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Copec, the industrial giant, posts a 15% increase in Q4 profits on forestry gains
Empresas Copec, a Chilean conglomerate of industrial companies, announced a 15% increase in profit for the third quarter of 2024 thanks to higher pulp volumes and lower cost at its Arauco forestry unit. Arauco is the main source of Copec’s income, but Copec operates a large fuel distribution business, has stakes in mining, and also runs a fleet and factory of fishing vessels. The company's profit in the fourth quarter was $191 million, compared with $166 million one year ago. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), however, fell 1.7% to 644 million, while revenues dropped 6.4% to $6.77 Billion. The results were below those of the analysts polled at LSEG who predicted a net profit for the quarter of $209.9 million, EBITDA in excess of $680.10 million and revenue of $7.03billion. Copec announced that it has made progress in its "Sucuriu Project" in Brazil. Construction is scheduled to begin in April for the $4.6 billion paper mill, which will produce 3.5 million tons of dry cellulose per year. Copec says production will begin in the fourth quarter of 2027. Copec announced on Thursday that it spent $126m last year. (Reporting from Sarah Morland and Kyry Madry)
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Wall Street shares mixed as European stocks rattled by tariff risk
The major Wall Street indexes were mixed Thursday, as new U.S. economic data hurt sentiment. European stock markets also fell after U.S. president Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs of 25% on imports coming from the region. Data showing that the number of jobless claims was 242,000, compared to estimates of 221,000, dampened some risk-taking. As supply concerns returned, oil prices rose over 2%. Trump revoked Chevron's license to operate in Venezuela. The MSCI index of global stocks fell by 0.44%, and the euro weakened. The benchmark yields on U.S. Treasury bonds rose following the U.S. economic data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 194.94 points or 0.45% to 43,628.06, while the S&P 500 dropped 13.49 points or 0.23% to 5,942.52; and the Nasdaq Composite declined 169.15 or 0.89% to 18,906.11. Investors focused on signs that AI spending is increasing in the industry as they sold shares of Nvidia after it reported its earnings late Wednesday. Trump caused confusion on Wednesday by announcing that the duties would go into effect on April 2 - a month later than originally planned. A White House official said that the March 4, 2014 deadline for levies was still in effect, "as of now", causing further confusion about U.S. Trade Policy. Trump has also proposed a "reciprocal tariff" of 25% on European cars and goods. The STOXX 600 closed down 0.5% after reaching a record high Wednesday. Automaker and component maker stocks weighed down the index in response to potential tariffs. Michael Brown, Senior Research Strategist at Pepperstone, said: "We are almost in a position where there is too much news, leaving traders paralysed. They don't know which to focus on and, especially with Trump, they do not know what is a negotiation gambit or a serious policy proposition." It makes sense to reduce the risk of assets, especially those with higher risks, given the level of uncertainty. According to a poll, the ECB is expected to cut its deposit rate to 2.5% again next week. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. notes increased 4.9 basis points, to 4.298%. The yield on the 2-year bond, which is usually in line with expectations of interest rates for the Federal Reserve rose by 2 basis points, to 4.092%. Emerging Market Stocks fell by 1.05%, to 1,123.50. US GROWTH JITTERS Dollar index (which measures the greenback versus a basket including the yen, euro and yen) rose by 0.69%. The Federal Reserve is expected to reduce interest rates by two quarter points this year. The first reduction will likely occur in July. On Friday, the Personal Consumption Expenditure Index (PCE), which is preferred by the Fed as an inflation indicator, will be released. "Markets have started to lose confidence in U.S. economic growth," Shoki Omori said, chief global desk Strategist at Mizuho Securities. Nvidia's shares fell over 4%, despite the fact that the U.S. chipmaker gave a positive growth forecast for the quarter. Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency, fell by 0.31% at $84,191.44, after a drop of nearly 12% in the first three days this week. In a client note, Standard Chartered's global head of digital asset research, Geoff Kendrick warned clients not to buy the dip yet. He said, "Stay Patient." "These losses are rarely good and I think that the biggest capitulation will still be coming." A stronger dollar pushed spot gold to a new two-week low. U.S. Gold Futures ended 1.2% lower, at $2.895.9.
