, gas and coal use decreases. (Reporting and Editing by Franklin Paul, David Gregorio and Scott DiSavino)
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Second quarter copper production at Ivanhoe Congo Mine jumps
Ivanhoe Mines said that its production at the Kamoa-Kakula Mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo increased by 11% on an annual basis to 112,009 tons of copper during the second quarter. The output increased despite the seismic problems that disrupted operation earlier this year. The Canadian miner resumed its operations in June, and reduced its production guidance for 2025 by almost 30%. It now expects to produce between 370,000 and 420,000 tonnes. Open Mineral's Senior Africa Commercial Officer, Zack Hartwanger said: "Ivanhoe’s rapid ramp-up, and its steady outlook, underscore Kamoa Kakula's status as one of the world's lowest-cost, high-margin producers of copper." Robert Friedland, Ivanhoe's Executive Co-Chairman, said that "operational recovery plans" are in full swing at Kamoa/Kakula. Ivanhoe started mining low-grade areas in the western part of Kakula. It is currently producing ore that contains 3-4% copper. A two-stage dewatering program has been implemented to gain access to the eastern sections. According to the statement, mining operations on the west side resumed in early June and ramped up to 300,000.00 tons per month by the middle of June. The company announced that it would invest $70 million into high-capacity infrastructure for de-watering, and five submersible pump will arrive from China in the next month. Ivanhoe stated that mining in areas with a higher grade of copper (approximately 5%) on the western side would resume by the end of this year. The operational turnaround comes as Kamoa-Kakula prepares for the September ramp up of its 500,000-ton-per-annum copper concentrate facility. The first anode is expected to be produced in October. The facility will change the operation from an exporter of concentrates to a producer 99.7% pure Copper Anodes, according to the company. The Kamoa Kakula Complex is one of the largest copper mines in the world, and crucial to global supply due to the rising demand for energy transition metal. The copper price has risen by more than 8% this year in comparison to the same time last year. Yassin Kombi reported. Maxwell Akalaare Adombila contributed to the reporting and writing. Editing by Pratima Deai and Mark Potter.
MORNING quote AMERICAS-Markets capture a break before inflation, profits
A take a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets from Mike Dolan
Thanks mostly to a stabilisation of bond markets and an ebbing of the super-strong dollar, international stocks caught an unusual new year quote on Tuesday with critical inflation and corporate incomes updates now in view.
A somewhat strange narrative established behind Monday's. bounce in stocks, with some mentioning a Bloomberg report claiming. President-elect Donald Trump's group is studying gradual tariff. hikes - using emergency legislation to boost import responsibilities 2% -5%. per month till they wreak concessions from trade partners.
While it may have planted some relief that bigger one-off. tariff rises are not coming as soon as next week, the prospect. of months - or perhaps years - of drip-fed tariff walkings, and serial. dangers of such, does not seem like a dish for smooth market. cruising or simpler inflation concerns ahead.
Nevertheless, this year's relentless selloff in Treasuries. has stopped briefly at least over the past 24 hr and a somewhat more. favorable posture there filtered through Wall Street stocks and. out throughout the world over night.
With December manufacturer and customer rate reports due out. today and Wednesday, respectively, 10-year criteria Treasury. yields have called back from 14-month highs above. 4.8% hit on Monday and 30-year 'long bond' yields are balking at. 5% for now.
Helping the state of mind on Monday was the release of the New york city. Fed's December customer survey, which painted a more mixed. photo of public inflation expectations than a sparkier. University of Michigan readout last Friday. The latter had. exacerbated bonds' post-payrolls swoon late recently.
The NY Fed poll showed households' anticipated course of. inflation a year from now stayed constant at 3%. While the. 3-year view rose to 3% from 2.6% in November, the 5-year view. ebbed to 2.7% from 2.9%.
This saw Fed futures find their feet and the market is back. pricing one rates of interest cut this year - by October - compared. to a scenario early the other day morning that showed none totally. priced for the entire of 2025. A stalling of crude oil costs. , which struck four-month highs on Monday on the current U.S. sanctions on Russia, likewise calmed the bond market horses a bit.
However, annual heading and 'core' U.S. manufacturer cost. inflation readings due later on Tuesday are expected to see a. substantial pickup up in 3.4% and 3.8% respectively.
And more significantly, tomorrow's customer cost report is. expected to show the 'core' annual inflation rate stuck as high. as 3.3% last month.
Market inflation expectations embedded in Treasury. inflation-protected securities are now just a hair from 2.5%. for the very first time considering that October 2023. The NY Fed's quote of. the so-called 'term premium' demanded by financiers to hold. 10-year Treasuries, meantime, struck practically 65 basis points on. Monday for the very first time given that September 2014.
But quick stabilisation in small yields has functioned as a. balm more extensively.
Although the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed lower again. on Monday, the S&P 500 bounced off its least expensive level given that. the November election day and eked out a small gain by the. close. And, with stock gains extending throughout Asia and. European bourses, Wall Street futures are up another half. percent ahead of Tuesday's bell.
The fourth-quarter revenues season starts in earnest on. Wednesday, with many of the big banking names kicking the. updates off as usual.
The dollar stepped back with Treasury yields too,. retreating from 2-year highs. Ailing sterling bounced. from 14-month lows as British federal government bonds. stabilised in line with Treasuries, with which they have been. joined at the hip all year.
Chinese stocks were a standout gainer overnight, with the. mainland CSI300 clocking an increase of 2.7% and staging. its best day because November 7.
With domestic regulators vowing more market assistance on. Monday to address the worst start to a calendar year in a. years, regional chip companies also rallied after the U.S. stepped up. its tech curbs.
However the reports about more steady U.S. tariff rises may. likewise have assisted and traders are waiting for Friday's swathe of. month-to-month economic releases, including fourth-quarter Chinese GDP. information.
Investments in governments bonds are not risk-free, Chinese. central bank authorities Zou Lan said on Tuesday, caution of a. prospective market bubble and resulting turbulence if bond yields. leave from economic basics. Fast falling Chinese bond. yields have been complicating Beijing's efforts to stabilise a. weakening yuan and individuals's Bank of China suspended treasury. bond purchases in January.
What's more, the annual travel rush for China's Lunar New. Year events officially started on Tuesday, with many taking. a break to reunite with family or take a vacation ahead of the. Jan 29 new year celebration.
Back stateside, the inflation news will dominate sentiment. this week, but the release of December retail sales on Thursday. will also give a crucial take on the holiday shopping season. Key advancements that ought to offer more instructions to U.S. markets in the future Tuesday:. * United States December manufacturer price report, NFIB Dec small company. survey. * New York Federal Reserve President John Williams and Kansas. City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid both speak
(source: Reuters)