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Oil prices rise by 1% in advance of US-Iran nuclear negotiations
Prices of oil?increased on Monday, as?investors weighed up the implications of upcoming U.S. - Iran?talks aimed at deescalating tensions in light of the expected OPEC+ increase in supply. Brent crude futures closed 90 cents or 1.33% higher at $68.65 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude was $63.75 per barrel at 2:14 pm EST (GMT 1914), up 86 cents or 1.37%. Due to the U.S. Presidents Day Holiday, there was no settlement of this contract on Monday. Tamas Varga is an analyst at PVM. He said that the fear of a disruption in supply due to tensions between Iran and the U.S. has helped stabilize oil prices. The looming Lunar New Year holidays, which are taking place in China, South Korea and Taiwan have also dampened the trade. Brent settled about 0.5% lower last week and WTI lost?1% after Donald Trump's comments that Washington might reach a deal with Tehran in the next month. Two countries will hold a second round of nuclear talks on Tuesday in Geneva. Iran's Foreign Minister met the Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. Nuclear Watchdog on Monday in preparation for the talks with Washington. DIPLOMAT: IRAN WANTS BROAD ECONOMIC DEAL with U.S. A diplomat from Iran was quoted as saying Iran was pursuing a nuke agreement with the U.S. which would provide economic benefits to both parties. Energy and mining investments, and aircraft purchases are all on the table. U.S. officials said that if talks fail, they are preparing to launch a'sustained military campaign. Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned that they would retaliate if any strikes were made on Iranian soil. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have warned that if there are strikes on Iranian territory, they could retaliate against any?U.S. Brent could reach $80 per barrel if tensions with Iran increase. In a recent note, SEB analysts stated that fading tensions would bring it back to $60 per barrel. While tensions between the United States and Iran are pushing up oil prices the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) is dampening 'them' by deciding at its March 1 meeting that they will resume production increases?from?April after a three month halt. The oil prices were also supported by China's strong crude imports as well as some disruptions to oil exports. Giovanni Staunovo is an oil analyst with UBS. According to ship tracking data and traders, China's imports will increase for the third consecutive month in February. This is after India cut its purchases due to U.S. pressure. (Shadia Nasralla in London and Enes Tunagur in New Delhi, Florence Tan in Singapore, and Mohi Nrayan in New Delhi contributed to this report; Andrei Khalip, Kevin Liffey, and Paul Simao edited it.)
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Nexperia receives $60 million loan from Invest International for boosting chip production
The Dutch state-owned financial institution Invest International will lend a total of $60 million to the chipmaker 'Nexperia, in order to finance a series of global investments at 'its production sites. The funds will be used to boost production, modernise the production lines and improve productivity. Nexperia in the Netherlands, a unit of China's Wingtech, was caught up in a corporate standoff with Europe after a Dutch state intervention installed an European management team last year. According to the Dutch newspaper FD, this move scared away investors and caused a global crisis in terms of chip supplies for the automotive industry. A spokesperson for FD confirmed that other financing discussions are in progress with Nexperia. The spokesperson stated that "it's not like?Nexperia has dire financial problems, but we are always grateful for any funding that can be tapped into to preserve our?reserves so that they can be used for other, ongoing activities." Nexperia couldn't be immediately reached for comment. A Dutch?court last week ordered an investigation into Nexperia's mismanagement. It allowed the European management to remain in place. (Reporting and editing by Jan Harvey; Charlotte Van Campenhout)
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Copper prices soften on thin volumes as focus is on higher inventories