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Trump's very big' mineral deal could pay off for US Republicans
The crucial minerals deal Donald Trump negotiated with Ukraine may ease tensions between Kyiv, the U.S. President and Congress and win support for a fresh round of aid. The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy will be in Washington, D.C. on Friday for a signing of a mineral agreement with Trump. Trump has portrayed the deal as a means to recover American money spent to support Ukraine. Trump said that Zelenskiy was planning to travel to Washington to sign "a very big deal" on Friday. The deal is crucial to Ukrainian efforts to win Trump's support as he seeks to end Russia's war quickly through U.S. - Russian talks which have excluded Kyiv. Analysts and Republican members of Congress said that a successful deal increased the likelihood that the party, which controls both the House of Representatives as well as the Senate, would approve more aid to Ukraine. Since Russia's full-scale invasion in Ukraine three years ago the Congress has approved $175 Billion in aid. However, the last funding bill was passed in April when Democrats still controlled both the Senate and the White House, with Joe Biden as the Democratic President. Even then, under Trump's pressure, the Republicans in Congress dragged their feet on the bill, despite his skepticism about further military assistance to Ukraine. This led to delays in delivery of weapons, which put Ukrainian forces at a disadvantage in battle. Since Trump's election on November 5, enthusiasm for additional spending has been low. Mike Johnson, Republican House Speaker, said that there was "no appetite for" another Ukraine aid measure after Trump called Zelenskiy as a dictator. Trump also warned Zelenskiy to move quickly in order to achieve peace with Russia. Democrats in Congress in the United States have remained steadfast in their support for Zelenskiy’s government. Republican Representative Michael McCaul said that as a supporter of Ukraine he was in agreement with the idea that a deal on minerals would make it easier to vote for aid, while U.S. firms made money and Ukraine benefited from its resources. "Yes, I would like to do it especially if the deal comes from Trump," said he. Business Interests McCaul called the agreement a "joint alliance" whereby the U.S. helped develop Ukraine's vital minerals. He said, "And then our industry would obviously make money." "They'd make money and we would help pay for the war." The deal, according to Representative Joe Wilson, would be attractive to other Republicans who are looking to reduce spending, particularly foreign aid, as it provides a financial advantage for the U.S. He said, "It is not an issue for Ukraine." "It's that they're legitimately worried about the overspending and that's reflected in their skepticism about foreign efforts." McCaul and Wilson, along with other Republican legislators, noted that the details of a Ukrainian security agreement remained a sticking issue. Analysts, however, said it was logical for Ukraine to sign a deal after three years of conflict, despite its heavy losses, and for Trump to invest in Kyiv’s success. Scott Anderson, fellow in governance at the Brookings Institution, said: "They see it as a means to get Trump's buy-in." Jim Risch of the Republican Senate, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee did not claim that a mineral deal would increase Republican support but he saw it as a key to ending the war. Risch stated, "I believe there will be an agreement, but like all agreements, each side needs to be able tell their constituents that they won." (Reporting and editing by Humeyra Pauk and Deepa Babyington; reporting by Patricia Zengerle)
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Trump: Russia is 'acting well,' as talks with Ukraine have advanced.