Prices of copper fell on Monday, due to the?firmer dollar as well as a focus on increasing inventories and weak demand prospects during holiday trading. The London Metal Exchange's Wednesday settlement or rollover for maturing contracts and the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday this week, as well as the U.S. public holiday on Monday, will likely result in low volumes and volatile movements due to the expiring contracts and the holiday. As of 1700 GMT, the benchmark copper price on the LME was 0.2% lower. It stood at $12.845 per metric ton. It has fallen more than 11% from a record high of $14,527.50 just two weeks ago. The liquidity will be patchy as many Asian desks are not trading. Most participants may be satisfied to wait until the U.S. provides more clarity. Britannia Global Markets wrote in a report that rates and a possible Chinese demand pulse would be a factor in the post-holiday trading in March. A stronger ?U.S. Dollar-priced materials become more expensive to holders of other currencies. This could reduce demand and undermine prices. Copper stocks at LME approved warehouses are 211,850 tonnes The number of people who have joined the program has increased by more than 50%. Stocks are plentiful, resulting in a discount on the LME's cash contract for the three-month future. . The price was around $111.50 per ton, which is the highest it has been in a year. Copper stocks in warehouses monitored by Shanghai Futures Exchange are 272,475 tonnes The price of the stock has risen by 180% since December 19, Zinc was also down 1.5%, at $3,288 per ton. Since January 29, when it reached $3,575.50 - the highest level since August 2022 - it has dropped?8%. Zinc is also under pressure from higher inventories ShFE's warehouses have seen a 33% increase in the number of tons since January 30, which is 87,025 tonnes. Goldman Sachs analysts said that the "ex-China market tightness" that supported prices has now been resolved. China has become a net zinc exporter in November/December. Concentrate availability has improved and ex-China refined Zinc production has increased. Other metals saw aluminium slip?1.2% at $3,038.50; lead was flat, at $1,958; tin dropped 2.6% to $45,505; and nickel rose 0.5%, to $17.075 per ton. (Reporting and editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar; additional reporting by Tom Daly, Kevin Liffey, Jan Harvey; Additional reporting by Tom Daly)
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Zambia mine regulator lifts the suspension of operation at Mopani’s Mufulira Mine
Zambia's mining regulator announced on Monday that underground operations could resume at Mopani Copper Mines' Mufulira Mine immediately after new safety measures had been implemented. Last week, the Minerals 'Regulation Commission' announced that it had suspended the operation of the mine because it did not comply with safety regulations. This included the requirement to maintain a system accurate to account for all underground workers. Mopani Copper Mines, Africa's 2nd largest producer of the metal essential for clean energy technologies, is one of the biggest copper miner in Zambia. SAFTE WORKING ENVIRONMENT In a statement released on Monday, the regulator stated that enhanced safety measures were implemented by the company, including technology to ensure the mine was cleared two hours following the end of each shift. Mopani also installed closed circuit TV to monitor activities. It said that "These measures comply with the requirements of Mining Regulation 218 and ensure a safe work environment for miner's." No one from Mopani was available to comment. International Resources Holding, based in the United Arab Emirates, acquired 51% in Mopani by 2024. The deal was worth $1.1 billion. The rest of the shares are owned by Zambia’s state mining company ZCCM Investments Holdings. Southern Africa produced 890,000 tons of copper in the past year and aims to produce 3 million tons per annum by 2031. (Reporting and writing by Chris Mfula, Sfundo Parakozov, Alexander Winning & David Holmes).
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'Lovers' Arch' collapses Valentine's Day along the Adriatic Coast of Italy
After days of bad weather, the famous "Lovers' Arch", a rock structure along the?adriatic?coast of Italy, collapsed on Valentine's Day. Local officials subsequently warned that other stretches of the fragile coast could be at risk. Natural arch near Melendugno, in southern Puglia region, has long been used as a backdrop for wedding proposals. Melendugno mayor Maurizio Cisternino said to the local?Corriere salentino newspaper that the collapse was "a very difficult blow" for the image of the area and for tourism. Cisternino claimed that days of heavy rainfall,?strong wind and rough seas?had beaten the coast and destroyed the arch. He said that "nature has taken back" what she created. Officials warned that the coastal erosion threat is growing as cracks were visible on the cliff. Storms and heavy rainfall in recent days have also eroded long stretches of the?coastline along the?Ionian Sea from Ugento up to Gallipoli beaches, destroying beach structures and causing a few cliff falls. The 'terrible weather' of the past few weeks has also led to damage of over a billion euro in southern Italy, including a land slide that forced 1,500 people from their homes in Niscemi in Sicily.