Donald Trump, U.S. president, said that the peace talks between the U.S. and Russia are "very far advanced." He also credited Russia's actions during the talks. Starmer has asked the United States to offer a "backstop" in terms of security for any European forces who may take part in an eventual peacekeeping role in Ukraine, at the end of the peace talks Trump has been pushing since he took office last month. Trump, seated next to Starmer in the Oval Office said that he believes a peace agreement reached with Russia will hold. He also said he doesn't think Putin will invade Ukraine again. "I believe Russia has acted very well. ... Trump added that until a final deal is reached, he will not discuss the specifics of peacekeeping. Trump responded, "Trust but verify" when asked if Putin was someone to be trusted. Starmer thanked Trump "for changing the conversation so that there is a possibility of a peace agreement." Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, will be visiting the White House this Friday. He is expected to sign a deal with Trump regarding Ukraine's vital minerals. Trump said the deal would act as a backup for Ukraine. (Reporting and writing by Jeff Mason in Washington, Simon Lewis and Leslie Adler; editing by Franklin Paul and Leslie Adler.
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SDF chief: PKK disarmament calls 'not relevant to us in Syria
The commander of Kurdish-led force that controls northeastern Syria has said that the call for dissolution of the PKK by the leader in Turkey of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party, (PKK), does not apply to his group. Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), welcomed Abdullah Ocalan's historic call for the PKK not to continue its decades-long struggle against the Turkish State. He said that this would have positive effects in the region. Abdi, however, said that the announcement made by Ocalan on Thursday by the PKK was only applicable to them and "had nothing to do with us in Syria". Abdi's statement indicated that Ocalan's declaration would not have an immediate impact on SDF despite Syria's most important Kurdish groups, the People's Protection Units(YPG), which are the core of SDF. The Turkish government says that the YPG and PKK are virtually identical. They have fought the group along with other Syrian armed groups aligned to Turkey. Abdi stated that if there is peace in Turkey then there is no reason to continue attacking us in Syria. Abdi’s group took control of Kurdish areas in northern Syria in 2011, after the Syrian Civil War began. It later became an important U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic State and expanded the area it controlled. The SDF had little interaction with the Syrian army when Bashar al Assad was president. The SDF is now facing calls from the new Damascus administration The newly formed state security forces will combine the forces that ousted Assad last December. Turkey is a major supporter of the new Syrian government. Abdi expressed his willingness to have his forces join the new ministry of defence, but he said that they should be joined as a group rather than individually, an idea which was rejected by the government. The SDF and the Kurdish led administration were not invited to the national dialogue conference held in Damascus, on February 25. The Kurdish led administration claimed that the conference was not representative of Syrians. Abdi stated that the Syrian Kurdish authority would organise their own local dialog on the future for the northeastern area. (Reporting and editing by Mark Heinrich; Timour Azhari)
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Sources say sanctions and tariffs are making OPEC+ hesitant about an April oil price hike.
Eight OPEC+ sources have said that OPEC+ members are debating whether or not to increase oil production in April, as planned, or to freeze it, as they struggle to understand the global supply situation due to new U.S. sanctions against Venezuela, Iran, and Russia. OPEC+ confirms its policy of supply a month in advance, so that buyers have enough time to order crude. The group has until the end of March to decide on its April production, but some sources claim that no consensus has yet been reached. Several sources have said that the United Arab Emirates would also like to see the increase in production, as they are eager to take advantage of their rising capacity. Russia would be happy to do the same. They said that other members, including Saudi Arabia, favoured a delay. U.S. president Donald Trump renewed pressure on OPEC in order to lower oil prices. Prices rose above $82 a barrel in January, reaching multi-month highs following the announcement of new sanctions against Russia by Trump's predecessor Joe Biden. Prices have since fallen to $73 in hopes that Trump will help seal a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, and increase Russian oil flow. His plans to reduce Iran's oil to zero, and the cancellation of Chevron's licence to operate in Venezuela this week have stopped prices from further falling. Eight OPEC+ sources stated that the combination of these bullish and negative factors has made April's decision-making extremely complex. The eight OPEC+ sources also said that Trump's plans to impose global tariffs on oil could decrease demand and further complicate the outlook. Due to the sensitive nature of the subject, all sources declined to provide their names. OPEC, and the Saudi government's communications office, did not immediately respond to comments. The offices of Russian Deputy Premier Alexander Novak and UAE Energy Ministry did not respond immediately to requests for comments. OPEC+ (which includes OPEC plus Russia and allies) has agreed to cut production by 5,85 million barrels a day (bpd), which is equal to 5.7% of the global supply. This was done in a series steps taken since 2022, to support market. OPEC+ has extended the latest round of cuts to the first quarter 2025. This means that the production increase plan will now begin in April. This was just the latest in a series of delays. Calculations show that based on this plan, the UAE will begin to increase its production in April, with a 138,000 bpd monthly increase. Morgan Stanley and other analysts have predicted that OPEC+ will extend the cuts. Helima Croft, RBC Capital Markets, said that sanctions and tariffs could delay the increase until the second half 2025. Reporting by Alex Lawler and Olesya Almakhova; editing by Dmitry Zhdannikov, David Evans, Yousef Raba, Ahmad Ghaddar
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White House clarifies Trump's statement about 65% EPA Staff Cuts
The White House announced on Thursday that it was retracting President Donald Trump's claim made the day before, claiming the Environmental Protection Agency planned to reduce its workforce by 65%. Instead, the agency plans to reduce its expenditures by 65%. Trump surprised EPA workers on Wednesday by announcing at his first Cabinet meeting that EPA administrator Lee Zeldin had told him that the agency would "cut 65 or so per cent of people from environmental". Taylor Rogers, White House spokesperson, clarified Trump's Thursday statement by saying that further workforce reductions will continue along with spending cuts. Nearly 400 probationary staff have been terminated and nearly 200 others who work on environmental justice issues in the agency are on leave. Rogers stated in a press release that "President Trump and DOGE are committed to cutting fraud and waste across all agencies." "After identifying $20 billion of fraudulent spending, Administrator Zeldin is committed to eliminating 65% wasteful expenditures at the EPA." Trump clarified on Thursday in a Truth Social post that his proposed tariffs of 25% on Mexican and Canadian products will take effect on March 4. This follows some confusion Wednesday, when Trump said the tariffs would go into effect on April 2. Zeldin announced on social media that he had "discovered" that the Biden Administration fraudulently distributed $20 billion to green groups. He is now trying to recover these funds from a bank holding them. Democratic lawmakers have reacted to what they consider Zeldin's illegal actions, claiming that funding was appropriated by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act to organizations in the U.S. for the purpose of awarding grants to local communities to develop clean energy projects. Elon Musk, the tech billionaire, has announced plans to reduce the number of civilian employees by 2.3 million. The Department of Government Efficiency, which is headed by Musk, will target career employees who represent the majority of this workforce. (Reporting and editing by Louise Heavens, Daniel Wallis, and Doina Chiacu)
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Trump announces tariffs on March 4, 2019 for Mexico and Canada; China will face an additional 10%
U.S. president Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the 25% tariffs he proposed on Mexican and Canadian products will be implemented on March 4, as planned, because drugs continue to pour into the U.S. Trump said that he would also impose an extra 10% duty on Chinese products on the same day. It would seem that this is in addition to the 10% tariff he imposed on Chinese imports on February 4. Trump said that drugs are still entering the U.S. in "very high levels and unacceptable levels," a majority of which is the deadly opioid fentanyl. "We can't allow this scourge continue to harm the USA and, therefore, until the TARIFFS proposed to take effect on MARCH 4TH go into effect as scheduled," Trump stated in a posting on his Truth Social site. "China will also be charged an extra 10% tariff on that date." The statement clarified some confusion about the deadlines for the harsh tariffs that Trump threatened on Canadian and Mexican products over the fentanyl epidemic and U.S. Border