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Westinghouse increases its headcount in Spain to prepare for growth in Europe
Westinghouse Electric Company will hire 'hundreds' of new workers in its Spanish operations before the end of this decade, as it looks to expand its AP1000 - nuclear reactors into Europe. Two senior company officials announced the plans on Monday. Nuclear power is being considered by many European countries, including Italy and Poland, as a means to decarbonise economies. Meanwhile, Spain's biggest utilities want to review their plans to shut down all nuclear reactors in the country by 2035. Madrid is the main European base for the U.S. firm, with 1,200 workers by the end of 2024. Xavier Coll is the 'head of Westinghouse Electric Spain. He said that it plans to increase this number to 1,500?by 2030 regardless of whether Spain continues its planned phasing-out. He told journalists that the majority of staff based in Spain are focused on other European markets. This means staffing levels will not be affected by the fate the nuclear sector of Spain. The AP1000 model is currently being built in China by 14 units and another 14 are under contract in Poland. "We are seeing a strong demand for new units, especially in Northern Europe, Central Europe and Eastern Europe," said Luca Oriani. He is the global head of Westinghouse Electric’s new reactor business. He said that "we have a number of countries other than 'the ones listed, who are performing what is called front-end studies, which are the preparation of licensing" and "applications" for new units.
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Japan data disappoints, but shares edge up on thinly traded holiday markets
The world's shares were stable on Monday, after Friday's decline - triggered by AI concerns - as the Lunar New Year holidays in Asia and Presidents Day made for thin trading. China, South Korea and Taiwan were all closed markets, but MSCI's broadest world share index, along with currencies and bonds, steadied. Stock futures continue to be traded, but the U.S. bond and stock markets remain closed. The European share market ended the day with gains after a recovery in the banking sector. This sector was impacted last week by AI-related concerns that spread to the financials. The STOXX 600 pan-regional index was the last to rise, around 0.3%. JAPAN’S WEAK GDP, REFLATIONARY HOPES The Japanese economy has reported a 0.2% annualised growth in the fourth quarter. This is far less than the 1.6% forecast, as the government's spending weighed on the activity. The figures are disappointing and highlight the difficult task ahead of Prime Minister Takaichi. She should push for more aggressive fiscal stimuli. Japan's Nikkei ended 0.2% lower after gaining 5% in the previous week. Some investors, however, remained optimistic in light of Takaichi’s election results. The landslide victory of the LDP in Japan's general elections has given Prime Minister Takaichi all the power she needs to pursue her reflationary agenda. Benjamin Melman, Global CIO at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management said in a Monday note that we remain overweight Japanese stocks. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq Futures, which traded on Monday, both gained 0.1% and respectively. This week a raft of economic information is expected, including preliminary readings on global business activity, U.S. Gross Domestic Product for the fourth quarter, and inflation rates for the UK, Canada, and Japan. In a note, Jim Reid, a strategist at Deutsche Bank said that "our economists expect real GDP growth (in the U.S.) to slow down to 2.5% in Q4 - a significant step 'down' from the previous quarter's pace of 4.4%." CAPEX - MORE CAPEX = Fewer Buybacks Walmart will be the main attraction in the U.S. as it provides a reading on consumer spending after a disappointing retail sales December. The stock of the retailer has increased by 20% in value this year. Its market capitalisation is now over $1 trillion, making it the largest company in the consumer staples industry. This sector will grow by more than 15% by 2026. The rotation of defensive stocks out of the tech sector has been a boon to the stock market. This is due to concerns over the high cost of AI capex, and the disruptive impact of AI competition in sectors like software. Hyperscaler capital expenditure plans are now $660 billion, which is $120 billion more than they were at the beginning of earnings season. Goldman Sachs analysts noted that while capex is on the rise, S&P 500 buybacks are down 7% compared to a year earlier. Oliver Blackbourn is a portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors. He said that the fiscal stimulus in the U.S. and Germany, as well as Japan, would ultimately benefit the banking sector. The Federal Reserve is reducing interest rates to keep up with the economy and there's no shortage of money flowing into the bond market. Futures indicate that 68% of the time the Fed will reduce in June, and 62 basis point of easing is already priced into the futures for the entire year. The dollar index fell 0.8% to 96.890 last week, with the majority of the losses coming from a recovering Japanese yen. The dollar rose 0.4% on Monday to 153.31yen after falling 2.9% last week. Meanwhile, the euro fell 0.1% to $1.1854. Gold dropped around 1.25% on commodity markets to $4,976 per ounce. This follows a recent swing in the market as investors were forced out of leveraged position. Silver fell over 1.6%, to $76.18 per ounce. Brent oil prices increased 46 cents per barrel to $68.21, while U.S. crude oil rose 48 cents per barrel to $63.37. Investors digested a news report that OPEC was leaning toward a resumption in oil production increases starting April.
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Climate Challenge: Ten Years After Paris Agreement
New climate data released ten years after the Paris Agreement came into effect show that the world is warming faster than ever. 2025 will be among the hottest years on record, with ocean heat and sea level crossing new thresholds. U.S. president Donald Trump is a "climate change sceptic" who has reversed a number of 'environmental' policies over the last year. He has also called climate change a hoax, which has led to environmental agendas being challenged around the world. The annual United Nations meeting held in Brazil last summer saw a number of countries agree to more funding to help poorer countries adapt to extreme weather. However, the countries failed to reach an agreement on more specific plans to phase-out fossil fuels or to strengthen emission-cutting plans. Global warming has increased significantly since mid-2010s, according to data from the world's most prestigious scientific agencies. Emissions: A Widening Gap Scientists say that the?World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Atmosphere Watch Network shows that concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous dioxide are climbing to record-highs, which is driving the temperature spike observed between?2023 and 2025. Global carbon budget report says that fossil fuel emissions will reach a record high of 38.1 billion tonnes by 2025. This is due to the increasing use of coal, oil, and gas, despite the rapid growth in renewable energies. The report, produced by a?international team of over 130 scientists?, estimates that global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels will increase 1.1% in the next year. This will push atmospheric CO2 levels to approximately 52% higher than pre-industrial levels. Researchers say that only 170 billion tonnes more CO2 can be emitted at the current rate of emission if we want to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The United States, China, India and the European Union are all expected to see an increase in emissions, while Japan is projected to decrease, despite the fact that China has invested heavily in renewable energy. TEMPERATURES - A DECADE IN ACCELERATION NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies said that the Earth's surface was 1.19degC warmer in 2025 than the average for 1951-1980. This is a tie with 2023 for the title of 'one of the hottest years ever measured'. WMO's consolidated data places 2025 as 1.44degC warmer than pre-industrial temperatures, making it one of the three hottest years in the last 176 years. ARCTIC: RAPID COLLISION OF SEA ICE The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s 2025 Arctic Report Card confirms that the period October 2024 to September 2025 was the hottest since 1900. And the region continues warming more than twice as fast as the global average. According to the U.S. national ice?Center, the sea-ice extent reached its lowest winter maximum in March 2025 at approximately 14.47 million sq km. SEAS RISING AND HEATING THE OCEANS According to NOAA, and Berkeley Earth, the oceans have absorbed "record" amounts of heat, setting a global record for upper-ocean temperature. The sea level continues to rise, as measured by satellites and tide gauges. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts a rise of 0.20 to 0.29 meters by 2050 compared to 1995-2014.
IGC increases world corn production forecast on bumper US harvest
The International Grains Council raised its forecast of 2025/26 for global corn production. This is largely due to an improved outlook on the U.S. harvest.
In a monthly report, the intergovernmental body projected that global corn production would hit a record of 1.299 billion tonnes, an increase of 23 million tons over its previous estimate.
The IGC stated that "the unusually sharp revision is mainly due to upgraded US maize (corn), area and yield forecasts."
The U.S. corn harvest was projected at 423.5 millions tons, an increase from the previous estimate of 398.9 millions.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture increased its forecast of the crop for the United States to a record breaking 425.3 million tonnes, revising upwards both area and yield estimations.
Chicago corn futures have dropped by about 17% in the last four month due to an improving crop outlook for the United States.
IGC however expected that an increase in the demand would absorb over half of the additional supply. It raised its global consumption prediction by 13 million tonnes to 1.285 millions.
The IGC stated that "global consumption growth will accelerate amid record supply and price pressure,"
The IGC said that it also increased its forecast for the world wheat crop in 2025/26 by 3 million tonnes to 811 millions.
The Russian wheat crop is now expected to reach 83.7 million tonnes, an increase from the previous estimate of 81.7 millions. Meanwhile, the outlook for Europe has been upgraded from 137.2 to 138.8.
Ukraine's population was revised down to 24.5 from 25.1. (Reporting and editing by Jane Merriman; Elaine Hardcastle, Richard Chang, and Nigel Hunt)
(source: Reuters)