Security. Trump's remarks on the subject during his first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday appeared to indicate that he might push back the deadline by about a month, until April 4. Trump administration officials stated that the deadline for April was to match Trump's "reciprocal duties" with import duty rates from other countries, and offset their other restrictions. His trade advisors believe that the value added tax (VAT) of European countries is similar to a tariff. Kevin Hassett told CNBC that Trump will decide on new tariffs once a study has been completed by April 1st. He said that a study would be released on April 1 and that afterward, the president would decide what to do with tariff policies for countries around the world. Mexico and Canada were specifically mentioned. Talks on Border Talks, Tariffs On Thursday and Friday, Canadian and Mexican officials will meet their counterparts from the Trump administration in Washington to try and prevent tariffs that could be a major blow to an integrated North American economy. On Thursday, the newly-confirmed U.S. Trade Rep Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will meet with Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard. David McGuinty, Canada's Minister of Public Safety, said that on Thursday the Trump administration should be satisfied with Canada's progress in tightening border security and fighting drug smuggling. McGuinty told reporters via televised remarks in Washington, ahead of two days' talks with U.S. officials: "The evidence is undeniable - progress is being achieved." He said that he believed Canada had passed any test imposed on it in regards to showing progress and meeting border standards. Canada Border Services Agency announced in a press release that they were launching an initiative to intercept illegal contraband entering and leaving Canada, with a particular focus on synthetic narcotics and fentanyl. In a letter sent to U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer by China, the country said that China and the United States must engage in equal dialogue and consultation in order to address their concerns on economic and commercial issues. (Reporting and writing by Doina Chiacu, Joseph Ax and David Lawder; editing by Chizu Nomiyama & Alistair Bell).
USDA: US corn and soybean plantings to increase in 2025
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Thursday that farmers in the United States will plant more corn acres and less soybeans by 2025 compared to a year ago.
The USDA predicted corn seedings to increase from 90,6 million acres in 2024 to 94,000 acres and soybean seedings to 84,000 acres, a decrease from 87.1 millions acres last year. The USDA expects to plant 47.0 million acres of wheat, an increase from 46.1 in 2024.
The USDA released a report at the beginning of its two-day annual outlook forum that stated, "Among the main crops, corn is projected to grow the most. Prices are favorable compared to other crops like soybeans, cotton and sorghum."
The global corn supply was tightened during the 2024/25 year of marketing, which helped to raise the price for feed grain. The United States is the largest corn exporter in the world and the second biggest soybean supplier behind Brazil.
The USDA's estimate for soybean plantings fell short of the analyst average of 84.4 millions acres.
The government has said that the large supply of soybeans from South America and Brazil is putting pressure on the prices. This should limit the amount of oilseed planted in the United States.
The USDA predicted that, assuming normal weather conditions, the U.S. corn crop in 2025 would reach a record of 15,585 billion bushels. And the soybean harvest, at 4,370 billion bushels, would be the 4th largest ever.
The USDA predicted that the U.S. would have 1.965 million bushels of corn at the end 2025/26 of the marketing year, on August 31st 2026. This is up from 1.540 million bushels one year ago.
The projected decline in soybean stocks to 320,000,000 bushels by the end 2025/26 was from 380,000,000 bushels at 2024/25.
USDA forecasts soybean exports in 2025/26 at 1.865 billion bushels. This is an increase of 40 million bushels over 2024/25. The USDA warned that U.S. soybean exports will remain below 30% compared to 40% 10 years ago due to competition from South American suppliers.
The U.S. Wheat inventories are expected to increase to 826 millions bushels at the end of 2025/26, up from 794million a year ago, despite a projected drop in production.
The USDA forecasts that wheat exports will be 850 million bushels in 2025/26, the same as for the current marketing season, but higher than a 52-year-low set in 2023/24 when high U.S. price curbed global demand for U.S. Wheat. In 2025/26, the competition from other global wheat producers, including Russia is expected to continue.
Seth Meyer, USDA Chief Economist, said that "we will continue to face some export challenges" in a Thursday speech.
(source: Reuters)